24-carat gold baby bed for Dh220,000 comes to Dubai

Dubai - The bed costs more than a year's rent of a two-bedroom apartment in Burj Khalifa.

The world's most luxurious baby bed is launching in Dubai, clad in 24-karat gold plating, lined with Swarovski diamond-encrusted quilting and costing a cool $60,000 (Dh220,000).

The Luulu bed costs more than a year's rent of a two-bedroom apartment in Burj Khalifa, but its designers already have a waiting list of well-heeled families desperate to welcome their newborns into the lap of luxury.

To be revealed at the INDEX interior design exhibition in Dubai in March, the crib -- manufactured by a team of yacht builders -- has been designed to mimic the feel of being in the womb, while offering parents a chic, high-end piece of furniture to add to their home.

Billed as being the epitome of diaper-doting luxury, the gold Luulu -- which takes 200,000 man hours to plate -- is perhaps more suited to the highway than the bedroom, with its soft interior shell lined with the same leather as the seats of Maserati supercars.

However, partners Marta Buzalska and Dariusz Panczyk, who run Luulu from their home in Gdynia, Poland, where they produce three different cot styles, the gold of which is the most prestigious - actually took inspiration from the cream of the high-seas in dreaming-up the concept for their slick sleep pods.

Marta explained: "We came up with the idea while walking around Gdynia Marina, observing the exclusive yachts in the docks, while awaiting the birth of our baby boy Franek, and looking for an ideal cot. There were plenty of beautiful baby beds on the market, yet all of them were of the classic type. We wanted to have something exceptional, almost like the yachts themselves: a bed that would provide our sweetheart with security while looking good in our modern home."

It was from this rather unexpected source of inspiration that the couple got to work in manufacturing what they wanted to be both the most luxurious and most comfortable baby crib imaginable.

• Dubai