Year after year with new yacht deliveries, there’s a lot of talk about the interiors. Interestingly, though, annual rankings of stand-out launches focus solely on size. Why leave out the superyacht interior designs deserving of attention, too? Starting this year, we’ll take an annual look back at remarkable ones. Below are seven that made 2017 quite the year of eye candy, along with four photos for each to drive home the design inspiration.
Some of our selections, listed in alphabetical order, may not float your boat (pun intended). To be clear, this list isn’t a “best of” or “prettiest decor” compilation. Beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder. Rather, we’re including superyacht interior designs that do a few different things. Some surprise with their mix of unusual materials. Others are downright divergent. In the end, all will get you, and others, talking.
- Areti, by Winch Design. The owner tasked Winch Design with creating warm, home-like areas for a party of 18. The owner’s beloved cycling team is included in that party, and therefore a big inspiration for art, special storage, and the spa. Indeed, the spa had to cater to them post-rides, for them to soothe sore muscles. Therefore, the expansive spa features a private massage room with a heated marble table and a Vichy shower. It also has a steam room, a sauna, a plunge pool, a shaved ice maker, a hot tub, and a banya (Russian bath). Of course, the spa couldn’t just be utilitarian. In keeping with customary superyacht interior designs, Areti’s spa showcases roses made of hand-laid mosaic tiles. It’s the work of Andjelka Radojevic, a renowned Serbian mosaic artist. In the banya, Winch Design and the owner chose traditional accessories like birch and eucalyptus branches, timber knives, and felt hats. In addition, “experience” showers feature multiple aroma, light, and sound settings. Topping it all off, the spa entry lobby contains a display case for several bicycles.
- Da Vinci, by Maxine Tissenbaum and Overmarine Group design department. The owner of Da Vinci wanted multiple marbles to make maximum impact upon entering the saloon. He succeeded in working with Canada-based Maxine Tissenbaum and Mangusta’s in-house team. Black Zebrino, black and white veined Marquina, and blue Palissandro marble comprise different dimensions. Black Zebrino marble covers the long bar to port in the saloon, too, complemented with brass accents. And who could miss the dozens, if not hundreds, of small mirrored segments making up the art center stage in the dining area? There are so many, in so many different shapes and sizes, that you need to step up close to appreciate the complexity. They catch the light, making the already-light ambiance even brighter.
- Nerissa, by H2 Yacht Design. Copper is the material of choice for pipes in homes, and even a color of choice for some fabrics. But who would ever think of using copper in superyacht interior designs? H2 Yacht Design did aboard Nerissa. The studio had a challenging directive for the spec-built project: create something never before seen aboard a yacht. No playing things safe here. As a result, wide burnished copper bands run horizontally along walls throughout the yacht. So, too, do steel bands, as well as wood bands pained to pick up complementary tones to the two metals. Altogether, the tones run from light to dark to create contrasts. They reappear as inlays on tables and furnishings, too. To really appreciate the contrasts, though, check out the effect in the spiral staircase. Light filtering down from the sundeck hot tub falls on glass pieces dangling down through the staircase center.
- Ngoni, by Rick Baker Ltd. The design studio run by Rick Baker and Paul Morgan is primarily a cabinetry- and furniture-making company. It previously designed several items for Ngoni’s owner. But, it had never fashioned sailing superyacht interior designs until now. Rick Baker Ltd. rose to the challenge, respecting and even showcasing the curves of the yacht. Curves come into play in other areas, too, especially the owner’s study. Overall, Ngoni celebrates bucking the status quo in terms of typical yacht design and decor. Witness the art panels flanking the beds in staterooms, made of resin, limestone, and metal. Witness, too, a rhino sculpture prominently featured in the aft cockpit. Tones of purple and turquoise accentuate leathers and fabrics throughout. Metal-clad facings, bleached wood soles, and more specialized finishes and textured surfaces stand out.
- Pink Gin VI, by Design Unlimited. Bold, daring, decisively different. Each of these adjectives applies to the look aboard Pink Gin VI. Befitting a yacht named for a special drink, she has a singular, and certainly surprising, blend of textures and tones. Pink appears, of course, in leather. But so do varying other tones in leather, along with velvet. You’ll also find bronze, copper, pewter, petrified wood, resin-encased flower petals, and salmon skin. We’d be remiss in not mentioning the lilac custom piano in the saloon. The most eye-catching of all of her design elements, though, are chandeliers. They’re not only in the dining areas, they hang outside. In fact, two 3-foot-high (1-meter-high) Murano glass chandeliers hang from the boom during some get-togethers.They’re bound to surprise guests as well as anyone who sees Pink Gin VI on the water. And that’s part of the reason they’re there. In fact, neither Design Unlimited nor Baltic Yachts, the builder, disclosed details about them until the yacht’s official reveal at the Monaco Yacht Show.
- Sarastar, by Luca Dini Design. To say that color explodes aboard Sarastar is an understatement. Much comes from nearly a dozen different stones, including white onyx, varying marbles, and semi-precious stones. Green onyx, for example, flows from the saloon entrance through to the dining area. Backlit onyx encases two pop-up bars separating these seating and dining areas as well. Color further comes from custom, silver-toned, silk wall coverings, additionally painted and/or embroidered (by hand, naturally). It’s particularly noteworthy in the master suite, as you’ll see. Sarastar’s owner challenged Luca Dini, along with Silvia Margutti and Gabriele Tartarelli, to create an unconventional, inventive, and inimitable decor. Lighting needed to play a role in all of this as well. Don’t miss the amber-tone, crown-like light above the dining table, custom made for Sarastar by Baldi. (Interestingly, that same crown effect serves as the base for the onyx-slabbed dining table.) Then there’s a glass sculpture, again commissioned for the yacht, rising through the spiral staircase.
- Seasense, by AREA Architecture. Color comes into play aboard Seasense as well, though primarily as tones of water. In fact, as much as the aft-deck pool was a significant starting point, the owners wanted the interior to remind family and friends they were at sea. That explains the shades of blue spreading from the lower-deck staterooms up to the alfresco main dining area (overlooking the pool, and shaded by a blue-toned overhang). It also explains the continuation of blues up into the upper-deck master suite and sundeck gym. The husband tells Architectural Digest, “I wanted the rooms to be like the horizon, with the darkest blue on the lowest level and shades that get lighter as they rise.” One exception to the blue rule comes in one guest stateroom: It features bold pops of red.
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