Daily Nautica interviewed Luca Dini, architect from Florence who worked on the interior design of Venus, one of the latest projects by Dutch shipyard Heesen Yachts. Dini, owner of the studio Luca Dini Design & Architecture, shares with us what it means to work together with two work groups (Italian and Dutch) that are apparently very different.

We also spoke about the architect’s career in nautical design, that he has been doing passionately for over 30 years. Today the studio is divided into two sections, one part working on super yachts, while the other works in urban design and architectural solutions.

Project Venus is one of the latest projects: how and when did the partnership with Heesen Yachts begin?

With a Dutch group and Italian designers, there was the risk of not quite understanding each other, but to be honest, it has been a great partnership. Bringing together Italian creativity with the organisation of the Dutch shipyards. We’ve learned a lot, and so have they.  We debate frequently, but always with the aim of achieving the best. And the team that has come together works together in one mind.

Your studio has designed, from 1997, 85 superyachts, 17 are currently under construction: have you always had a passion for yachts?

When I was younger, in 1987 I started working in a studio in Florence (with Pierluigi Spadolini). At that time, the number of architecture studios working on yachts in Italy was maybe four. I worked there for nine years, and after that, at the end of 1996, I opened my own studio.  I can say I’ve always worked in yachts. In the last few years, we have received some very interesting and important proposals. And so in the last five years we have reorganised, and have tripled the size of the studio, to create what I consider to be a very unique space. A studio with thirty years’ experience in yacht design, expanding into residential and hospitality design, and in architecture in general. 

How is your relationship with your yachting clients?  Do they come to you with an idea already, or do they leave you the freedom to create the design as you wish?

Complete freedom, I would say never.  There is always a suggestion, or an idea, and that’s the way it should be. We should be in part doing as our client asks, in part trying to guide them, while also thinking about the future.  Personalising a yacht too much might make the client happy for now, but in the future it is not ideal.  Yachts that are too personalised are very difficult to sell, considering you change yachts more frequently, and not every 30 years.

So we need to think about the future so we don’t cause an inconvenience.

What are the most bizarre requests from yacht owners?

We had the ship owner who had three girlfriends at once and wanted a bed that would fit four. So we made that for him, and that was good fun.  We have had a large number of different requests, even submarines on board. If we can we fulfil them. But I love it, because they are the kind of things that can only happen in that kind of world.

The market is increasingly pushing sustainability and green technology. How is your studio working in this context?

It is a delicate question, and it is a very important one.  I believe in small steps, there is no point in making proclamations. We started recycling in the studio, and changed to glass bottles for water.  Start with working on the small things in your own space, and then if everyone does it, we will probably start living better.

You are one of the few studios, that uses marble on board?

Marble has been used for a long time. Technology helps us a lot so we don’t have to use thick slabs of marble.  But, to be honest,  it is a material that will immediately elevate a space.  It is noble and precious. But it also needs to be used in small doses in key places, this is just one of many materials, and it will really make a difference. It creates a superior space.

Video by Riccardo Molinari