Yahoo Lifestyle Meet the Artisans Turning Common Materials Into High Design for Superyachts
Yacht interiors have long been defined by both their joinery and custom decor—the latter often including traditional fine art. But a handful of artisans are now combining the two, transforming run-of-the-mill materials such as leather, glass, and metal into functional masterworks.
Blending durability with an aesthetic edge, Guido De Cesare’s Marine Leather designs and produces embossed, woven, and printed leathers for superyacht interiors. The Italian firm recently installed a panoramic mural comprising custom-embroidered-leather panels on the main salon wall of a 295-foot yacht. On a 236-footer, handwoven panels in the primary suite became focal points of creative expression, eliminating the need for conventional paintings or photographs. Embroidered doors, ceilings with hand-cut patterns, and intricate furniture inlays are examples of the atelier’s smaller, subtler work.
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“Hand-laced leather pieces are very meticulous and labor-intensive, especially when complex patterns must align perfectly across large panels,” says De Cesare, whose grandfather founded the business in 1930. Leather types are project dependent, but everything is marinized to resist stains and water damage, as well as treated with flame retardants. For De Cesare, the key to the process is giving the materials “durability with no compromise to their visual impact.”
British antique-glass specialist Dominic Schuster recently contributed to a refit project on a 279-foot yacht, replacing some of the salon’s marble with gilded-glass mirrors. “When cladding yacht walls, we must be super precise because errors are highly visible and would require starting from scratch,” Schuster says. Working with such fragile elements also requires cautious problem-solving. Schuster had to create silhouette cuts and inlays around speakers mounted into a mirrored wall in order to shield the glass from damage. “The yacht, the flex in the adhesive, the timber frames—the fact they all move had to be factored into the production and fitting stages,” he says. “We were pushing the boundaries on what’s possible with three-millimeter-thick glass.”
Schuster’s antique and gilded cast glass has distinguished even commonplace accents such as baseboards. The casting process is time-consuming, involving three molds for metal, silicone, and plaster that go into the final glass product, which is heavier and more expensive than marble.
Glass is also the medium of choice for Czech Republic–based design and manufacturing house Lasvit, whose bespoke chandelier adorns superyacht Go’s main salon and features 378 handblown-crystal rods, each with its own light source. When illuminated, the piece conjures images of undulating seagrass on the ceiling above. Also in Lasvit’s portfolio is a 300-foot yacht’s stunning wall presentation consisting of gold-tinted glass waves interspersed with handblown glass that mimics coral. According to Michaela Kozak, director of Lasvit UK, the challenge of this work was “achieving consistency in size, shape, and color across many unique, handcrafted elements—especially when they must fit together perfectly in an installation.”
Other structural creations, such as glass curtains and tapestries, must be fortified with a steel base while retaining shock-absorbing properties to minimize the risk of breakage. Sophie Mallebranche’s laminated-glass partition aboard Kismet’s spa has a woven-metal insert that doubles as an artistic component of the piece. “It doesn’t stain, wipes clean, and creates total privacy,” notes Andrew Langton, cofounder of Reymond Langton, Kismet’s interior designer.
Another recent project from Mallebranche, whose work is also on superyachts Kensho and Kaos, is an elaborate installation made from silver-coated enameled copper on a slightly curved stainless-steel backdrop. Its four large pieces, joined by multiple handweaving techniques, form a 16-foot-long woven-metal sunburst pattern. “Customization is what turns common materials into fine art,” says Mallebranche. But none of it would be possible without the innovative artisans who let their imaginations set sail.
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