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Four prominent designers discuss yachting’s version of the Little Black Dress.
by Louis Postel
01/01/2005
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“I am challenged by Calvin Klein’s
minimalist straight lines and the designs of John Pawson, the architect
of Klein’s flagship store on
Madison Avenue, who, even more than
Armani, thinks everything
should
be
spartan
and
monastic. I am
attracted to
Pawson’s
almost empty spaces
because
they are
reflections of
abundance,
the
reverse mirror
of a
world
glutted
with too
much
stuff,”
Montoya
says.
 Darren Henault employed multiple textures,
such as Ultrasuede, and geometric
shapes in his modern interior refit
design for 120-foot motor yacht Moon
River. (Click
image
to enlarge)
The opportunity to
test his ideas in a
maritime
venue
presented itself with the
commission
for a 110-footer,
Lady Elizabeth.
“The
yacht
I
designed has the
dynamics of a
modern yacht and
follows the
lines of a
modern yacht. But
carrying those
modern
lines into
the interior would
have
interfered
with
the atmosphere of
relaxation.
People
want
comfort and soft
lines.
The
juxtaposition
of modern lines
with
a bit
of
sentimental clutter
helps,” he said. “The
richness of
wood,
silks and
cotton, inlays of
stones
like
lapis
lazuli and
onyx,
and the
introduction of
Lalique
elements in
the design…We
do need
to
relax,”
he
added.
 Another
perspective
came
from
Darren
Henault,
speaking
while
standing in front
of
the
Benjamin
Hotel in New York,
one of
the
“skyscraper
palazzi”
designed by
architect
Emory
Roth, who
immortalized modern,
jazz-age
glamour.
Henault, 39, is
one of Roth’s
creative
heirs. His appreciation
for
classic
modernism is showcased aboard Moon
River, the
120-foot
yacht he
recently
redecorated for a
New
England-based
family. (Click image to enlarge)
“When
they showed
me
the
boat they were about to
buy,
I found
that the
six-year-old yacht had
been
outfitted for an
elderly
couple.
The staterooms had been
ripped out to
accommodate the
owner’s wheelchair,
and
everything
was basic teak and
nautical-themed
prints,” he
says.
“The
husband
thought the
boat had
great
bones
and
would
do
just as
it was.
The wife envisioned
a
somewhat
slick, James Bond
grooviness. I
suggested
that the
boat, with
its classic
exterior,
deserved an
interior inspired
by the
luxurious and
elegant
ocean
liner
the
Normandie.”
Henault notes
that
seagoing
modernism
came
into its own
aboard the 1935
launch
Normandie,
which
featured the talents of such
cutting-edge
furniture
designers
as
Jacques-Emile
Ruhlmann and
Jacques
Quinet.
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