The windows of the
Feadship are wide, their cushioned sills low and deep. Curling up on a sill,
strategically level with the outer walkway, one feels delightfully close to the
rushing water. The positioning of the sill is a small architectural detail, but
it signifies new thinking in the Netherlands, where yacht designers are
particularly involved with interior architecture as it affects comfort and the
overall yachting experience.
Frank Pieterse and Marilyn Bos-de
Vaal pioneered new Dutch interior design on such boats as Octopussy. Photography by Urshika. (Click images to enlarge)
Design creativity from the land of the tulip is being praised
and embraced around the world: Witness the triumph of Rem Koolhaas in his
remarkable design of the Seattle Public Library, as well as the ascendancy of
furniture designer Moooi. In the world of luxury yachting, design veterans
Frank L. Pieterse and Marilyn Bos-de Vaal of Art-line Interiors have reconfirmed
their innovative expertise, and Diederik Fokkema, designer of those Feadship
windowsills, has made a stunning debut.
Art-line’s studios along the Rhine, just east of Amsterdam, are
busy with six major projects under way. "It’s chaotic, but I am calm," says
Pieterse, whose office walls are papered with presentation color boards and
clippings. "We are running out of wall space," he says, but his words are
inflected with self-effacing irony. (Although his offices are filled with
computers, he insists on drawing by hand.) In the studio of his longtime
partner, Bos-de Vaal, plastics, metals, cottons and marble samples are combined
into experimental "solutions" for yacht interiors. Favoring matte textures for
intimate spaces, she reserves glossier, reflective surfaces for public areas.
Piles of experimental textiles cover every surface of her studio: fine
lace-like tracery that could have been created by nothing other than a seafaring
microbe, mermaid hair woven into a translucent seaweed basket, industrial rings
that float above undersea dunes. Bos-de Vaal’s studio is a virtual Soho gallery
of marine abstract paintings.
Photography by
Urshika. (Click images to enlarge)
Although interior design for yachts is governed to a large
degree by fire and safety regulations, Pieterse and Bos-de Vaal are committed to
innovation. "You should always use different possibilities. That’s what makes a
designer," says Pieterse. "I hope my work will always be different, and that I
develop as a designer. Even when I was ten years old, I was drawing boats,
angling for ways to get the maximum effect from limited space. In Holland, space
is indeed limited, and design calls for a lot of creativity." Working together, Pieterse and Bos-de Vaal have enjoyed much
success during their 23-year run, except for a period during the nineties when
modern styles took an abrupt detour into the Edwardian camp with a look that
featured heavy mahogany. And they have moved on from the techno-glitz of such
early career definers as Octopussy and El Corsario. Today,
simplicity defines comfort: A wall to one’s back and a view in front mean a
lot.
Art-line’s design for Yalla
updated earth tones and boldly mixed
organic shapes with modern
materials. Photography by Urshika. (Click images to enlarge)
"Suddenly," Pieterse says, referring to Art-line’s top-rung
status, "we are a little different. Our presentations are stronger. We don’t
compromise our ideas about how a yacht should feel. We want people to feel
comfortable in the enclosed space. In yachting, they need to be part of the
experience and the action. They need room for social interaction and
entertaining, but they also need little retreats.
"In Holland," he continues, "we are educated in small houses,
and limited space possibilities are part of the culture. Dutch architects, used
to limited space and tight financial resources, experiment with economical and
efficient use of materials."
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