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In this photo, architect and yacht designer Enrico Gobbi, founder of the Team for Design studio. It has been designing elegant yachts since 2005, often in collaboration with Rossinavi – like the EIV (opposite page), its latest 50-metre yacht, whose exterior lines recall the shape of a coupé car

THE HARMONY OF PROPORTIONS by Samuela Urbini

[ CREATIVE MINDS: TEAM FOR DESIGN ]

Sporty lines, yachts with a balanced profile, artisanal production and attention to every detail are the priorities for Enrico Gobbi’s Team for Design studio. In the projects presented here the team drew inspiration from the automobile world

nyone who is born and brought up in Venice is bound to be influenced by the city’s vast heritage of art, beauty and maritime history. Enrico Gobbi is no exception. He graduated

in architecture at the University of Venice with a thesis on a yacht, an early indication of his love for matters marine. This passion led him to specialise in yacht design in the USA and then return to Italy for a

five-year stint at the Novolari Lenard studio. In 2005 he decided to go it alone and founded Team for Design in Mestre, a city on the edge of the Venetian lagoon. His studio-workshop designs interiors and exteriors for yachts with a generally more elegant, sporty style. Nine people now work at the studio – more than ten would mean losing the artisanality and creative connections the architect values so highly. “To me, design is all about harmonious proportions”, says Gobbi. “This begins in the initial creative stages, when I imagine the yacht seen from a distance and I see the first four main lines. I sketch the idea in pencil without thinking about it too much. I don’t picture the details yet, just the main proportions – the hull design, the superstructure, how

[ CREATIVE MINDS ]

Above, the main salon on board 50-metre EIV, with a contemporary, minimalist style and detailed lighting design to accentuate art works and interiors. A blown glass male head inspired by Modigliani (above) by an artist from Murano in the EIV’s lounge stands in the lounge opposite a female head, a tribute to the two owners

streamlined it is, whether it’s positioned towards the bow

interiors are in a modern or contemporary style but entirely

or stern. Once you’ve imagined those four lines, the project

customised and enhanced by skilful lighting design that

has already reached an equilibrium. If it doesn’t work you

shuns the classic spotlights in favour of backlit surfaces or

can add a ton of details but the yacht will never have the

surfaces lit by indirect light from apertures, panels and wells.

harmony we’re talking about”.

One distinctive element of Gobbi’s designs is long,

This harmony is evident in the exterior lines of EIV and

uninterrupted windows. There are actually two – a larger

Utopia IV, two yachts by Team for Design for the Viareggio-

upper one and a slimmer one lower down in the walkways.

based yard Rossinavi. The two yachts are part of the Vector

“The lower window is extremely important for us because

line, not a fully-fledged range, but designed from 50 to 70

it’s not just an external decoration, it’s designed so that when

metres, with Utopia IV as the first at 63 metres and EIV the

you’re sitting on the sofas or the bed and you’re looking out,

latest at 50 metres.

it’s in exactly in the right position to provide a view of the

“They are seagoing coupés and, like large sports cars, they

sea. It’s a strategic opening for us that maintains the yacht’s

have a large bow/trunk forward and a superstructure shifted

sporty look without penalising the view. On the 50-metre

rearwards. There are further references to the world of car

you can open it in the dining area to create a spectacular

design in details like the air scoops and grilles, which are

gallery over the sea, but once it’s closed the black strip of

requirements in high-performance yachts, too”. The elegant

window is a distinctive element”.

The 63-metre exterior lines of the Utopia show its sleek, sporty character, with long bow and superstructure located aft to create the effect of a seagoing coupé. The dynamic architecture and uninterrupted windows are typical Enrico Gobbi design features

[ CREATIVE MINDS ]

Left, the artwork by Enrico Benetta created for the Utopia IV, with letters and numbers in Bodoni font, in aluminium rather than steel as a result of the strict weight limitations imposed by a fast vessel. Below, the lounge and owner’s cabin on the same yacht, with restrained colours and minimalist style. The light, mostly indirect, often enters through apertures and panelling

The personality of the interiors is completed by works of art, some by the studio itself and others by Italian artists. They are offered during the initial stage of interior customisation to enable the creation of an architectural element that can act as a suitable setting for each work, like with the spiral structure on the 63-metre, its numbers and letters representing the DNA of the owner’s family with important numbers and dates.