On board 54m C with interior design studio Hot Lab
12th November 2022
Inside the Design
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On board 54m C with interior design studio Hot Lab
Delivered by Baglietto in February 2021, C is a fully-custom, 54 metre motor yacht designed for larger families to enjoy – and she’s currently in search of a new owner with Camper & Nicholsons. We speak to Enrico Lumini, Partner and Design Director of C’s interior designer Hot Lab, to discuss the peculiarities of the yacht’s signature styling by the Italian studio.
C feels larger than 54 metres. How did the interior design help increase the volume of the yacht?
C is indeed a very voluminous vessel. The on-board space is more comparable to a 60 metre superyacht, and was initially designed to be used by two brothers and their families, with two master cabins, two VIP suites, two double cabins and a children’s cabin located on the lower deck. The generous ceiling heights of each deck and the shape of the bow contributed to the incredible size of the yacht.
What were the challenges of this project?
The greatest challenge was actually designing the children’s spaces. We needed to give them the same luxurious feeling that was homogeneous with the rest of the boat, but at the same time not make it so that children felt enclosed in a space where they could not touch anything or move around. For example, using four folding-beds that fully disappear in the lower deck cabin transforms the space into a proper playroom. Inside this room, the children can also paint on the wardrobe, and then the drawings can be erased immediately after.
Can you describe the design process of C?
We jumped into the project when the boat was already in-build, so all the engineering processes were already done, and we actually only focused on the decoration of the interior and some other minor modifications.
This process was divided into three different steps. The first one was the presentation, creating a mood board to understand the clients’ needs in terms of style, colour schemes, materials and usage of the space.
Once we agreed on that, we moved into the second phase, which was the creation of the final design using renderings to transform our ideas into images. We started working on the boat before the pandemic, but during lockdowns we compensated for the lack of face-to-face meetings by introducing 360° virtual reality pictures. After agreeing on the design cabin by cabin, we stepped into the more technical side, which was the creation of the architectural drawings. At that stage, there are usually already subcontractors or an interior builder involved.
The third and final stage of the interior design was what we call the “follow-up” during the construction. We made sure that what we had designed was built the way we wanted it, checking up on the materials, decorations and lose furniture. The entire process for a yacht interior usually takes 12 to 15 months.
What do you consider to be Hot Lab’s design signature?
Our signature styling of “architecture for voyages” features different layers of clean, pure lines, with the possibility to define the space with columns, materials and dividing elements. This is something that we do for all of our projects. It is our approach.
What advice would you give to a young interior designer?
First of all, do not confuse yacht design with civil architecture. The proportions of a 50 or 60 metre yacht are not the same as inside a villa. Yachts don't have ceilings which are 3.5 metres in height, and the yacht always has a different view, so you can’t actually organise the space in the same way as on land. Designers should concentrate their attention on the fact that you are on an object, not in a house. You have to also consider that a yacht moves and that certain elements need to be flexible. It is important to talk as much as possible with the crew, and talk to those who involved in order to do things correctly.
One also needs to think about whether the boat will be chartered, in which case it becomes similar to a hotel that must still look perfect at the end of each season. C already did two seasons of cruising and yet she looks perfectly new, because all of the materials are washable and extremely resistant, according to the requirements of the owner.
C is listed for sale with Camper & Nicholsons, asking €44,800,000.
