Loewe: Elegance, innovation and a new way of living

If I had any doubts about the link between the yacht Loewe and the high-end German electronics house of the same name, stepping on board during the 2025 Monaco Yacht Show quickly laid them to rest. Various elements of Loewe’s equipment and its signature look are woven into the yacht’s very fabric, and the display cabinets held the result of the collab Loewe did with Jacob & Co: pairs of diamond- and sapphire-encrusted limitededition headphones, which had their launch a few weeks before the show, priced from a cool £86,000.

That the owner found in the all-new Tankoa T55 Sportiva the perfect canvas to realise his dual yachting ambitions was somewhat serendipitous. “The project was born almost four years ago,” says Luca Dini, president and CEO of Luca Dini Design & Architecture, which developed the T55.

“The idea was to create a new design for Tankoa, who were famous for a certain kind of yacht that featured more classical, more vertical lines. When they asked us to come up with something different, we immediately thought Sportiva – something dynamic, sporty, aggressive, like a performance car.”

The brief Tankoa gave to the design team was to create a yacht with “sporty and sexy lines” that featured a large aft deck and beach club. The idea was to have a highly flexible aft deck – including a large nine-square-metre pool – to appeal to the needs of various owners. “A few months later, Luca Dini brought the profile and general arrangement to the yard, and it was love at first sight, in the sense that we said yes to the project without any further steps,” says Vincenzo Poerio, CEO of Tankoa Yachts.

With a gross tonnage of 499, the resulting 55-metre design doesn’t just trade volume for stylish lines, it also reflects a shift in yachting lifestyle that Dini and his team have witnessed over the 30 years of the studio’s operations. “There is a new philosophy now,” he offers.

“When I started the studio, the idea was to have a villa on the sea, and people lived and dined inside – the deck areas were just a nice addition. The 55 Sportiva is the opposite of that and reflects a new way of living; the outdoor spaces are very important and very generous, and the indoor spaces are an extension of those.”

The low-slung, long-form exterior look includes an aft deck that transitions via shallow cascading steps to an extended aft terrace with a pool, and a distinctive bow profile that transitions midway from near vertical to a more conventional forward rake.

Capping the design is an extensive sundeck with hardtop. The lines and styling details recall supercar trim and aesthetics and further stretch the profile visually. The new line and look caught the attention of this experienced owner who was on the hunt for a potential yacht for charter that would allow him to imprint the style of the Loewe brand that he owns.

“I had been in touch with the Tankoa team for a while and had seen several projects,” the owner says, “but it was only when I saw the T55 Sportiva on paper that I knew it was exactly the yacht I wanted. This is a model offering an onboard experience that blends elegance, innovation and functionality – absolutely in line both with my lifestyle and with Loewe’s brand values.”

The yacht, he says, is envisioned as a contemporary and harmonious environment, in which clean lines and high-quality materials dialogue with discreetly integrated technological solutions. “It was essential for the yacht to reflect Loewe itself – innovation, essentiality and technology at the service of experience,” he explains.

The job of interpreting his vision for the interior fell to the Luca Dini team, who worked on creating a style that balances the brand-oriented brief with practical considerations for charter. They chose a warm monochrome palette with colourful accents in shades of red, green and blue, coupled with direct and indirect lighting, while including references in style and materials to Loewe products.

“We worked together with the owner’s product design team to align everything while introducing some features that are especially conceived and developed for yachting,” says Silvia Margutti, design head Forte Dei Marmi at Luca Dini Design & Architecture, and a project manager for Loewe. The result is something of a blend of two schools.

“The 55 Sportiva reflects a new way of living - the outdoor spaces are very important and very generous, and the indoor spaces are an extension of those”

“I really love Italian design, but at the same time my [brand’s] designer is German,” the owner says. “Therefore, we worked together with the yard to soften the typically German ‘business’ look, incorporating elements from Italian design brands and playing with the reflections and with the colours of the sea.”

Clear examples of that approach can be found in different areas of the yacht. The large, double-facing sofa on the sundeck, for instance, could have looked out of place but works in concert with the layout to offer a comfortable and casual connection between the forward bar and the sun lounging area aft.

The interior, meanwhile, features a sea-inspired leitmotif in the form of a silvered, rippled surface effect that adorns main and upper saloon ceilings and which can be found elsewhere such as in the coffee table’s top or forming a wall in the main deck’s dayhead.

“The rippled metallic deckhead finish is really striking,” the owner enthuses. “It’s a vibrant, reflective and undulating surface that enhances every perspective, evoking the sensation of the sea throughout. The idea was to contemporaneously maximise natural light and create a fluid connection with the sea.”

It’s particularly effective at creating visual interest in the gently monochrome interior, capturing the light and colours from both outside and those produced by the audio-visual equipment installed inside – another key facet of the design – making Loewe products not just an addition to the decor but also central to the theme of life on board.

“We worked to integrate all the technical elements from Loewe, at the same time keeping the idea of something sporty and minimal that could be filled up with sound, colour and images,” Margutti explains.

“The underlying design becomes a canvas for that, with the foil deckhead motif also bringing in the sea from outside while further repeating and reflecting the colours and the music. We even drew on things like the materials Loewe uses to cover its speakers to reinforce the connection with the brand style.”

The owner concurs. “Both on board and in Loewe products, every design choice is refined to result in truly one-of-a-kind styling,” he says. “Then, more than just materials we can say that the yacht and the brand share the same philosophy, the same attention to quality and details and the same expression of modern luxury, where aesthetics and innovation coexist in perfect balance.”

Not surprisingly, Loewe’s high-end AV products take centre stage in key areas. The upper saloon, for example, serves as a television-cum-cinema room where a large floorstanding Iconic Inspire television becomes a celebrated part of the decor, instead of a more typical screen hidden within a bulkhead or behind a mirrored panel. Entertainment remains a key feature in other areas, too, reflecting the appeal to the charter market.

“Personally, I enjoy the beach area and the aft cockpit,” the owner enthuses. “I requested, next to the bar at the aft end of the main deck cockpit, a DJ console to generate an atmosphere where refined design meets conviviality and entertainment.

At the stern, the beach area features an innovative solution for the pool where a moveable floor rises to fill the recess, creating a continuous, walkable surface that expands the deck’s usability – transforming it into a dance floor.”

The owner - or principal charterer - gets a bonus. There is a private sidedeck terrace that’s big enough for a comfortble lounge area and spa pool

The beach club, accessed via glass pantograph doors forward of the pool, can be outfitted in multiple ways on the T55 Sportiva. On Loewe, it holds a fitness station, massage table, sauna and hammam. A port-side drop-down terrace brings a direct connection to the sea.

“A major technical challenge was providing direct access to the beach area, achieved through a double watertight pantograph door perfectly centred with a twin staircase,” says Poerio. “This engineering solution proved highly complex but delivers significant aesthetic and functional value.

This area also hosts the Nemo Lounge, a wide, luminous space characterised by a large side glass wall extending below the waterline, allowing guests to observe the seabed and experience an unprecedented connection with the sea.”

When guests prefer a little more “me time”, Loewe also delivers. The layout is fairly conventional, with five comfortable guest suites on the lower deck and the owner’s stateroom forward on the main deck, but the owner – or principal charterer – gets a bonus.

The main area of the suite extends across the beam to a large rectangular hull window that offers views and light aplenty. On the other side, however, there is a private side deck terrace that’s big enough for a comfortable seating area and a full spa pool.

Given the obvious attention to symmetry in much of the exterior design – for example, in the twin aft stairs leading from main to upper deck – this asymmetric treatment comes as something of a surprise. Dini smiles knowingly. “No one has the ability to see both sides at the same time,” he quips, “except God.”

The yacht’s sinuous lines are shared with her T55 Sportiva sisterships, but the design was always meant to offer a high degree of customisation and there is plenty of scope for reconfiguring not just decor but elements of the layout too. Rose, hull No 1, launched six weeks before Loewe, and while they share a couple of ideas, such as the intriguing sit-in water feature at the forward end of the sundeck, they are different. Rose offers just four cabins on the lower deck, and Loewe features a guest lift next to the semi-open spiral guest staircase amidships.

A third T55 currently in build has a different layout yet again. Each retains T55 Sportiva’s ethos, however, as a yacht that revolved around a social, active yet relaxed lifestyle. “Thanks to the Sportiva Line, we’re introducing a new take on contemporary luxury – sleeker and sportier, with flowing lines that balance elegance, timeless style and outstanding performance,” says Poerio. “It is an important moment in our evolution.”

And for her owner, Loewe encapsulates what a charter boat should offer and what a private yacht should reflect. “She is primarily conceived for the charter market, but at the same time she represents me,” he says. “And she promotes a clear statement: enjoying life in style, with elegance, power and dynamism.”

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