Designer insight: Jonny Horsfield on John Staluppi's 82m Bilgin flagship

With the recent interior unveiling of the 82-metre Project Bond, BOAT goes behind the scenes with H2 Yacht Design's owner and creative director to hear more about Bilgin Yachts' in-build flagship...

The highly anticipated interior reveal offered a first look at the yacht’s Art Deco-inspired design. As construction progresses, H2’s Jonny Horsfield shares more about the thinking behind the interiors - from the features that took priority to Staluppi’s exacting demands and the subtle 007 references woven throughout...

What was the starting point for Project Bond's interiors?

At H2, we don't really have a house style; our portfolio is incredibly diverse, but I've worked in Art Deco quite a few times over the years, and it's a really timeless style. Even though a lot of the industry has gone toward that super-modern, minimal "beach house" look, there's still strong demand for something smarter: a modern interpretation of Art Deco, which is what we've done here.

The secret is really the combination of materials and how you apply them. In simple terms: a rich mix of lacquered, varnished wood (we use stained wenge or oak to give you that dark contrast), then you offset that with lovely off-white leathers and fabrics. Interspersed, we then have églomisé glass panels and some nice rich burl, all tied together with stainless steel trim details and a lot of mirror.

That's the basic formula, and then you add colour – minimal colour, but a rich blue tends to be the one that works so well with these combinations, and it's what a lot of clients want. John doesn't like grey, so grey-blues have been avoided.

You previously mentioned that Staluppi was interested in some of your early Art Deco designs. Was there anything in particular that caught his attention?

We recently completed Turquoise Yachts' Angelique - a real "wow" and an upgrade from an earlier yacht, Go, which also had an initial Art Deco take. Going further back to around 2010, we did Talisman [now Talisman Maiton] followed by a second Talisman [Talisman C] – both also built with Turquoise – the earliest one having a very Art Deco interior, right down to the fabrics.

Because of this, John was familiar with our portfolio. It's not that he simply loves Art Deco and wants it regardless – he's a very experienced yacht owner, so some interiors he's commissioned and some he's inherited. He always leaned toward richer, darker, warmer and more classic interiors, so Art Deco felt like a natural fit. He was blown away when he saw what we'd done on the other boats and said straight away: "That's what we want." 

We've obviously developed this into something slightly different - I didn't invent the formula, but certain features do recur; that's just the nature of the style.

Where a client doesn't have a concrete direction, we usually show a range of different styles and designs and gauge the reaction, then narrow it down to what we think they'll like, until they can choose a direction that really resonates. That's essentially what happened here.

How did Staluppi’s fascination with 007 influence the design?

In reality, 007 hasn't influenced the architecture of the interior much. It comes through more in the artwork and accessories – there's quite a lot of Bond-themed artwork – but the references are mostly subtle. 

One example is in the lobby, where we have a circular staircase with a central lift, and in the floor and ceiling there's a spiral design set into the joinery, worked in marble with a mirror above it. It's meant to echo the "gun barrel" motif from the Bond films – where Bond turns and shoots at the camera at the start of each movie – so the spiral is meant to represent the bullet. That's about as far as it goes; John didn't insist on anything more literal than that. He likes the names and the ideas associated with Bond, but it's not a "Disney" theme.

Given how much time the owners spend aboard, what were the main considerations for comfort, liveability and ease of use?

John is probably one of the most experienced yacht owners around, so he really knows what he does and doesn't like. He's compromised in the past on boats bought secondhand, where he inherited certain layouts - but this is a new build, so his demands are grounded in genuine experience rather than being arbitrary.

His biggest priority is storage. It sounds boring, but it's the backbone of a successful yacht - the crew hate it when there isn't enough, and it directly affects how well the boat functions, which in turn affects the guest experience. He wants every available space used: no dead space behind bulkheads, everything engineered for storage.

The second big point is sea-fastening – again, drawn from years of experience. We use a "lift and pull" drawer system (an old-fashioned way of sea-fastening a drawer) with a wedge at the back; you lift the front of the drawer to release it.

Every other cupboard has a positive lock too - a push-latch with a pop-up handle that operates the catch. That's because on previous builds he's seen interiors where doors and drawers only have basic spring-loaded push latches that don't actually hold shut properly at sea.

John's wife, Jeanette, has also been involved in the design. How did you work with her on the interiors?

All the meetings are held with both of them together. They're a lovely couple, married for a long time, and they each have their own ideas but always find a compromise. John is more of a showman — he likes a bit of "bling", wants it to look amazing and be talked about. Jeanette is more feminine and subtle in her taste.

So, for example, John's bathroom has a slightly stronger material palette than hers. She's very much in charge of selecting and approving all the fabrics, while he's more focused on the technical side: engineering, air conditioning and so on.

What has been the most challenging design element on board so far?

It's hard to say fully at this stage, as the boat is only a hull structure at the moment, so the design isn't finished. Overall, the challenge is making an authentic Art Deco interior that's also functional and practical - making sure there's enough storage, and so on – while also ensuring that everything feels connected and flows consistently, rather than jumping between different styles or moods from one area to the next.