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Yacht Style: Italian Influence with Designer Luca Dini
Seasoned yacht interior designer Luca Dini on how he creates custom designs on a grand scale.
This article was written by Julia Zaltzman. Photography courtesy of Heesen Yachts.
“Our approach to design is flexible. We spend time with the client to get a feel for their lifestyle because, ultimately, our aim is to give them their dream.” Luca Dini, founder of the eponymous Italian design studio, is sitting across from me sipping an espresso.
I’ve been invited to a design workshop at the Heesen shipyard in Oss, for whom Dini has penned a total of five yacht interiors. His latest iteration, Project Venus, is the eighth in the yard’s 55-meter Steel Fast Displacement series, and the only speculation yacht of its size built by a Northern European shipyard with a fast delivery on the market today.
“After a few months of getting to know the client, we dedicate a room in our studio to the project, creating mood boards of furniture, fabrics, and favored locations,” he adds. Next come the hand-drawn sketches, accompanied by the gathering of samples and materials. He believes it’s this stage that sets him apart from his contemporaries.
“For me, materials come before any digital renderings, because we’re a Florentine studio— we’re born from an artisan city—so if a client speaks of leather, my mind goes straight to how that leather can be hand crafted and what special techniques can be used,” he says. “The design and materials develop simultaneously, not one after the other, and the renderings are the final product.”
There is artistry and romance to the chaotic creative process that Dini describes. His unorthodox methods extend to aroma dispensers, used to transport the client to a saline-rich beach or a pine-clad forest. His immersive deep dives into every project typically begin with the master suite or main salon, but there is no quick fix or magic formula. It’s an involved process that meanders with the client’s changing whims. “As a designer, if you insist on a direction that you’ve decided on, it can go sour pretty quick,” he says, smiling. “Some moments are extremely delicate, and, in that situation, two minds are better than one.”
Dini’s trusted number two is Silvia Margutti, head designer at Luca Dini Design & Architecture, who, aside from balance, brings a keen eye for detail.
Her input on Project Venus—a blank canvas awaiting an owner’s personal touch—is evident in the etched privacy glass used in the guest bathrooms, the contrasting veneers, and the host of Italian designer labels, such as Promemoria furniture, Catellani & Smith lighting, and Foglizzo natural leathers.
It was the studio’s “Made in Italy” flair that won favor with the Neom complex in Saudi Arabia, one of the largest real estate projects under way in the world. The Sindalah resort in the Red Sea will be the first of 10 regions completed as part of the mega-development, and Dini has penned the architecture and interiors for the entire island.
Three hotel resorts, including the first Marriott Autograph Collection and Luxury Collection hotels in Saudi Arabia, and an 86-berth superyacht marina are included in the mix. True to form, Dini’s design pays attention to the natural surroundings, bringing international fashion maisons and boutique Italian artisans to a lunar desert landscape. The use of polycarbonate, partially recycled plastic, and a golf club enveloped in eco-leather help to define Sindalah as a new ultra-prime luxury destination, set to open by the end of 2024.
“Our sole mission is to astonish those who are accustomed to being amazed every day,” says the Florentine designer. There’s no arguing that his custom designs, on land and sea, more than deliver on that.
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