Designer Mauro Micheli on Why Bespoke Superyachts Are the Most Popular Trend on the High Seas

Julia Zaltzman

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Superyacht Seven Sins was the first hull in Sanlorenzo’s now flagship 52Steel range when it launched in 2017. Designer Mauro Micheli, who started Officina Italiana Design with Sergio Beretta, explains why the 170-foot yacht has triggered the start of a new era for both the studio and the yard.

What was the design brief for Seven Sins?

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To create a long-lasting yacht from an aesthetic point of view. We gave volume and space to areas that will get used the most. We created a swimming pool on the main deck (the largest found on a yacht of this dimension) with a glass bottom to create more light in the beach club, which floods to convert to a tender bay when required. The beach club is the biggest area where we stole gross tonnage (volume) back.

Eight additional 52Steel models have been built and sold since Seven Sins. Did the latter symbolize your move into much bigger yachts?

The 52 was the largest yacht we had designed at that time, other than the interior of a 187-footer. Since then, we have collaborated with Sanlorenzo on a 196-foot and the first of its 64Steel—Attila—which launched in May and is the yard’s largest model to date. Going bigger has definitely been the direction for the studio for a while—it’s a work in progress, but very exciting.

Are larger yachts more difficult to design?

Now that we’re facing bigger yachts, it has confirmed our belief that designing smaller yachts is actually more difficult. It’s harder to make smaller lines balanced and elegant. They’re more challenging for sure and, for this reason, remain our niche.

What design trends are popular with charter-savvy owners these days?

Everybody now wants a yacht with wide, well-shaded external spaces. And they are particularly interested in flexibility, so that a space can be transformed as they wish into a gym or a place to simply relax in the shade.

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