This week, design studio LoveFrom and Japanese manufacturer Balmuda launched the Sailing Lantern at an exclusive event in Monaco. Durable but undeniably beautiful, the yachting accessory holds resonances of a time where, for seafarers, light held sway over "life, death and destiny". Dea Jusufi sits down with creatives Sir Jony Ive and Gen Terao to learn more.
"I would have just bought a lantern for my yacht – I wanted to. But there isn’t anything on the market. So instead, I spent two years hard at work designing it," Sir Jony Ive laughs. "To make something this technologically sophisticated takes time."
Ive's creative collective, LoveFrom, has partnered with Japanese design and manufacturing company Balmuda on a new yachting accessory known as the Sailing Lantern. I’ve been tasked with interviewing Ive and Balmuda president Gen Terao in a tucked-away (but very ornate) room at the Royal Automotive Club in Pall Mall, London. The lantern is there, too: deceptively minimalist, it gleams at the centre of the oak table at which the three of us sit.
Created to withstand rugged maritime conditions, from stinging winds to salt spray, the Sailing Lantern is made from modest but durable materials, including stainless steel and glass. "The value comes from the care that we’ve put into the design, engineering and manufacturing," Ive explains. "We could have finished this a year ago, but it would have been a far less thoughtful product."
According to the pair, this project was guided by "the value of simple, creative partnership” and their own kindred personalities, including a “shared obsession" with small, unseen details. They take turns excitedly taking me through each one, from the way the lantern turns on and off – once the dial is turned, the light dims and then dies organically, much like flame – to the steel frame that protects it.
"Each component is connected, though it doesn’t appear that way," Terao elaborates, pointing at each invisible junction in the gold lens guard. "That’s because a series of 0.4-millimetre pins fasten everything in place. The whole thing is so exact that, once you’ve inserted the pins in, you can’t take them out again."
Precision is key, and the lantern's two LEDs, rechargeable battery and digital control make it as practical as it is technically compelling. A single dial controls both brightness and colour temperature, from cool to warm, though warm is my personal favourite. Every facet has been carefully considered – even the lantern strap which, styled in a soft shade of sand, is made from textured polyester that resists salt, sun and oil.
Founded by Ive in 2019, LoveFrom is a collective of designers and creatives that have been involved in everything from turntables to electric cars and Open AI. Meanwhile, Balmuda has achieved international recognition for its kitchen and household appliances. Why have the two joined forces on a yachting accessory? For Ive, the answer is simple. "I really, really love sailing," he enthuses. "I’ve been sailing since I was a boy on my little GP14. Now, I own a rather large sailing yacht, so I do live inside this world. This is a very personal project to me."
Terao, on the other hand, was happily recruited last year. "In January 2024, I got an email from LoveFrom, which surprised me. Then Jony visited our store in Tokyo, which was an even bigger surprise," he smiles. "When he first showed me the design, it struck me as something really romantic. And when I asked him why he wanted to make this lantern, he said, ‘because I want to use it’. It was so simple and powerful – I had to accept his request."
Another simple but powerful notion behind this product is its longevity. The Sailing Lantern has been designed to be easy to maintain, disassemble and repair – and to recycle at the end of a lifetime of use. It’s something that both Ive and Terao believe in deeply. "Take the Royal Automobile Club as an example," Terao says. "There are these vintage cars in the lobby that you could drive now if you wanted to. The reason you can do that is because of this concept of repair. That’s what we want for the Sailing Lantern."
At this point, Ive jumps in, clearly impassioned by Terao’s words. "I grew up cleaning and polishing my shoes, and I love the idea of taking care of an object. You feel more connected to it, and more grateful to have it. And light, warmth, is something that contemporary society certainly takes for granted."
After years of development, deliberation and a visibly easy-going partnership, the Sailing Lantern has now been released into the world. The collection is limited edition (of course), with only 1,000 units available. Considering its flexibility – Ive tells me he has prototypes in both his studio and garden – this is an object unlikely to stay on the shelf for very long.