|Reſlections| The
|Reſlections| The owner’s lounge on Theodoros Fotiadis’s concept 5th Element; below: Anna Borla’s 50m M/Y Aria Change is afoot in the yachting world. Today’s owners have moved away from yachts as merely status symbols – where once there was formal dining room and salons and rich, sumptuous décor created to impress, there is now an emphasis on creating a good time onboard, providing a more relaxed atmosphere for family and friends to gather. Allied to this more casual atmosphere are changes in technology to reduce emissions (such as greater hull efficiency) and more creative use of materials to produce sleeker, edgy interiors and exteriors. Yet as the up-and-coming designers front up to these contemporary challenges they continue to draw inspiration from classic designers. It’s a lineage that goes back to the Australian-born Jon Bannenberg, the godfather of modern yacht design, who first made a mark with the sailing yacht Tiawana in 1968 and founded a studio that launched careers of other influential designers (Andrew Winch, Terence Disdale, Tim Heywood, to name but three). The line continues with the likes of Martin Francis, who designed the iconic M/Y Eco, the prolific Norwegian Espen Øino, responsible for some of the most famous yachts on the ocean, and Luca Bassani, founder of everinnovative Wally. The new generation seeks to emulate such feats and the quartet featured here have the talent to do it. Take Alessandro Massari. Based in Fano, near Ancona in Italy, the 50-year-old took over his father’s business and continues to build on its reputation for stylish interiors. When I met him at the Monaco Yacht Show last year, he showed me round the 88m M/Y Project X. For the Greek firm Golden Yachts’s build, Massari was commissioned by the owner to create a contemporary and refined yet also cosy design. It’s been a long way to the top for Massari – whose father was perhaps PHOTOS FROM TOP: COURTESY THEODOROS FOTIADIS, COURTESY ANNA BORLA 34 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
PHOTOS FROM TOP: A&B PHOTODESIGN, COURTESY ARISTOTELIS BETSIS best known for the interior project manager for former Fiat president Gianni Agnelli’s F100 – encompassing time spent in America with Florida-based Paola D Smith, and work back home as a carpenter, building onboard furniture. The apprenticeship has clearly paid off and Massari is much in demand. He has recently designed the interior for another Golden Yachts creation, the 77m M/Y O’Rea, while also working on 52m M/Y Ciao with CRN and two projects with Cantiere delle Marche – a Darwin 86 and the 40m Acciaio explorer, alongside land-based projects such as designing the chic new office of Italian yacht firm Wider. Another Italian designer making waves is Anna Borla, based in Ivrea, Piedmont, just north of Turin. The Milan-educated 31-year-old is currently working on a tender limousine for the British firm Falcon Tenders. Incorporating Borla’s trademark clean and crisp style, the craft draws on archetypal naval heritage, with the classic portholes an example of the style. The lightweight craft emulates a theme running through superyachts with its use of glass – a strip of which runs down the centre of the tender to fill the interiors with light, while it also embodies the new move towards sustainable yachting, manufactured as it is from a plant-based epoxy resin. As she continues to work with Falcon to create a larger fleet of tenders, Borla, like Massari, has more than one string to her bow, creating a range of office furniture in cooperation with Studio dell’Architetto Matteo Picchio. Away from the yachting hub of Italy, young designers are making their mark elsewhere. In Berlin, the Greek Theodoros Fotiadis, 42, has produced the 105m concept 5th Element, on which each of the five decks represents one of the elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether. Fotiadis started to study car design but a meeting with a skipper of a Magnum 50 Bestia changed his passion for speed from road to water. He studied in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before moving to Berlin, and having made his mark on smaller projects, has become known as a devotee of vertical bows and versatile spaces. He also turns his hand to residential projects including a penthouse in the Sunshine State. While Fotiadis took a circumlocutory route to his profession, fellow Greek designer Aristotelis Betsis knew what he wanted to be before he went to kindergarten. After a degree in naval architecture at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, the 27-year-old now boasts his own studio in Brighton, England, where he works on a variety of projects from small production boats to larger vessels. An avowed fan of Jon Bannenberg, Betsis takes advantage of modern technology to keep the evolution of yachting continuing. He also stays true to his roots with his current project on the island of Spetses, which involves producing an electric version of the traditional Greek kaiki, the wooden boat used for fishing and to ferry locals around the Greek isles. Beyond this quartet, there is wealth of talented designers ready and waiting to take yachting design to the next level. Ever conscious of a glorious past, a truly fascinating future lies at their feet. The 101m Aristotelis Betsisdesigned concept M/Y Ark; above: M/Y Forever One, an Alessandro Massari interior design for ISA Yachts CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 35
