The Nautical Excellence Meets Design Excellence

Sanlorenzo leapt into third position in the Global Order Book 2011, the annual list of orders for international super yacht builders (yachts measuring over 80 feet, or 24 metres). The Genoa International Boat Show is a nautical event at the highest levels, and prestigious showcase for the world's best producers and the finest Italian-made craftsmanship; the firm will present itself there, focusing on its ties with the design world, together with the brands Artemide, Boffi, B&B Italy, Living Divani and Roda.

Its yachts are always unique, customised to suit the owner's requirements and tastes, with lines that transcend fad and fashion, where highly skilled craft and tradition, handed down from father to son, are combined with attention to detail, an artisanal finish, and luxury materials. Sanlorenzo represents excellence within its sector, an elite among the elite. It comes not as a big group, but as a yacht builder for the seasoned owner, a connoisseur with whom to design and develop the boat of your dreams.

With an approach to boat building that unquestionably qualifies as “design” in terms of technique, innovation and experimentation, as well as creativity, value and exclusivity, further confirmed by the prestigious accolade received on 14 June from the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano, the "The Italian Innovation and Design Award 2011", awarded for the interiors of the SL104 motor yacht, designed by the Dordoni Architetti studio. The prize is given to designers and businesses commended by ADI (the Italian industrial design association), hence in a purely design-centred context, and Sanlorenzo has chosen the occasion of the Genoa Boat Show to celebrate this important result, and to explore new and more effective relations and contaminations with the design world.

This is the objective underlying the partnership with Artemide, Boffi, B&B Italy, Living Divani and Roda - some of the most prestigious names in Italian design, represented in all its forms, from furniture to kitchens, lighting to outdoor decor. These are the companies invited by Sanlorenzo to collaborate, both in furnshing its own 1,000m² stand, with displays worthy of the Salone del Mobile including dedicated display areas for each company, and in applying these design products to the marine world, in the seven super yachts moored at the entrance.

Yachting casts a knowing wink at design, with contemporary interiors that are every bit as good as those of the finest villas, where every piece selected is not only high-quality, it is also the fruit of an extraordinary blend of innovation, design and craftsmanlike care. For life at sea, traditional furnishings have to be able to give that little bit more: not only must they be custom-made to meet the sophisticated demands of boat owners who seek perfection in every detail, they must also be technically transformed to handle the particularly tough conditions. Sun, salt and the roll of the waves all require specially developed solutions, which may mean anything from simply a special treatment to a more complex re-engineering of a product. This was indeed the case for the lighting from Artemide, re!engineered to create a system suitable for offshore requirements, and for the K2 kitchen from Boffi. The original home design, created in 2000 by Norbert Wangen, was transformed through the joint efforts of the technical office at Sanlorenzo and the contract division at Boffi, into an attractive product suitable for use at sea, and for an outdoor position on the flying bridge of the SL104. While B&B Italia offered the fruit of its research and experimentation in its outdoor collection to furnish the lounge, flying bridge and main deck of the SL82/588, Living Divani supplied the Chemise sofa, designed by Piero Lissoni, in a C-shaped corner composition that is not available on catalogue, and was created especially to fit perfectly into the interiors of the nautical gem that is the SL104.

Finally, Roda's contribution lay in products for the maritime sector using precious woods such as solid teak, and materials offering great outdoor performance, such as stainless steel, or cushions with water-repellant fabrics and water-draining filling.

Design offers Sanlorenzo an extra ace to play, offering boat owners top quality interiors and the possibility of freely choosing the furniture that best reflects their character from the catalogues of the most reputable names in the field, just as they would on land. For design companies, who are used to working with the home and contract markets, the maritime sector is a highly seductive world, a new, stimulating field of operation, and an exciting challenge, because it means working with incredible limitations, but also focusing their design energy on finding innovative solutions and new approaches to interpreting their own products.

This is the spirit of collaboration, which will reach its climax on Saturday 1 October: an exclusive evening lit up with fireworks, where the sea, boats and interiors will take centre stage, conveying a spirit of all-round quality and innovation.

For Sanlorenzo, this represents the perfect opportunity to toast the prestigious accolade received from President Giorgio Napolitano, and to reassert the strength of the relationship established with the world of design and designing. From the abovementioned collaboration with the Dordoni Architetti studio to design the interiors of the motor yacht SL104, to the new partnership with Artemide, Boffi, B&B Italy, Living Divani and Roda to furnish its various models, right up to the cooperation with architect Stefano Boeri, who signed the development project for Cantieri Navali di Ameglia, where Sanlorenzo has its headquarters, inside the Montemarcello Magra Regional Park. A marvellous project, involving overlaying a series of planted surfaces onto the existing buildings, both horizontally and vertically, delineating a cutting!edge structure that will introduce the vertical garden, a philosophy of interweaving architecture and the environment: the first time this has been done in a place of manufacture.

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