“I have never understood the ‘Lord Nelson’ approach to nautical design: yachts are ultra-technological – why all the tradition?” architect Piero Lissoni says. Sanlorenzo Yachts’ art director, Lissoni designed the interior of the second Sanlorenzo 57Steel, Virtuosity. “Likewise, I don't see why a yacht should be a compendium of all things associated with wealth — marbles, hides, exotic woods — because luxury and vulgarity often go hand in hand. Why do people who have beautiful homes then have such vulgar yachts? I think that this vulgarity more often than not comes from the shipyard architects who seem to think that wealthy owners want splashy materials. I don't agree with that.”
So what does he think a yacht should be? A land-based architect by training, Lissoni feels strongly that a yacht should aspire to be a villa. “I'm not a nautical designer and I don't want to become one. I'm an architect and as such I feel like an outsider when I work in the nautical world,” he says.
Lissoni's first two incursions into yachting territory were the 122ft Vitters sailing yacht , launched in 2005, and the 166ft Mondomarine explorer yacht , launched in 2007. His subsequent work with Sanlorenzo includes the new 44X-Space and models such as the SP110, SX76, SX88, SX100 and SX112, with 184ft Virtuosity being the biggest yet. Sanlorenzo is enthusiastic about working with designers and architects from outside the nautical sphere, counting Dordoni Architetti, Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, Patricia Urquiola, Michele Bönan and Studio Liaigre among past collaborators.
