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40 YEARS of ORIGINALITY by Samuela Urnbini
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From ideas and random sketches to yachts that have now become a benchmark for the entire sector. Tommaso Spadolini’s language comprises a small number of essential lines, creating a timeless classic style
[ CREATIVE MINDS: DESIGN STUDIO SPADOLINI ]
Tommaso Spadolini designed the new 85 metre model from Rosetti Superyachts. The vast amount of glass and vertical bow are two of this supply vessel’s distinctive features, together with its decisive, masculine lines. The aft main deck for helipad and all kinds of water toy seems to extend forever
I
mportant birthdays are always a time to take stock and reflect on
His style is described as timeless classic, with “Few yet essential lines.
our existence and actions. Our meeting with Tommaso Spadolini
I’ve always described them in this way, drawing inspiration from my
during the year marking the fortieth anniversary of his studio
father’s work, an influence that’s clear in the Akhir designs of the
looking out onto the Ponte Vecchio in Florence was an opportunity
late 1950s/60s. I think they’re the most beautiful designs still afloat.
to examine a life of creativity dedicated to the sea, a career whose
Yachts should be clean and uncluttered, and their lines must make
products sail the world’s seas and have become examples to imitate.
aesthetic sense. Some strange shapes don’t reflect the sea’s harmony
Take, for example, the Canados of the 1980s or the more recent Aslec
and cleanness. A rough sea has its logic, too, even between one wave
4 and Numptia.
and the next, and I like to respect this in my creations, too”.
Spadolini founded his studio in 1978, but he grew up in a world of design and images – one grandfather was a painter, the other an architect, his mother and father were architects and his father held Italy’s first chair in industrial design. The family DNA is expressed through his creative process, which always starts with, in Spadolini’s words, “A table and a pencil”. “My wife has a wonderful collection of drawings I’ve made on restaurant napkins or odd bits of paper. My concepts always begin with an idea that I then hand-draw”. Rosetti’s latest concept, an 85 metre yacht developed in 2017, started out like that and during their initial meetings Spadolini and Fulvio Dodich, president of Rosetti Superyachts, always discussed his sketches. “The drawings are then transferred to computer”, he says, “A process I follow very carefully so that I can be sure the philosophy behind my initial concept remains unchanged when it’s transformed first into 2D then 3D”.
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[ CREATIVE MINDS ]
Tommaso Spadolini proposes two exterior configurations for Rosetti’s 85 metre superyacht. The helipad can be located aft – see the two renderings on this page – or amidships as the natural continuation of the high forward superstructure
The King of Spain’s yacht Fortuna, for example, embodies this emphasis
covering a total of over 300 square metres”.
on clean lines, a concept that’s also part of the Rosetti 85 metre’s
The Studio Tommaso Spadolini is also working on a new 102-foot
personality– its strength lies in those three lines at the bow - one of
motoryacht slated for delivery in summer 2018 It is being built by CCN
his distinctive stylistic hallmarks - the straight windows, harmonising
for an American couple, and Spadolini handled personalisation of the
towards the bows, the aft notch and then the bows themselves. “My first
entire interior design. Roberto Cavalli’s new yacht, also a CNN build,
sketches had a straight bow, giving the yacht a muscular look that we’ve
was also created together with the stylist.
retained”, Spadolini adds. “The yacht has five decks. The upper deck
“Our work is shaped by a good relationship with our clients”, the
and the one below form the owner’s domain, with the study and cabin
designer concludes. “We drew up some statistics covering the past forty
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Spadolini has also put together a book of proposals for the interior design featuring a contemporary, unfussy style. In the pictures at bottom, the architect’s magnificent studio in a deconsecrated church in Florence
years and it’s clear that owners use their yachts for thirty-one and a half days a year, no matter whether it’s a 15 or 100 metre craft. So we’re talking about a toy. We design what for the client is a toy. If I make a mistake and don’t make them happy, they won’t use the yacht and to me that’s an own goal. The relationship with the client lies at the basis of everything, whether it’s the CEO of the yard or the owner”.
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