On the Water Shape Shifter In Conversation with Guillaume Rolland Pairing dashing styling with savvy use of classic materials, the Paris-based designer – head of yachts at Christian Liaigre for nearly 20 years – brings a one-of-a-kind savoir-faire to his projects On the essence of a yacht A yacht is the most tailor-made object of wellbeing and pleasure. On a yacht you have freedom. Compared to, say, a house which is a refuge and a shelter, a boat is a shelter and an escape. Rolland, left, and his office at Liaigre On what makes a Liaigre design Everything is done with purpose. You can put a story behind every line, which is not always the case with other designers. Everything is balanced. It is a lot of work, because you have an intermeshing of elements, but in the end, if you have a strong mind, this makes it easier, because you know when you have to stop. You stop designing when you have solved the problem, solved the balance – knowing when to stop is something super satisfying. On current projects We are working on the interior for a chase boat for a mothership, a large 60m sloop built in the Netherlands at Royal Huisman, in collaboration with Windy. It is the smallest boat we have ever worked on and the funny thing really is the size. As a sailor, I take a lot of pleasure in creating very small spaces. It will be ready in the next one-anda-half to two years, when the mothership is ready. On the meaning of bespoke A yacht design is a special request, a special order. The root of yachting is to request something: I want a yacht to cruise in specific waters – with a shallow draught, or a bigger draught, this kind of engine. It depends if you want to cruise in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean – the current is not the same. All of those questions have to be solved. This is the basics of yachting. Cloudbreak, a 75m Abeking & Rasmussen motor yacht with Christian Liaigre interiors On his materials of choice We always end up using more or less the same family of materials, which are novel, simple, plain ones. We use stone and marble; all kind of woods, solid and veneer; leather; beautiful fabrics in cotton and linen; beautiful paint lacquer – that’s everything. We are playing with a few materials, with accents of metals, but always emphasise very simple materials, which are combined together, with special finishes. liaigre.com• As told to Cornelia Marioglou PHOTOS COURTESY LIAIGRE 64 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
