Casting a shadow over Venice 

…or so the press was telling us. And then there were those local politicians jumping on the populist bandwagon, too.

Well, it is true that mega yachts have reached incredible sizes these days, but compared to the towering cruise liners that invade Venice on a regular base, blocking out not just the sun but even TV reception, spilling galley smells and hoards of tourists into the city, yachts are rather harmless. We heard some people actually do like looking at them (not the politician of course, because yachts are a great target for those who like to benefit from social envy).

However, we don’t really want to talk about the different emotions that the appearance of a big yacht can stir but rather about the particular yacht featured in the latest articles mentioned above: Roman Abramovich’s 115 metre explorer ‘Luna’. As an explorer she might not have the same elegant sleekness as for example Abramovich’s other yacht, Pelorus. But the overall impression is certainly harmonious and well balanced, purposeful and certainly imposing.

Christian Leyk of coquine![design] had the pleasure of being involved in the very beginning of the development of Luna’s exterior styling at newcruise Yacht Projects & Design: “Originally I was re-working and fine-tuning the lines of Le Grand Blue, as I was under the impression that it was meant to be a refit job. Maybe this really was the initial intention or maybe we were just made to believe so, but it soon emerged that we were talking about a new project.

“However, the real ‘star’ of the project, who picked up what I left behind when leaving newcruise and who finished the job, designed all the exterior details and made sure that was was drawn was actually built, too, was Kirsten Schwalgien. So, if anybody can take ‘ownership’ of project ‘Luna’, saying ‘yes, that was me’, it would without a doubt be her.

Kirsten and I have always been working very well together. Our backgrounds in design are pretty different and so are not just our skills and talents but sometimes also our opinions. But maybe it’s because of this differences that we compliment each other nicely and deal with all design matters in a very constructive way.”

photo 1 by Giorgio Ferretto
photo 2 by christo303