Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez had never designed a yacht before Seadeck 6. Azimut Yachts, which was founded by Paolo Vitelli in 1969 and sells to the world’s rich and famous, was looking for a design conscious model that would bring man as close to nature as possible when they turned to the duo.
“To be sustainable there has to be a less extravagant luxury, different and less ostentatious so we chose this interiors look that is far from what you normally see in the yacht world,” Rodriguez says.
Design studio Matteo Thun & Antonio Rodriguez, which was founded in 2003, has infused its conscious design concept into everything from hardwood flooring for Listone Giordano to saunas for Klafs.
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Rodriguez explained that the hybrid motor yacht was envisaged for families. The design came to life with clean lines, calming colors and biodegradable materials like cork that replaced more commonplace ones like teak. Cork, he says, was chosen for its eco properties but also because it’s an age-old Mediterranean material capable of spontaneous regeneration and embodies the ideal of a return to nature.
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The studio worked with yacht designer Alberto Mancini, who came up with an innovative concept in which, right from the very first sketches, the exterior communicates naturally with the interior. This includes the new Fun Island feature, a suspended deck that brings everyone as close to the water as possible and allows them to reconnect with nature.
“We wanted to create a boat that puts maximum emphasis on the concept of openness and transparency, and that also represented a radical change in terms of the relationship with nature. With the introduction of the Fun Island, Seadeck is actually a floating island where owners can get away from their daily routine and live in total contact with the sea,” Mancini says. He is regarded as one of the industry’s top freelance designers and has worked with Baglietto, Fairline Yachts, Magnum Marine, Tankoa, Otam and Revolver.
More than half of Azimut’s fleet is now made up of low-emission yachts that reduce CO2 emissions by between 20 and 30 percent. Seadeck 6 integrates an innovative system that allows both zero-emissions at anchor and cruising with the generator off, further reducing on-board consumption. This system, called Mild Hybrid Zero Emission Hotel Mode, is based on a 42-kWh lithium battery pack and an alternator connected to one of the three engines. Overall the vessel reduces CO2 emissions by 40 percent over a year of average use, both when cruising and at anchor, compared to a traditional flybridge boat of similar dimensions.
The company says it has invested 20 years of research and development in sustainable innovation and is working toward meeting the goals set by the International Maritime Organization for the overall industry to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2030.
“Seadeck is a new starting point for future generations. We wish, once again, to chart a course that will be an inspiration for the entire industry, so that the theme of respect for the environment is interpreted — as it is for Seadeck — with a concrete approach made up of investment, technological research and the courage to introduce a new lifestyle that embraces the sea,” says Azimut|Benetti Group chair Giovanna Vitelli.
He unveiled the model during Milan Design Week, providing one of its highlights. The vessel was hoisted into Milan’s Bagni Misteriosi pool. An immersive installation titled “Mooring by the Moon” was curated by AMDL Circle, the multidisciplinary studio of well-known Italian designer Michele De Lucchi. The display unfolded in a journey through four acts focused on sustainable innovation at the Bagni Misteriosi pool with a choreographed performance culminating in a setting inflatable moon attached to a dancer in mid-air.
The design and nautical worlds have come together like never before over the last few years. In 2019, design legend Patricia Urquiola incorporated her signature flair into the Sanlorenzo SD96, starting with the modernist metallic winding staircase and finishings like a biscuit-patterned parquet floor and sleek modular furnishings.
In 2023, design duo Roberto Palomba and Ludovica Serafini made their yacht sector debut with a collaboration with Permare, an Italian shipyard founded in Sanremo in 1973. Together they unveiled the latest Amer Yacht F100 Glass Cabin, which, much to the design studio’s surprise, won them the World Yacht Trophies 2023 Semi-Custom award at the Cannes Yachting Festival.
RH, formerly Restoration Hardware, unveiled RH Three in 2022, an expedition yacht available for charter in the Mediterranean during the summer and the Bahamas in the winter. Enhanced with a homey feel, RH Three’s many design elements include cashmere bedding and an indoor dining space punctuated with deck chairs by Paola Lenti and Vincent Van Duysen.
Today, Italian shipyards account for 50 percent of all world orders of super yachts, says the Marine Industry Association.
The yachting sector employs 28,660 people in Italy, up 8.8 percent year-over-year. The weight of the yachting industry’s contribution to Italy’s gross domestic product rose 2.9 percent in 2021 to 3.23 percent in 2022, and has been on a steady uptick since 2013, rising sharply in the last two years, according to the association.
Azimut Yachts is part of the Azimut|Benetti Group and designs a wide range of motor yachts from 42 to 125 feet in length and is headquartered in Avigliana, near Turin. The firm posted total revenues equal to 1.3 billion euros in 2023 and holds the position as the world’s leading manufacturer of yachts spanning more than 24 meters.