Seafaring Elegance: The Art of Sanlorenzo Yacht Design

The 1950s was a golden period for Italian design and style. After all, this was a country redefining itself; newly confident again, zipping through the streets on a Vespa or behind the wheel of a Ferrari, snappily dressed in Ferragamo and Pucci. Modernist designers such as Achille Castiglioni and Gio Ponti played with shape and form – when the latter’s supermodel-slim, era-defining Pirelli Tower rose high above Milan in 1958, he remarked: “She is so beautiful that I’d love to marry her”.

There was beauty and elegance on the water, too. Also in 1958, a new shipbuilder took to the waves from a small coastal town in Florence, keen to showcase Italy’s talents in craftsmanship and design in every tailor-made yacht that it made. Sanlorenzo has evolved since then, experimenting with the latest technology and materials, and introducing innovative ideas that have changed the yachting seascape. The asymmetrical layout, for example, and the open-space concept – removing partitions to create expansive bubbles of living space – along with elements such as hull terraces.

But the brief remains the same. While couture houses have their prêt-à-porter collections and diffusion ranges, the boutique Italian yacht maker is purely, single-mindedly bespoke. Every ship it makes – and it has only constructed around 1,000 in its six decades of existence – is completely unique.

Much of the yacht maker’s creativity is steered by architect Piero Lissoni, its boundary-pushing art director since 2018. Sanlorenzo was the first to look outside the shipping industry for inspiration, inviting names such as Christian Liaigre’s Studio Liaigre and the Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola to bring a fresh perspective to its fleet. Lissoni’s commitment to individual creativity has even led Sanlorenzo to take an active role in Art Basel and the Venice Biennale – commissioning original works of art each year and establishing a new cultural hub, Casa Sanlorenzo, which is due to open in Venice in 2025.

But the most important designers are the owners themselves. Prospective clients have an array of vessels to choose from, ranging from the SL series of planing yachts and the SD series inspired by 1930s trans-Atlantic liners to the SX hybrid series, which merge classic flybridge yacht with intrepid explorer ship. What they all have in common is a supremely elegant profile, with greyhound-sleek silhouettes straining forward in the water, their decks layered with a pâtissière-like perfection – one day, perhaps, this is what spaceships will look like. Prices start at around six million euro and rise up to… well, that all depends on how you want to customise your ship. Some owners may want a hot tub on deck; others may want to add toys such as jet skis and hoverboards.

The only element that remains unchanged is the hull shape and profile: having designed a boat that’s classically beautiful and wholly individual, Sanlorenzo understandably doesn’t want to rework its external design. But step inside and everything can be customised. Interiors are a blank canvas for the owner to realise their dreams, with the help of the shipyard’s expert designers. It’s where Sanlorenzo stands apart from every other yacht maker, ramping up the level of customisation to cover everything from the smallest cupboard handle to reimagining the kitchen galley. As for finish and materials, the look-book that owners are given to choose from is almost limitless – like an infinite coral reef of myriad colours and textures.

“To give an example, one recent client opted for an SL96A model, which we launched in April this year,” explains Nick Hatfield, sales manager at Sanlorenzo Yachts UK & Ireland. “By the time the contract was signed, he had listed 411 custom modifications, which later grew to over 600.” Instead of being tied to the builder’s specs, as with other makers, clients have the freedom to choose freestanding pieces of furniture from renowned Italian brands such as Minotti, Zucchetti and Paola Lenti. In the case of the SL96A, the client chose Minotti ‘Connery’ sofas, a chaise longue and handcrafted tables by Sanlorenzo’s own artisans, along with a dining table that morphs into a coffee table.

“Most builders offer interior furniture in a choice of just three or four veneers with a matt or gloss finish,” notes the owner. “When I asked for Sanlorenzo’s menu, the answer was ‘any sustainably produced veneer available anywhere on the planet’.” Any surface can be spray-painted in any colour or covered with leather or mirrors with any surface effect you desire.

The yacht-making team often takes its creative cue from the owner’s home on dry land, noting its style and interior design aesthetic. After all, there’s no reason why your yacht shouldn’t resemble a Manhattan loft on the inside, with a double-height atrium and panoramic views over the ocean rather than the city, or a modernist Greek villa, with steps leading down to the beach – or in this case the yacht’s beach-club deck. The owner can also decide on the cabin configuration – how many for crew and how many for guests – and add specific personal touches, such as having a private hallway to the master cabin.

Any potential client is taken to the shipyard in La Spezia on Italy’s Ligurian coast to view the range before diving into specifics. It will be 12 months before the yacht is completed, but there’s a busy timeline leading up to the launch date. The team keeps the owner fully informed on progress, with drawings and updates sent for approval.

“A lot of the design decisions come down to asking the client how they actually intend to use their yacht,” says Hatfield. “Do they want it for spending time with their extended family, embarking on long summer voyages, for example, or as the ultimate floating office for remote working, connected to the outside world via Starlink? Do they like to sail slowly or zip across the water? One of our owners, who’s now onto his fourth boat, runs it as a family yacht, spending weeks at sea in the Mediterranean. Another one uses his as a floating hotel, with a chef and stewards for onboard entertaining – for him, getting food quickly from the galley to the flybridge was a major design criterion, so a butterfly-wing serving hatch was added.”

Scudding across the waves, the signature sound of a Sanlorenzo yacht is the sound of the ocean itself. With most noise and vibration removed by careful attention in construction, and with bulkheads thicker than any other brand, these are some of the quietest vessels afloat. And, increasingly, some of the most sustainable. Sanlorenzo has partnered with forward-thinking companies to reduce its carbon footprint through innovations in yacht and propulsion design, using hybrid and renewable fuels.  

Its first superyacht to be powered solely by green methanol is slated for launch in 2030. While Sanlorenzo yachts are beautiful enough to warrant being displayed in a design museum, the open sea is, of course, the best showcase for them. Look carefully next time you’re in the Mediterranean, and you may spot a Sanlorenzo marque nosing elegantly out of the harbour at Hvar or nudging around unspoilt coves of Mallorca or Corfu. After all, owning a yacht isn’t just about the specifications or design, or how many sun loungers you can fit on deck: it’s about the unbridled freedom it gives. The freedom to spin the wheel and map out a fresh voyage any time you like. To explore the world on your agenda, or to simply switch off and leave the world behind – the ultimate off-grid escape.

sanlorenzoyachts.co.uk