Welcome to the special “20th Anniversary” section of Top Yacht Design. Here, day by day, we present the best stories, yachts, and personalities we’ve covered over the past 20 years of Top Yacht Design, from 2006 to today.
Taken from Top Yacht Design no. 21/2020, pp. 38/45
Igor Lobanov
Ingenious, rational and creative at once, the Russian designer talks about his approach to yacht design and how his wife Yulia plays a pivotal role in his creations.
Our interview is set for 15.00 the day after the Cannes Show. “We’ll talk tomorrow at 14.45 to confirm,” says Igor Lobanov. We smile at him, thinking that we very probably won’t be seeing him the next day. But as promised, he called and as promised we spoke. A maths graduate, Lobanov went on to study at the European Institute of Design in Turin and Coventry University, but his first taste of the yachting design world came by chance. “I met Andrey Melnichenko at the British Embassy. We had been at university together and hadn’t seen each other for a long time,” he smiles. “As we chatted, he discovered I has specialised in design. After taking a look at my portfolio, he asked me to act as the owner representative for the yacht he was having built (the famous Yacht A by Blohm+Voss, ed.’s note)”. That craft, for which Lobanov only actually designed the logo, provided the springboard for his career in yacht design and laid the foundations for his studio. Lobanov’s first contract in 2007 was for a 120m called Dizo, which never saw the light of day because the owner got cold feet as the 2008 crisis took hold. Even such a rocky start didn’t discourage the Russian designer whose career really took off in 2013. His first project was Amore Vero, an 85.5m for Oceanco, followed by the game-changing Jubilee, also for the Dutch yard.
The latter’s lines were heavily influenced by the car and aviation worlds, proving a step too far for many. However, they also proved that it was not just perfectly possible to mix the three worlds but to do so to superb effect. Lobanov’s thinking is as linear as it is innovative. Design to him means giving an object a raison d’etre and then going all out to make it beautiful. “You can do the same thing in many different ways,” he explains, “but if you don’t put passion into it, it will just turn out very banal”. Being a designer takes courage. Innovating means you have to break the old rules or at least improve on the existing ones, approaching them with a mix of humility and ingenuity. “It is not always easy to not follow trends,” says Lobanov, “because that means getting fewer commissions. However, I just wouldn’t be able to design a boat I didn’t like. I wouldn’t have the inspiration. I prefer to devote myself to developing concepts rather than boats I don’t believe in”.
Ah concepts. Lobanov’s combine creativity and farsightedness with a very large pinch of genius. Craft of the likes of Phoenicia, the room long-boat-inspired sailing superyacht, or Star, the spaceship-like u3m motoryacht, may seem like styling exercises but also hide an approach to yacht design focused on simplicity of line and rational forms and volumes. Which makes sense when you remember that Lobanov has a degree in mathematics. Sometimes, however, even the most radical concepts get built. Take Tuhura, the u15m Lobanov designed two years ago for Oceanco that mimies the ancient forms of a Polynesian canoe and now has potential buyers. The result of an Oceanco marketing idea, the concept has exteriors by Lobanov and interiors by Achille Salvagni. No one ever expected an owner to want to see if the project could actually be built. “Tuhura is an incredible boat,” explains Lobanov. “Her forms are banal but the ideal of a simple, ancestral boat combined with Achille Salvagni’s extraordinary interiors, have turned her into a third millennium project and a must-have – for some at least. One of my dreams at the moment is to see her built”. Lobanov views yachts as works of art. “My wife Yulia works with me in the studio. Even though she is a design and architecture graduate too, she is an artist at heart a painter, ed.’s note) and she is responsible for many of the creations aboard our boats. I am definitely more rational and she is more instinctive but it is difficult to see what bits I’ve done and what bits she has in a design because we have a kind of symbiotic creative relationship”.
Last year at Cannes, Lobanov dispensed with another taboo. After years spent designing megayachts, he unveiled his first production boat. Needless to say, it was no ordinary commission, rather one of the most complex restyling jobs of the last decade. The Mangusta Open was originally penned in the 19gos by Stefano Righini and paved the way for the whole Maxi Open genre. “The Mangusta was a fascinating project. Righini is a genius and produced a gorgeous boat,” explains Lobanov. “To me, redesigning the Mangusta Open was like redesigning a Porsche gu. People still had to be able to recognise it but also realise itwas something new. Quite a challenge,” he laughs. Once again, however, Lobanov’s mix of ingenuity and simplicity won the day.
The new Mangusta Sport 104 is so sleek and spare that it exudes energy and movement even at anchor. Large windows in the sides have slenderised its lines and become a new signature. “It took a lot of drafts,” says Lobanov. “We just kept subtracting and Overmarine really helped us out. I liked working with them because they were like a very passionate family that argued a lot but only to guarantee the best possible result”. Lobanov’s upcoming projects include a custom 75m currently in build at an Italian yard, and other one-offs about which he remains tight-lipped for now. That said, Lobanov is continuing his collaboration with Mangusta and that alone should produce some exciting surprises.
by Giuliana Fratnik
photo by Giovanni Malgarini
