Page 5 - A

Back in the 70s the world lay at Philippe Starck’s feet and he grasped it with both hands, a pioneer of design, architecture and artefacts that can now be seen worldwide in every detail of everyday living, testament to his intellect and idealism. The Starck philosophy is to promote an ethos of honesty and integrity, which he feels are at the core of his designs. He creates haute couture in every dimension, marrying all the elements with
a molecular energy which lives and breathes though his creations, designs and products. Starck seemingly invents and reinvents himself at every turn and is one of the best known contemporary designers in the world, with accolades aplenty.
It is therefore no surprise that he has a loyal following among some of the most well-known and influential people in the world for the design of individual custom-built superyachts. Although superyacht design has changed in the 21st century, nothing has really rocked the world for young entrepreneurial high net worth individuals, until the launch of motor yacht ‘A’. This is probably the most talked about yacht design ever: the social media airwaves went global, traditionalists were scathing while others embraced it, heralding Starck a genius, but that’s not really of interest to him. He doesn’t see his role as messing about in the pool of others, as he explains:
“Until now, yacht architecture has derived more or less from a grounded architecture, violently and painfully pushing water, in permanent conflict with the elements, essentially displaying the only real power it had – power and vulgarity of money. Today a yacht has to be in harmony with nature, with the elements and also, and probably most of all, in accordance with other human beings. It is in this state of mind that ‘A’ was conceived.”
Starck describes ‘A’ as being an exceptional yacht which stems from a bygone era, a time such as the Renaissance era, when there were no barriers and the intuition, intelligence and curiosity of patrons profited creators and artists, who had freedom of thought. And this is how he sees his role with the owners of ‘A’ – philosophers of this century. “When trusting me, the courage and intuition of the owners of ‘A’ was even more remarkable as, at that time, even if I had already produced and developed many projects, even if my attachment and knowledge of the sailing and yachting world was deep, my boat creations were, on purpose, quite modest in size and quite rare. The owners gave me a blank page, where, if
I correctly recall, was written: 119 metres.”
And of course ‘A’ is 119 metres (390ft), built at the Blohm & Voss yard in Germany and designed wholly by Starck. Freedom to design this project was one of the main parameters agreed at the outset. So, with a blank page Starck approached the project using his personal kinship with the sea and looked for a vision that would be a new dimension on the water, one that lives in harmony with the elements. He didn’t approach it conventionally, as a design that works within a general arrangement plan, a modular vision. On the contrary he threw this aspect to the wind and dug deep, he explains: “I dug into my memories, my sensations and visions but also into images, algorithms from water, from sea movements. The elegance and power of the changing waves is an endless lesson. ‘A’ comes directly from all that.”