Highlights - Marbella Luxury Real Estate Magazine 2019

Highlights
DESIGNING
for a 360 DEGREE
LIFESTYLE
When ‘home’ could mean your luxury penthouse, super-yacht or private jet,
depending on where the day, week or whim takes you, you will be needing
an interior designer: one who can cater to your peripatetic lifestyle on land,
sea and in the air.
By Zoe Dare Hall
For the sort of person whose day
begins in a beautiful house on dry
land and finishes in a private palace
on the waves or in the clouds,
consistency in all their homes is key. James
White, co-founder of the property and yacht
design studio March & White, often works
with clients who lead a “360 degree lifestyle”,
as he calls it. “They want to feel all their
spaces relate to each other,” says White, whose
projects include the yacht-inspired interiors
at 125 Greenwich, an 88-storey Manhattan
skyscraper designed by architect Rafael Viñoly.
And where, traditionally, the world of
yacht design has been a notoriously tough one
for land-based designers to enter, dominated
by names such as Bannenberg & Rowell and
Andrew Winch of Winch Design, now the
growing overlap between luxury homes on
land and water – and for an even more rarefied
elite, in the clouds too - is leading to a raft of
big name interior architects joining the fray.
They include Philippe Starck, who has
shaken up the conventions of super-yacht
design with his futuristic vessel, Sailing Yacht
A. “I designed Sailing Yacht A in line with
the personality of the owners and the function
required. I use the same rules, the same
parameters when designing luxury properties,”
Stark comments. “I always think about how my
creation will profit the person who will use the
object or place I am creating. I want people to
feel at their best: more creative, more confident
and, I hope, more in love.”
Both types of designer –
land or sea - bring invaluable
insight to the process. Yacht
designers are skilled at
working with awkward spaces
and creating the division
between front and back of
house, for entertaining guests
and enjoying privacy. “Yacht
designers also know about
architectural finishes such as
teak, and the colours, textures
and layering that are redolent of
a yachting lifestyle,” comments
Dickie Bannenberg, partner at
Bannenberg & Rowell.
Property designers know
how to make yachts feel more
welcoming. “Some yacht
interior designers only see
the yacht. We always design
a yacht as a home,” says
Nicola Fontanella of Argent
Design, whose land, sea and
Miami home by Nicola Fontanella
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