How Yacht Designers Are Creating Interiors to Reflect Their Clients’ Cultural Interests
Superyacht designers have begun to navigate the cultural preferences of their clientele by redefining yacht interiors in subtle but significant ways. Twenty years ago, European shipyards thought a mah-jongg room was the only accommodation needed to satisfy Chinese buyers. These days, designs targeting the Asian market—where yacht ownership has grown 30 percent in five years—require more sophistication and understanding.
“They tend to use their boats for family gatherings and social or corporate events, so service is at the highest level with extensive crew,” says François Zuretti, who designed several of Benetti’s largest super yachts for a Hong Kong client. “Privacy must be respected.” As do the customer’s needs: There have been yachts delivered to China without engines because the owners had no intention of ever leaving the dock.
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Italian shipyard Rossinavi recently launched its semi-custom Nolimits brand with performance and seaworthiness as primary goals, while also focusing on location-specific styling. Yacht designer Fulvio de Simoni and the Shanghai bureau of Pininfarina partnered on layouts targeting the Asia-Pacific segment for the new brand. “The social areas are characterized by strong, fluid Pininfarina lines, which contrast with the glass, wood, and other materials chosen,” says de Simoni. “Elements like lighting and textures are also reminiscent of traditional Chinese design.” Custom sofas and tables, penned by Pininfarina, add to the contemporary sensibility. The owner’s suite, by contrast, employs softer, warmer colors, the walls embellished with wood inlays aligning with time-honored Asian motifs.
Nolimits’ 147-foot-plus explorer allows for extensive interior customization. “Its main and upper decks can be designed as a high-end club,” says Federico Rossi, chief operating officer of Nolimits, noting both levels will be used “just for entertainment,” with a karaoke room, a game room, and a whiskey bar. “That’s unusual compared to what we do for European and U.S. clients.”
Elsewhere, there’s a comingling of aesthetics. “American owners tend to be more conservative than the rest of the world, but that’s changing,” says Greg Marshall, a naval architect in Victoria, British Columbia. One of his clients has moved from traditional Americana, defined by a conventional white hull, a lack of exterior glass, and uninspiring, low-maintenance furniture—what Marshall calls cutting-edge vanilla—in previous builds to an “aggressive, racy yacht on the edge of European design.” Yet as with most stateside owners, functionality and livability are as important as style. “A lot of U.S. families run their own 100-footers,” adds Marshall. “They are very conscious of how the yacht functions.”
Giorgio Cassetta, of Rome-based Cassetta Yacht Designers, also sees a “no-nonsense” attitude among his U.S. clients, now the largest segment of superyacht buyers. “They love the Italian aesthetic, but they’re less forgiving when it comes to the practical usage of the boat,” he says, noting that these owners are drawn to the European approach, which values treated wood and stone surfaces, ample glass, hand-stitched upholstery, and minimalist interiors with loose, movable furniture.
Cassetta’s new 213-foot Benetti B.Loft design, for example, is cross-cultural in scope. “It has Italian DNA,” he says, “but American architecture drove the design language.” According to Cassetta, copious floor-to-ceiling glass and terraces on the water are reminiscent of a California seaside villa, while the double-height salon resembles a Manhattan loft.
Moonen’s new 133-foot Mallorca, which owes its interior to Dutch design house Vripack, also has “European architecture with a California feel,” says Marnix Hoekstra, Vripack’s co–creative director. He points to the combination of American chestnut with frameless floor-to-ceiling windows and custom furniture. “There’s a recognizable American element in the paneling, which European owners wouldn’t ask for,” says Hoekstra. “We’ve found this U.S. generation wants European design, but with their own stamp on it.”
In bespoke yachts, cultural mores are even more pronounced. Hoekstra has a Brazilian customer who commissioned a recent 133-footer with an asymmetrical lower deck for two extra guest cabins. “This client wants the whole family—grandparents, children, and grandkids—on board,” explains Hoekstra. “South Americans want space for many people, even if it means smaller staterooms,” he adds.
The increasing regional influence within the industry shows no signs of slowing, as various multicultural expectations are finding application. What Zuretti calls a convergence in usage is one that he assures “will never lead to monotonous designs.”
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