on 15 Apr 2023
Massari Design has been at the forefront of luxury yacht interiors for decades. We talk with Alessandro Massari about legendary yachts, the satisfaction of a job well done, and the evolution of yacht styling.
Your studio has been designing yacht interiors since founder Luigi Massari crafted luxury yacht interiors in the 1970s. What were some of the most iconic designs of that period?
Unfortunately, all designs were most likely private but I can say that my father was the interior project manager on Gianni Agnelli’s [head of the famous Italian car-making dynasty Fiat and former president of football club Juventus] CRN F100, the celebrated yacht with exterior design by Gerhard Gilgenast, and that he worked on Azzurra II, another classic CRN yacht together with Paola D. Smith.
How have the expectations of owners changed since then and how has the agency evolved to meet those needs?
Clients have improved their needs and evolved their design taste towards more contemporary lines.
As Luigi’s son, you now add the signature Massari look to private homes as well; do you see much design cross-over between the interiors of a client’s houses and their yachts?
Definitely, clients want to have their home away and interiors are now comfier and have more of a home feeling.
The studio has also created interiors for private jets; how do these projects differ from yacht interiors and what are the major constraints and challenges to each?
Having developed so many yacht interiors has given us the capability to face any interior design task. Yacht interiors are quite complex and the interiors of private jets do not reach that complexity. What makes the interior of private jets is the rules, as all materials have to be certified.
What are some of the most iconic design signatures we would find in a Massari interior?
In one word I would say uniqueness as all our projects are bespoke and have got their distinctiveness.
Tell us about some of your yacht projects; which have been the most challenging and most satisfying and what elements do you predict will make up the design of interiors in the years to come?
MY Project X, an 88-metre vessel from Golden Yachts, has been one of the most satisfying projects as the client’s requests and expectations were very high, and his happiness was the greatest reward. Another important custom project was MY Forever One, the 54-metre yacht built by ISA Yachts Shipyard in 2014 in which Massari Design cleverly combined casual and family-oriented interiors with manic attention to detail.
What projects are you currently working on?
We are developing several rewarding big projects, from residential to aviation and yachting that must be kept private for the time being.
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