Since 1996

Architecture & Yacht

The Studio of Architect Matteo Picchio is divided into two different sectors: Architecture and Yacht Design and for each sector work different collaborators with different preparations, skills and specificities. Matteo Picchio's work, who personally oversees all his projects in one or the other sector, is always to transform his clients' dreams into reality, achieving both the objectives they had set themselves and requested and what they had not even imagined they needed.
The approach to the project is both "Architectural" and "Artisan". The project is "Architectural" in that it is set up according to the artistic essence ofArchitecture as an art form which, compared to others, has the fundamental component of "functionality".

Italian based Studio

A story about style & quality design

In the project a multitude of variables of different disciplines are brought together, from the stylistic-perceptual to the technical-constructive and functional. The project is also "artisanal" in the sense that it takes shape around the specificity of the client; in some phases of the project Matteo works shoulder to shoulder with his client, to outline together the essence of the project and to set the style, compositional choices and organisation of the works.
Once the project has been set up, Matteo becomes the sole interlocutor with his client, interfacing with him and all the elements, professionals and technicians needed to define the work and manage its realisation, respecting the choices initially made and the set times and costs.
interview on Superyacht
Interview on "Navigating aka Living" by Nikolaus Gottshe
Interview on TYD "The Right Boat

Passion in the DNA

From an article in Yacht Design
COGITO, ERGO YACHTING by Giuliana Fratnik

"Designing often means removing, eliminating everything that is not needed or that is not in line with that design," says Picch.Picchme. "A principle that is not always easy to make the client understand. Our work has changed a lot in recent decades. Knowing how to draw is no longer enough, we now have computers to do it for us and we have to do a big job first.we must first of all make a big effort toeffort to understand what the client's real wishes are.".

His most famous projects are all about beautiful vintage bars.of the period. From the multi-celebrated tug Maria Teresa of 1962 to the Riva Caravelle C5 of 1967, designed by the shipyards of the same name in Sarnishipyards and built in Holland by De Vries; to the fascinating Sea Home, a shuttle designed and built by Swede Hugo Shubert.built by Swede Hugo Shubert in 1919 and brought back to life after a long refitting process that also involved the elimination of many interventions made over the years that were not in line with its original plans.

matteo-picchio-office-4
matteo-picchio-office-5
matteo-picchio-office-1
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About Matteo Picchio

It was founded by Matteo Picchio in Milan in 1996.
Matteo graduated in Architecture in the 1993/94 academic year at the Politecnico di Milano. At the same University he carried out teaching and research activities until 1999, both in the field of Living and Nautical Design.
MATTEO PICCHIO'S STUDIO has developed since its inception in two different sectors: Architecture and Yacht Design; while Matteo's pencil is constantly moving from a house to a yacht, the Studio's collaborators are divided between those who work in one and those who work in the other sector. Given the complexity of the projects that are developed, the Studio staff is also assisted by the usual external collaborators, specialised in the various and specific disciplines.
It was founded by Matteo Picchio in Milan in 1996.
Matteo graduated in Architecture in the 1993/94 academic year at the Politecnico di Milano. At the same University he carried out teaching and research activities until 1999, both in the field of Living and Nautical Design.
MATTEO PICCHIO'S STUDIO has developed since its inception in two different sectors: Architecture and Yacht Design; while Matteo's pencil is constantly moving from a house to a yacht, the Studio's collaborators are divided between those who work in one and those who work in the other sector. Given the complexity of the projects that are developed, the Studio staff is also assisted by the usual external collaborators, specialised in the various and specific disciplines.

by Superyacht

Matteo Picchio graduated in Architecture in the 1993/94 academic year from Milan Polytechnic. In 1996 he opened his own studio in Milan. At the same University he carried out teaching and research activities until 1999, both in the field of living and in that of nautical design. Since its inception, the studio has developed in both sectors, residential architecture and yacht design. The activity in the field of yacht design originates from a personal passion of Matteo Picchio who, while still a student of architecture, was involved in the fitting out of the "Raireva", a steel ocean ketch with a canoe stern, designed in 1972 by Carlo Sciarrelli, his "Co- lin Archer", of which he had kept only the hull. Matteo, in the reconstruction of his own boat, had not only taken care of the general refit project but also the manual execution of most of the work. Picchio has transformed his innate passion for inventing and building into the profession of architect, where he identifies not only with the compositional choices, but also with the construction techniques and choice of materials as if he were carrying out the work himself. When I was five years old I was already sailing on the 12' dinghy that my grandfather had given my father," Matteo recalls, "and along with my passion for sailing, I developed a passion for 'doing' things on board, from simple maintenance to working with materials myself. Luckily for me, my father had several boats, some of them very
beautiful. Then, while I was still a student, I came across the Raireva while reading an ad in Nautica. It was a boat designed to sail around the world, which its owner had started but not completed. With my father, we bought her, emptied her out completely, took her to Liguria and there I personally began the patient work of reconstruction. It was my first restoration job, which I started as a workman rather than a designer. I worked on it for two years, I graduated late, but I managed to learn the project and its implementation at the same time. That's how my career as a yacht designer specialising in restorations began. For me, boats started out as a game and continue to be one. Residential architecture is what I consider a serious and demanding job and when I design, even a small house, I feel very fulfilled. Yet today my profession is more about yachting than residential.

Is classic yachting an exclusive world?
Going from Genoa to Corsica, for example, by boat, motor or sail, is a particular choice, a lifestyle, not a rational one. There are much better, faster, more comfortable and cheaper means of transport. If you do it by boat, whether 10 or 50 metres long, you are making a bold, cultural choice, a confrontation with history and nature. Sailing is a game and you have to play by the rules. If you don't, you're making a mistake. Those who take to the sea in the wrong way are wrong. Yachting, in the English sense of the word, must be put on a pedestal. I quote a line written by Carlo Sciarrelli, in his famous book 'Lo Yacht': "The sailor asks the yachtman, 'Would you like to take the helm?' 'No thanks, I never take anything between meals'. Sailing on a yacht was a very aristocratic exercise. Now this quote is exaggerated, of course, but it does reflect a bit on what the use of an extraordinary object like a yacht should be.
restoration then...
It's like a person saying 'what's the point of buying an artist's original painting, when I can buy a poster or a reproduction of it?' Or "what is the point of going to the opera to listen to music from 200 years ago when I can listen to the latest trendy singer?".

Maybe that's true, but I think differently. I think that a subject such as yach- ting should be tackled as a cultural phenomenon, I would almost say a noble one.
Did that passionate beginning continue with a personal activity on board?
I spent months of my life working on my father's boats and visiting boatyards as a youngster, especially the Sangermani yard. Cesare Sangermani gave me so much, he taught me an unspeakable amount of secrets. So for me, boats have become a work of art, whether sailing or motoring, new or old. They cost even less than other works. I am lucky enough to be able to put my pencil to work on works of art. I have studied a lot, not at school, but
on my own, maritime history, the great naval battles and I even had the fortune of crossing the Atlantic on board the Amerigo Vespucci, where I learned and assimilated a lot of classic maritime art. When I tackle a project, I always do it with a lot of respect.

There is theprofessional aspect, also the economic one, but above all the pleasure of participating in a course that will then make a boat sail, do customers understand this?
I am lucky. A boat can last an unlimited amount of time. Once the necessary work has been done to reinforce the structure and certain systems have been updated, a boat can continue to live for an incalculable amount of time.

How important is a philological analysis of the design before embarking on a restoration?
Fundamental. First of all you have to know what the boat was when it was born. What materials were used. It's difficult to find these days, because we can only dream of the seasoned woods that were once available. They simply don't exist anymore. So there are obvious complications in getting the boat back to its original state. But with the right approach, you can achieve consistent results. But these boats have to sail eventually. Sailing boats take part in regattas, but they have to arrive on the course with their own means. So they have to be at least minimally modernised, with measure. Est modus in rebus. And therein lies the beauty. That's where the art lies. It's easier with cars. Philology is total. But the car arrives at the beauty contest on a trolley. The boat doesn't. On a 120-year-old boat you put a crew on board and she goes. On all the boats I've restored, the owner sails, and a lot. He doesn't just take part in vintage regattas, he also goes on holiday with his children. It's a real use, not just a window display.
It's a bit like a house, which even after 100, 200 years of life, continues to be inhabited and perform its function as a shell for man...
There are fewer boats, and they are also more subject to the elements and don't live in an easy environment.

Earlier you mentioned the difficulty of finding original materials. and what about the workforce? is there still capable and available?
In Italy more than anywhere else. You have to present yourself in the right way. It's easy to spend twice as much in one yard as in another. The owner has to rely on someone who knows how to come up with the right project and who knows how to supervise the work properly. But there are plenty of young guys out there, not just the old shipwrights. They just need someone to tell them how the work should be done. If you tell them to do it right, they do it right. And while it's true that we don't have certain materials anymore, such as seasoned wood, on the other hand we have refined techniques that make up for the lack of materials. In the old days, for example, boats were not as shiny as they are now. And today we can afford extraordinary finishes.

Where do you find the best craftsmen?
I'm from Milan and I know the Ligurian and Tuscan coasts best. Then I travel to England and the United States, and to Turkey, where I built a 40-metre boat in a shipyard where the masters can carve anything with an axe. In the Adriatic, I had the chance to meet Carlini, one of the most profound connoisseurs of craftsmanship and history. But in all cases, I repeat, you need expert management. The restored boat has had a moment of glory for over thirty years.

Is the trend continuing in these difficult times?
Objects of historical value never fade away. There's always an enthusiast who has ample means and can afford a brand new yacht, but prefers to seek out a piece of history and lovingly restore it. And the real luxury is to have a boat - like the 30-metre one I recently restored, with the space of a modern 15-metre - as a unique piece, the ultimate in exclusivity. I am now working on four restorations. If I have to look in my studio, I have to say that the trend is continuing.

Are these owners as philological in their restoration work as you are?
Two of them are young owners who are restoring their family's boats, with the pleasure of continuing to bring to life a boat that has been part of their history, but also that of previous generations, with the added pride of making that boat live even better, as a generational challenge.

Doesthe project require a particular kind of performance, a particular path, given that you're starting from a boat that's already been made?
I prefer to design houses, from the point of view of creativity, because the paper is 'whiter'. With boats you're always on a track and with a vintage boat you have huge constraints. The project is compilative and not creative. That's not the best thing for a designer. The more you invent, the more you make mistakes. But studying and knowing what it was allows you to manage the project, the client and the yard. You don't invent so much, but with humility follow a path already traced and delicately recompose its edges and texture. You have to be an instrument that gives an ancient glory the chance to live on.

NAVIGATE aka INHABITATE

Interview with Matteo Picchio

by Nikolaus Göttsche

Architect Matteo Picchio is a "yacht's man" born on the twelve-foot dinghy purchased by his grandfather and raised on his father's wooden sailing boats. His first real design experience came in the early 1990s with the refitting of the "Raireva", his 14-metre ketch, designed by Carlo Sciarrelli in 1972. The activity continued with the restoration of vintage boats with an immaculate pedigree, and today Picchio's studio in Milan is active in parallel with the design of large pleasure boats and residential architecture.

NG As an architect, you design both houses and boats, do you ever try to relate the two areas of designto each other?
MP My studio employs architects, naval engineers and designers, but I have only one pencil. As a method, I have deliberately chosen to mix the two areas of design. I sometimes transfer the solutions I have found for houses to boats, and vice versa.
In the naval field, we work both on the restoration of vintage boats and on the design of sailing and motor boats of the most modern conception. In the architectural field, we carry out projects for villas, flat interiors and the restoration of historical buildings. We have also designed a house for the same clients as a yacht.

NG Can we say that before being a yacht designer, you're a thoroughbred sailor?
MP I've always been a sailor, but when I think "thoroughbred" I think of racing. For me, the boat is a sphere that is completely unrelated to the context of competition: a small world that I can manage on my own, where the laws that govern the society of competition are of little use.

NG You refitted the "Raireva" with a twenty-month self-construction project. Did a long solo crossing influence your design method?
MP It was an absolutely fundamental experience. I tackled that project when I was 20 years old and an architecture student. It helped me on a technical level, but above all on a psychological level: that's when I learned to have the necessary tenacity to carry out a project.
Then I had just read Victor Hugo's novel "The Workers of the Sea", where the main character, in order to salvage a vessel on his own, invents very complicated devices, such as large pulleys clinging to the rocks, or a forge powered by the wind which is channelled through the rocks. It was in the same spirit that I set out to rebuild my first boat.

NG How does a 'right boat' come into being?
MP The 'right boat' is the one that is made to measure. The "Raireva" is my right boat, it has a steel hull and a Norwegian stern that make it suitable for ocean crossings. After twenty years it's still my favourite "home". I live there four days a week and do some of my work. It's normally moored in Genoa and I often receive clients in its small saloon to talk about their big boats. Very important projects have started there.

NG You say that sailing is about evoking seafaring culture, in what sense?
MP The type of yacht itself offers a reminder of the tradition of sailing. Pleasure boats are not just a form of entertainment or a way of touring. If you decide to go to Corsica on a yacht instead of using a more practical means of transport, you are choosing to accept an inconvenience in order to be rewarded by the fascination of sailing.
It is often the case that one can retrace ancient trade routes, or cross stretches of sea where naval battles took place that have determined modern history... sailing also means recalling maritime history. This is 'sailing in an educated way'...

NG In a previous interview you said that your aim is to achieve a balanced "man-boat" combination, what do you mean bythat?
MP It's important to feel in perfect harmony with your boat. It's a balance that extends to your surroundings, to the people and the sea, and which gives you a great feeling of freedom. This is why the role of the designer becomes fundamental in achieving the perfect balance between boat and owner. The designer is the fundamental link between the dream and its realisation. I would like to point out that I share the credit for my best designs with their owners.

NG You've designed an extraordinarily large sloop, which is due to be launched in two years' time: is it the right boat?
MP The sloop is a 48-metre mega-sailer for an Italian client, who had a very special input into the project. He wanted a boat for big voyages, and this sloop is designed to move quickly and safely like a real sailing ship. In the summer it will be in the waters of the Mediterranean, in the winter in the Caribbean, and every now and then it will make excursions in the North Sea. We've cleaned up her shape to achieve an essential, elongated line to increase her sailing performance. I think it will become the boat of his dreams.

NG Its lines are very slender and elegant, like those of a big old sailing ship: is it a reminiscence of naval tradition?
MP I would like to respond by quoting Renzo Piano: "a good design is born with one hand tied to the past and one hand reaching towards the future". The sloop 48's design exercise was generated by the encounter between naval tradition and hyper-technology. The forty-eight metre long hull is made of light alloy, and the mast is over sixty metres high and made of a single piece of carbon fibre.
The teak deck is "flush-deck", i.e. completely free. The deckhouse is small and square, deliberately non-aerodynamic, an explicit reference to the yachts of the past. The interiors are spacious and completely free thanks to structural elements in light alloy. We have used materials of a new conception, which are still little used in pleasure boating.
It will be a strong, fast boat, made to sail comfortably in seas all over the world.

NG Today's big yachts often have a hyper-functional stern, but the stern of this sloop is clean and sleek - is that another tribute to tradition?
MP The reference is correct. The stern of our sloop is clean and sleek but we've also managed to satisfy the functional aspects. Its central part descends into the sea thanks to a hydraulic mechanism: a 'little beach' that allows the tender to exit and closes again to restore the hull's formal integrity. Respecting tradition does not mean depriving ourselves of comfort.

NG Sir Thomas Lipton had a stone fireplace inside his "Shamrock IV", one of the many J-classes he used for racing in the Hundred Guineas Cup, now the America's Cup, which unfortunately he never won. You say that comfort is given by what is not essential, that is, by the presence of "useless" details. What are these details today?
MP I too would prefer to have a stone fireplace and not win the regatta. A large boat has to be designed as an architectural space: a library, a professional kitchen, a "spa" or a wine cellar are among the details that gratify our clients today. A good designer must be able to understand his client's wishes, even when they remain unexpressed because they are considered excessive or unusual on a boat. Between the owner's suite and the relaxation area in the bathroom, for example, we used bulkheads that become transparent on command to separate the two areas with a "shade" of light. The beds and furnishings almost never touch the floorboards but float to enhance the perception of space. In the bathrooms we also used stone, which is laid in slabs of only three millimetres coupled with a very light material derived from aeronautics in aluminium honeycomb.

NG The "square" is the heart of a boat. In this sloop it's both the helm station and the saloon: how do you manage this versatility of use with the high level of comfort required?
MP The 48 sloop's saloon is the result of a compromise with the exterior lines, we thought of it as being of limited proportions to maintain a sleek hull, but inside it's very spacious (50 square metres) and strictly essential. The deckhouse windows can be blacked out to the point of total opacity, thanks to a film of liquid crystals inserted in the glass laminate.
The internal wheelhouse and instruments make up a real naval dashboard, but when the boat is at dock or at anchor they are concealed by panels to create a "domestic" layout for the saloon. The only furnishing presence are the sofas and the table, which appear to be just resting on them.

NG What materials did you use in the interiors andhow?
MP This is a boat where the material aspect is very important. We preferred the tactile sensations and the perceptive warmth that a material transmits. The hull inside is finished with "exposed planking". This is actually an effect created by a counter planking that encloses the layer of insulating material and the technical installations.
Emphasising the internal-external relationship, the teak on the deck is used in the internal dunnage, in white rubberised teak instead of black. The dunnage stops a few centimetres from the hull and a blade of light bathes the planking to emphasise the boat's appearance from the inside.

NG Your refit projects include the "Tenace", a tugboat that was saved from being dismantled and converted into a yacht. How was this boat rebuilt?
MP "Explorer vessels" are a new trend in yachting and a sign of a greater awareness of naval heritage. The tug "Tenace" (now MariaTeresa, ed) was built by the Cantieri Solimano in Savona and had worked in the port of Genoa; towards the end of its career it was bought by a Monegasque company. My clients bought her out at an iron price just before she was laid up. We managed to save the planking and some period details such as the portholes. The deckhouse has been modified for recreational use, while the engine, interior and systems have been completely redone. The work was carried out with good skill at the Cantieri Navali di Sestri in Genoa, which kept to the budget. A detail not to be overlooked.

NG Can we talk about a recent boom in Italian yacht design?
MP Definitely. Italian yacht design has been growing for a few years now, and it's competitive internationally. There are many reasons for that, not least a certain "Italian genius". In Italy today we can rely on cutting-edge shipyards, skilled labour and good designers, both architects and engineers. There is no shortage of foreign orders. It's a market that generates important business and it would be a shame to waste it.

by TOP YACHT DESIGN

Matteo Picchio "The right boat is a tailor-made boat".

During architecture school he completely renovated his boat. Today he designs both residential and nautical architecture. With a precise focus on naval tradition even in the most innovative projects.
Architect Matteo Picchio is a "yachtsman" born on the twelve-foot dinghy purchased by his grandfather and raised on his father's wooden sailing boats. His first real design experience came in the early 1990s with the refitting of the "Raireva", his 14-metre ketch, designed by Carlo Sciarrelli in 1972. The activity continued with the restoration of vintage boats with immaculate pedigree, and today Picchio's studio in Milan is active in parallel both in the design of large pleasure boats and in residential architecture.

As an architect, you design for both living and yachting, do you ever relate the two?

My studio employs architects, naval engineers and designers, but my pencil remains a single one. As a method, I have deliberately chosen to mix the two areas of design. I sometimes transfer the solutions I have found for houses to boats, and vice versa.
In the naval field we work both on the restoration of vintage boats and on the design of sailing and motor boats of the most modern conception. In the architectural field, we carry out projects for villas, flat interiors and the restoration of historical buildings. We have also designed a house for the same clients as a yacht.

Can we say that before being a yacht designer, you are a thoroughbred sailor?

I've always been a sailor, but when I think of "the race", racing comes to mind. For me, however, the boat is a sphere that is completely unrelated to the context of competition: a small world that I can manage on my own, where the laws that govern the society of competition are of little use.

You refitted the "Raireva" in a twenty-month self-construction project. Did a long solo voyage affect your design method?

It was an absolutely fundamental experience. I tackled that project when I was 20 years old and an architecture student. It helped me technically, but above all psychologically: that's when I learned to have the tenacity to carry out a project. At the time, I had just read Victor Hugo's novel "The Workers of the Sea", where the main character, in order to salvage a vessel on his own, invents very complicated devices, such as large pulleys clinging to the rocks, or a forge powered by the wind which is channelled through the rocks. It was in the same spirit that I set out to rebuild my first boat.


How is a 'right boat' created?

The 'right boat' is the one that is made to measure. The "Raireva" is the right boat for me, it has a steel hull and a Norwegian stern that make it suitable for ocean crossings. After twenty years it's still my favourite "home". I live there four days a week and do some of my work. It's normally moored in Genoa, and I often receive clients in its small saloon to talk about their big boats. Very important projects have started there.


You say that sailing is about evoking seafaring culture, in what sense?

The typology of the yacht itself offers a reminder of the tradition of sailing. Pleasure boats are not just a form of entertainment or a form of tourism... if you decide to go to Corsica on a yacht instead of using a more practical means of transport, you are choosing to accept an inconvenience in order to be rewarded by the fascination of sailing.
It is often the case that one can retrace ancient trade routes, or cross stretches of sea where naval battles took place that have determined modern history... sailing also means recalling the history of seafaring. This is 'cultured sailing'.

In a previous article, you set out to achieve a balanced 'man-boat' combination, what do you mean?

It is important to feel in perfect harmony with your boat. It's a balance that extends to your surroundings, to the people and the sea, and which gives you a great feeling of freedom. That's why the designer's role becomes fundamental in achieving the perfect balance between boat and owner. The designer is that vital link in the chain between the dream and its realisation. I would like to point out that I share the credit for my best designs with their owners.

You have designed an extraordinarily large sloop, due to be launched in two years' time - is it the right boat?

The 'sloop' is a forty-eight metre mega-sailer for an Italian client, who had a very special input into the project. He wanted a boat for big voyages, and this sloop is designed to move quickly and safely like a real sailing ship. In the summer it will be in the waters of the Mediterranean, in the winter in the Caribbean, and every now and then it will make excursions in the North Sea. We've cleaned up her shape to achieve an essential, elongated line to increase her sailing performance. I think it will become the boat of his dreams.

Its lines are very slender and elegant, like those of a large vintage sailing ship, is it a revival of naval tradition?

I would like to respond by quoting Renzo Piano: "a good project is born with one hand tied to the past and one hand reaching towards the future". The design exercise for the sloop 48 was generated by the encounter between naval tradition and hyper-technology. The forty-eight metre long hull is made of light alloy, the mast is over sixty metres high and is made of a single piece of carbon fibre. The teak deck is flush-deck. The deckhouse is small and square, deliberately non-aerodynamic to make an explicit reference to the yachts of the past. The interiors are spacious and completely free thanks to structural elements in light alloy. We used materials of a new conception, which are still little used in pleasure boating. It will be a strong, fast boat, made to sail comfortably on seas all over the world.

Today's large yachts often have a hyper-functional stern, whereas the stern of this sloop maintains a clean, sleek line - is this another homage to tradition?

The reference is correct. The stern of our sloop is clean and sleek, but we have also managed to satisfy the functional aspects. Its central part descends into the sea thanks to a hydraulic mechanism: a "little beach" that allows the tender to exit and closes again to restore the formal integrity of the hull. Respecting tradition does not mean depriving ourselves of comfort.
Sir Thomas Lipton had a stone fireplace inside his "Shamrock IV", one of the many J-class yachts he used for racing in the Hundred Guineas Cup, now the America's Cup, which unfortunately he never won. You say that comfort comes from what is not essential, from the presence of "useless" details. What are these details today?I too would prefer to have a stone fireplace and not win the regatta. A large boat has to be designed as an architectural space: a bookcase, a professional kitchen, a "spa" or a wine cellar are among those details that gratify our clients today. A good designer must be able to understand his client's wishes, even when they remain unexpressed because they are considered excessive or unusual on a boat. Between the owner's suite and the relaxation area in the bathroom, for example, we used bulkheads that become transparent on command to separate the two areas with a "shade" of light. The beds and furnishings hardly ever touch the floorboards but float to enhance the perception of space. In the bathrooms we used stone, which is laid in slabs of only three millimetres coupled with a very light material derived from aeronautics in aluminium honeycomb.
The 'square' is the heart of a boat. In this sloop it is both the helm station and the lounge, so how do you manage this versatility of use with the high level of comfort required?The 48 sloop's saloon is the result of a compromise with the exterior lines; we thought it would be of limited proportions to maintain a sleek hull, but inside it's very spacious (50m2) and strictly essential. The deckhouse windows can be blacked out to the point of total opacity, thanks to a film of liquid crystals inserted in the layered glass. The helm station and instruments form a real naval dashboard, but when the boat is at dock or at anchor they are hidden by panels to obtain a "domestic" configuration of the saloon. The only furnishings are the sofas and the table, which appear to be just sitting there.


What materials did you use in the interior and how did you achieve this?

This is a boat where the material aspect is very important. We have given priority to tactile sensations and the perceptive warmth that a material transmits. Inside, the hull is finished with "exposed planking". This is actually an effect created by a counter planking that encloses the layer of insulating material and the technical systems. Emphasising the internal-external relationship, the teak on the deck is used in the internal dunnage, in white rubberised teak instead of black. The dunnage stops a few centimetres from the hull and a blade of light bathes the planking to emphasise the boat's appearance from the inside.

Among his refit projects is the "Tenace", a tugboat saved from dismantling and converted into a yacht. How was this boat rebuilt?

Explorer vessels' are a new trend in yachting and are a symptom of a greater awareness of naval heritage. The tug "Tenace" had been built by Cantieri Solimano in Savona and had worked in the port of Genoa; towards the end of her career she was bought by a Monegasque company. My clients bought her out at an iron price just before she was laid up. We managed to save the planking and some period details such as the portholes. The deckhouse has been modified for recreational use, while the engine, interior and systems have been completely redone. The work was carried out with good skill at the Cantieri Navali di Sestri in Genoa.

Can we talk about a recent boom in Italian yacht design?

Definitely. Italian yacht design has been a growing sector for a few years now, and it is competitive internationally. There are many reasons for this, not least a certain "Italian genius". In Italy today we can rely on cutting-edge shipyards, a refined workforce and good designers, both architects and engineers. There is no shortage of foreign orders. It's a market that generates important business and it would be a shame to waste it.

Matteo Picchio

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