Camper offers luxury on the road

Award-winning designer Axel Enthoven’s new mobile holiday home looks like a pop-up camper when compressed and traveling sedately behind a car, but when deployed it becomes a luxury hotel suite with a teak veranda, two adjustable beds, hot and cold water, ceramic toilet and sink, espresso bar, working kitchen and outdoor barbecue grill. Christened the Opera for its canvas roof’s resemblance to the Sydney Opera House, the exclusive home away from home went into production this year after its introduction at the December Design at Work trade fair in Kortrijk, The Netherlands.

Enthoven, a rock star in design circles with offices in Eindhoven and Antwerp, The Netherlands, and Paris, France, has designed more than 1,700 products, but few as exclusive as the Opera, billed in advance advertising as “Your suite in nature.” The Opera materials include hardwood, stainless steel, and leather; it opens and levels itself by electric power in less than five minutes, eliminating pesky tent poles and pegs—as well as any physical strain during set-up.