Inside track: The yacht interior design brands to know this season

A degree in architecture and a passion for fine art were the foundations of Chicago-based Suzanne Lovell Inc, which comprises a 20-strong team, and has been listed in Architectural Digest’s top-100 interior designers and architects. For more than 30 years, the company has built up an impressive portfolio of luxury residential projects, from superyachts to sprawling penthouses, Manhattan pied-à-terres and whimsical California beach houses.

Using a client’s personal taste as a launch pad, each project is undertaken via what Lovell calls the “Three-Dimensional Experience” — an all-round approach encompassing architecture, interior design and fine art, with an understanding that this trio are integral to the process. It’s an approach that echoes the practices of Ferrari and his contemporaries Charles and Ray Eames, Alvar Aalto and Giò Ponti. These giants of design were creative polymaths, often experimenting with art, furniture design, textiles, ceramics and glassware.

Craft is undeniably at the heart of Lovell’s hugely successful business. By collaborating with an array of niche design talent from her extensive network she ensures each finished project is a unique masterpiece. Art also takes a central role, with antiques and auction-sourcing an integral part of the process. “Sir John Soane inspired the creation of what he referred to as the ‘poetry of architecture’, where art can happen,” Lovell explains of her inspiration. “His words are telling: ‘Think and feel as a poet, combine and embellish as a painter and execute as a sculptor’. I believe this is what we do every day at Suzanne Lovell Inc.”

Visit suzannelovellinc.com

Italian style is no stranger to flamboyance so Bottega Veneta’s subtle and discreet Home Collection is perfect for the superyacht owner who prefers a more muted colour palette. Founded in Vicenza in 1966, Bottega Veneta began producing luxury leather goods in the master craftsman tradition. That approach, rather than trend-driven fashion, has remained the cornerstone of the brand.

In 2006, the year it opened a school dedicated to training the next generation of leather artisans, the company launched its Home Collection. Creative director Tomas Maier started it all in 2001, when he began commissioning bespoke furnishings for select retail stores. The pieces soon attracted the attention of discerning clients but, rather than selling them (as was often requested), Maier promised to make the customers their own versions instead.

Ten years later the Home Collection is now an integral part of Bottega Veneta. It favours modern, functional pieces that bear the trademark intrecciato leather braiding motif. Each item is elegant enough to work as a standalone accessory or as part of a set, and the look suits an onboard setting just as well as one on dry land.

Visit bottegaveneta.com

“Veneto is full of artisans and is famous for its furniture, textiles and glassware. It’s very much the fashion here to have everything made by someone local,” explains Allegra Marchiorello. “Every little house in this corner of Italy has its own company in the backyard.” It’s one of the reasons Marchiorello co-founded Once Milano with his long-time friend, linen aficionado Valeria Piovesana Thompson. The house’s Italian-made linen is of the highest quality, made from the longest threads, using flax grown near Milan. The weave is the smoothest, strongest and most absorbent money can buy: cooling in the summer months, cocooning in the winter.

When the company was approached to produce a collaboration with Sanlorenzo, it seemed a very natural fit. “Linen is the perfect material on a boat: it’s light, low-maintenance and understated, yet incredibly luxurious,” says Piovesana Thompson. “That’s the beauty of it,” agrees Marchiorello. “It never looks contrived. It’s also all custom-made — we’ve worked with clients to create bespoke finishes and have included their monograms.”

Designing a collection for boats proved an interesting challenge. “It’s quite different to designing for a home,” says Marchiorello. “For starters, the water is such a central element, and the space you’re working with is contained. We wanted to create something that was sophisticated yet highly refined.” The brand’s covetable Piping Collection was born from this collaboration, and Once Milano enjoys a good working relationship with Jonathan Fawcett, one of the UK’s leading luxury supplier to superyachts.

Visit oncemilano.com

As part of luxury Italian linen house Pratesi’s ambitious five-year plan towards international expansion, it has launched a new range specifically for yachts. The collection of sumptuous bedding, table linens and towels is made to order, with customisation options including bespoke monogramming available.

Run by the fourth generation of the Pratesi family, the house is focused on delivering faultless craftsmanship, drawing on the skill of its team of designers, weavers and embroiderers, who create the linen in its Florence headquarters. COO and future CEO Simone Bocchio and president Federica Pratesi bring a personal insight into the yachting industry to the production of timeless, elegant linens.

Visit pratesi.com

Italians can turn everyday objects into works of art and this is certainly true of the exquisite porcelain from Richard Ginori 1735. Delicate, hand-decorated patterns and illustrations of 19th century botany and rare birds adorn its charming collections, which will turn any on-board dining experience into an event to be remembered.

The distinguished porcelain company was founded nearly 300 years ago in the foothills of Monte Morello near Florence. Over the course of its illustrious history, it has collaborated with leading Italian architects and designers including Gio Ponti and was recently acquired by Gucci.

Visit richardginori1735.com

As one might guess from a furniture company with a name that evokes adventure, Summit’s speciality is extremely high-quality furniture specifically made for the outdoors. Crafted in sustainable, plantation-grown teak, which is water-resistant and strong, its chairs, tables and loungers are as ideal for the deck of a superyacht as for a domestic garden.

The Californian firm collaborates with leading designers like Linley, with which it created a clean-lined, curved collection (lounge chair, above, €5,487), inspired by the interiors of the top classic yachts. It is made to be stacked or stowed — perfect for sailing purposes.

Visit summitfurniture.com

“All projects start as dreams in the mind of an owner.” This is the philosophy of the Italian company that has designed the interiors of some of the world’s finest superyachts and most luxurious hotel suites and palatial private homes. FM Architettura d’Interni was founded by the architect Francesca Muzio and the interior designer Maria Silvia Orlandini in 2009, and in a few short years, has amassed an incredibly impressive portfolio of clients in all corners of the world.

The company made its name by creating yacht interiors that are effortlessly elegant, yet at the same time have an inviting, natural feel. As its reputation grew, it was commissioned for high-profile interior design projects such as the luxurious Presidential Suite of Shangri-La at The Shard, London - along with other Shangri-La properties in China and the Philippines — as well as premium residential properties stretching from Bahrain to Beverly Hills.

Despite the long list of people lining up to benefit from their expertise, Muzio and Orlandini never forget the views of the most important person in any project: the owner. Whether the commission is for a yacht or a penthouse, the pair consult at length with the client so his or her “uniquely personal wishes” can be fully reflected in the interior that FM Architettura d’Interni will go on to create.

Visit fm-arch.it

Designer Giorgio Armani will shortly open a four-storey Armani/Casa flagship boutique in Milan — the new home of his interiors collection, which launched in 2000. This season, as previously, he has once more looked to the natural world for inspiration. As well as the 50-piece numbered and signed limited-edition bar cabinet, “Club”, which features on its doors a hand-lacquered ocean motif inspired by Japanese artist Hokusai’s The Great Wave, there is a screen featuring a Japanese-style landscape print. The same image adorns an upholstered chaise longue, and there are blankets decorated with images of lions and leopards, leopard stone marquetry, and a crystal-encrusted flower to elevate a table setting.

“All my designs for the home collection are intended to promote an atmosphere of calm relaxation,” says Armani. “One way to do this is to reference Mother Nature, as the natural world is nurturing and beautiful.” Those who enjoy life at sea will certainly appreciate that sentiment.

Visit armanicasa.com

Tai Ping has been making and supplying one-of-a-kind carpets to discerning clients all over the world for 50 years. Its first-ever commission, from the Grauman’s Theatre in Los Angeles, was for a carpet so large it needed to be constructed in a tent erected outside the factory. Today, the Hong Kong-headquartered company has five distinct divisions and showrooms across Europe, North America and Asia.

New for 2016 is a collaboration with award-winning florist Jeff Leatham. The artistic director at Paris’s Four Seasons Hotel Georges V, Leatham is famed for creating stunning floral installations and bouquets for everyone from the Dalai Lama to Oprah Winfrey.

The Bloom collection comprises 14 handmade wool-and-silk rugs that were inspired by geometric shapes and the organic forms of solid, liquid and vapour. Each of the custom-made designs explodes with colour, with even Leatham admitting to feeling “chills” when he saw them realised for the first time.

Visit taipingcarpets.com

William Morris famously said one should have nothing in the house one “doesn’t know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”. Someone who knows more than most about exquisite fine art for your superyacht is antique dealer and gallery owner Adrian Sassoon.

For more than two decades, Sassoon has been honing his craft as a specialist in contemporary decorative art and French 18th century Vincenne and Sèvres porcelain. Whether the delightful, conch-like sculptures of Shochiku Tanabe, from Japan’s foremost bamboo-art family, or the fine, Chinese-style porcelain vases by the Australian ceramicist Robin Best (above, €71,100), a piece from Sassoon is both a shrewd investment and a marker of taste.

Visit adriansassoon.com