“Create a beautiful environment! … an interior where beauty and glamour set the tone.” This is what the owners of Elements instructed interior designer Cristiano Gatto to do for their 262-foot (80-meter) SOLAS-compliant yacht. Gatto didn’t have to look too far to find influences. Yachtley, the shipyard behind Elements, sits in the Kocaeli Free Zone of Turkey, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) from Istanbul. The city’s Ottoman and Islamic architectural influences stimulated Gatto’s creativity. “A ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ atmosphere lingers everywhere you look,” he explains.
Bearing a 42’7” (13-meter) beam, Elements accommodates 24 guests, just the second superyacht from Yachtley. (The first came in 2009, the 213-foot/65-meter Nourah of Riyad.) Her naval-architecture studio, however, has high-profile experience, especially with SOLAS-compliant superyachts. Alpha Marine gained fame for projects like Annaliesse and Alysia, each 279 feet (85 meters) LOA. The studio handled styling and the general arrangement in addition to naval architecture for this project. Somewhat conservative in profile (below), Elements still blends classic and contemporary looks, besides offering an opulent interior.
Of course, like any other private yacht, Elements is getting attention for that lavish interior design. “Each environment onboard has it distinctive decoration,” Gatto says, though rooms do share ornamental accents and materials. For instance, you’ll see etched designs on glass and mirrors, inlaid marble soles, as well as decorative plaster overheads. In addition, backlit alabaster panels appear throughout the yacht. “Distinguished motifs of the decoration are ordered repetition,” Gatto explains, “radiating structures and rhythmic patterns but also architectural structures such as columns and niches.”
Good examples of the ordered repetition are the backlit panels in the upper saloon (below), which doubles as a disco, and the owners’ private dining area (at top). That dining room, by the way, seats a total of 24 at two tables. Note, too, the intricately inlaid marble sole in the dining room. Similarly, the wellness area aboard Elements, just off the beach club, contains a hammam with detailed inlays, plus mosaic tiles.
All nine guest suites, distinguished by colors in both the sleeping areas as well as the baths, lie off a foyer on the main deck. However, the most lavish decor is reserved for the owners’ deck, one level up. Besides a strikingly lavish master suite, the deck further has two large VIPs, an office, a cinema (complete with nine reclining lounges), and a “gentleman’s room.” For swift arrivals and departures, Elements additionally has the suite open out onto the helipad.
Elements made a 1,900-nautical-mile maiden voyage from Turkey to Monaco in early September. It was one of the first long tests of her twin MTUs, which permit a reported 20-knot top end. Take a look at some of her opulent areas in the photo gallery below.
Yachtley yachtley.com
Alpha Marine mobile.alphamarine.gr
Cristiano Gatto Design cristianogattodesign.com
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