Bilgin Yachts' Camila aims to elevate open-air living

The full-displacement hull and strongly chiselled exterior styling of the steel and aluminium 163 Series are by Emrecan Özgün’s Unique Yacht Design in Antalya. Özgün commented that the design is centred on enhancing open-air living through cleverly arranged, spacious deck areas, including a 21-metre sundeck, a 12-metre shaded bridge aft deck and a wide main deck aft that connects seamlessly to the beach club gym below.

The proportions of the deck overhangs are balanced, not adding visual weight to the yacht’s sporty profile. Camila’s modern exterior profile features a near-plumb bow and sharply angled notches to bulwarks on the main deck, enhancing views from the interior.

The wing stations are a feature on the bridge deck, standing in bold relief against the rest of the bulwarks. On the sundeck, the central hardtop is supported by angled pillars recalling other exterior features. A hard chine sweeping back from the bow teases into a bustle on the stern quarter, giving a nice bit of visual weight to finish off the boat. These details create a crisp, modern, masculine profile that stops just short of being too aggressive.

“He liked their sub-500GT platform, although he didn’t want Eternal Spark’s finishes,” Grzeszczak continues. “Sitting down with the family in the yard in December 2022, we reached a clear understanding, and the yard gave us carte blanche in terms of flexibility and budget control.

We went to contract quickly in March 2023.” With the hull in very early construction stages at the time of contract, the owner was looking at a nearly blank canvas. An enviable position when buying a yacht started on spec. Bilgin recommended a few interior designers with experience at the yard, including the Italian firm Hot Lab.

The design is centered on enhancing open-air living through cleverly arranged, spacious deck areas

“He liked things about each one’s portfolios, but he clicked with Hot Lab,” Grzeszczak says. “That was important to my client. He is very particular, very demanding and very hands-on. He knew he would be spending a lot of time with the designers, so mutual understanding was going to be important.”

In fact, the owner made five trips to Milan to discuss and select details for the interior finishes and fabrics, as well as choosing the perfect chandeliers to adorn the interiors.

Leaning toward the minimal, the interior design needed to manage a mix of private living spaces – with five cabins on the lower deck – and large gathering areas for multiple generations, presenting an aura of calm and comfort throughout.

“The owner’s brief was to create an environment of refined elegance and timeless beauty, where modernity and warmth coexist harmoniously,” said Chiara Pastore, lead designer on the project for Hot Lab, who worked on the design for Camila alongside the firm’s partner and design director, Enrico Lumini, and designer Elena Seregni.

“We worked with a palette of warm, inviting neutrals, blending natural materials and rich textures to evoke balance and comfort,” says Pastore. “The goal was to create spaces that are quietly luxurious, where every detail contributes to a serene and sophisticated atmosphere.”

Part of the interior’s cohesiveness stems from the use of just four primary materials: eucalyptus wood, brushed bronze, leather and Calacatta gold marble. The overheads throughout feature sections of glossy white lacquer suspended from inverted tray ceilings, contrasting with leather or matt paint.

The look is far from repetitive, however, due to subtle variations in those materials and how they are used. For example, leather appears in six embossed textures, and the lacquered ceiling panels come in a variety of shapes, sometimes geometric and sometimes organic.

Hot Lab mirrored the modernity of the yacht’s exterior profile inside, but tempered it with curves and organic shapes for the primary furniture pieces in each space.

In the main saloon, for example, two large facing sofas are crescent-shaped with an oversized, irregularly shaped coffee table between them. The interior design then guides the eye of guests entering the space towards the forward dining area and to one of the yacht’s showpieces, an unusual chandelier from Luce5, undulating above the wood, bronze and onyx tabletop.

Glass flowers descend from scores of gleaming bronze rods. They diffuse and deflect light beams emanating from a mirrorfinished bronze plate in the overhead. The reflection of the chandelier dances across the surface of the dining table, which itself is neatly crafted to allow a leaf to expand the table from accommodating 10 guests to 12.

The centre of the table, which was built by furniture craftsmen at the yard, features an inset of backlit onyx, imparting a warm glow to table settings, also selected by Pastore.

To show off a second lighting statement piece – a 6.1-metre chandelier cascading down the central staircase – a curved wall separating the saloon from the yacht’s central lobby is made of clear glass. Meanwhile, glass panels in the floor of the sundeck above filter sunlight all the way down to the guest accommodation on the lower deck.

The staircase and its surrounding atrium are a signature space on board; the space afforded to the floating spiral staircase is larger than that found on many 50-metre yachts, which gives the foyer an impressive feel. It’s an extravagance, perhaps, but it certainly imparts luxury.

“The goal was to create spaces that are quietly luxurious, where every detail contributes to a serene and sophisticated atmosphere”

Forward on the main deck is the owner’s suite with a separate office. The bed features an integrated, upholstered bench at its foot. The leather headboard embraces the bed and integrated nightstands, conveying a sense of protection.

Here and in all the family cabins, inverted tray ceilings with irregularly shaped suspended panels hide indirect lighting. This solution provides diffused, gentle illumination, highlighting the forms of the spaces and the materials without visible light sources.

Throughout the cabins, the intersection of cream-coloured leather and eucalyptus wood is separated by a thin metal strip, providing a consistent design thread.

The band of panelling under the ceiling has a semi-matt finish, like all the wood on board, and elegantly frames the walls, almost like flat modern crown moulding, emphasising height and visual balance. The result is a sense of continuity and coherence, with soft reflections that highlight the natural beauty of the wood without any artificial shine.

Among the cabins on the lower deck are a pair of twins that get special treatment for something that’s usually an afterthought. Their wardrobe doors showcase a subtle 3D effect from wavy matt glass set in wood frames.

These gentle reflections add movement to the surface and add a bit of fun to the small rooms meant to be occupied by the youngest members of the family. In fact, examples of the children’s artwork, simply framed, are the only other decorative elements in these rooms.

When it’s time for the family to converge, the prime gathering space is no doubt the fullbeam, multifunctional upper deck lounge. Each space in the lounge – the relaxed seating area, bar, dining and cinema-watching space – is distinct but connected through shared palettes and textures.

Fabrics throughout are mainly from Dedar, itself a family company founded by Nicola and Elda Fabrizio and now run by their children. Additional selections from Missoni Home, Pierre Frey and Jim Thompson add variety and a touch of sophisticated liveliness. In total, there are three dining areas that will seat the entire complement of 12 guests.

At the request of Camila's owner, unique yacht design and Bilgin optimised the layout, moving tenders forward to free up the aft sections for more spacious, serene guest areas

Speaking about the interior and deck area details, Grzeszczak says, “He’s an elegant client who likes an elegant look. He’s very exacting, and I believe he would say that Bilgin exceeded his expectations with Camila. From the beginning, it’s been an excellent project; every time the owner asked for a little bit more, the yard responded positively.”

Bilgin’s series yachts continue to evolve, and the next yacht to succeed the 163 will be three metres longer to increase the area for the aft main deck, swim platform and beach club.

Framing and structural changes will eliminate the interior structural supports that currently divide the main deck lounge from the dining space, creating a more open feel.

Rather fittingly, the first unit sporting the longer LOA, which will be dubbed the Bilgin 173, was sold during the same 2025 Monaco Yacht Show where Camila made her grand entrance. It’s clear that in this family, each sibling will keep redefining what it means to be a Bilgin.

First published in the January 2026 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.