Michela Reverberi

AS IF PART OF A WELL COMPOSED MELODY, EVERY SPACE MUST BE IN HARMONY

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Architect and interior designer Michela Reverberi is backed by a wealth of experience in designing motor and sail yachts that have won prestigious international accolades. She teaches the Masters in Yacht Design at the Milan Polytechnic, at the Rome University of Fine Arts and the Academy of Luxury in Milan. She is proprietor of the Rome-based Reverberi Design Studio

In this photo, the communicating saloons on the main deck of yacht Bugia, currently under construction. With a modular structure, the yacht is ready to inaugurate a line of craft of different lengths. This one, a 37-metre model, has interiors and exteriors designed by Reverberi. Opposite page, top, the upper-deck lounge of the same yacht, also with exceptional communication that blurs the line between interior and exterior. Bottom, a rendering of the yacht’s external profile with its straight bow

Michela Reverberi describes how she thinks of design in a gentle, unhesitating voice that is full of awareness. One of the most refined, original interior designers on the maritime scene, Reverberi has been creating interiors for over 33 years, but she insists that her aim is still to have fun, to seek out that invisible vibration that makes a space alive and harmonious, like a melody. After beginning her career in the Sturchio studio, in 2000 she founded her own studio in Rome, creating interiors for owners from around the world – but it is with Stella Maris of 2012, a 72-metre yacht designed for VSY, that her vision was fully realised. “I really understood it with that yacht because I made certain choices. The owner gave a free hand, telling me to make something that would set people talking. So I began thinking about the project’s full potential and I tried to enhance every aspect of it, especially the light, the height of the saloons and the flexibility of every space. I liked the idea of having spaces that were used as filters, spaces that could change function. The saloons, for example, can be closed spaces, but they can open out and become external decks. It was no longer just an interior, it was a space that breathed”. The idea played a central role in the projects that were to

follow – the yacht as an organism. “Every part should serve a purpose, like in the human body. There is no duplication of functions, everything is designed to improve on-board life. Flow patterns are streamlined, not only providing the crew with their own circulation routes, avoiding interaction with the Owner and guests, but also achieving the maximum efficiency with the least amount of energy expended”. The evolution of this approach is embodied by a series of concepts designed in different lengths. One of them, the new 37-metre Bugia, is currently under construction. “The concept was created to be modular – it can be extended, while maintaining the same base structure and the position of the staircase. The stern is faceted like a diamond, a jewel”. It has a spacious saloon that provides flexible communication with the exterior, like on Stella Maris. Bugia is the first time Reverberi has also designed the exteriors, together with long-time friend and collaborator Roberto Terrinoni. “After so many years of collaboration we desired to gather all our experience into something that could express the evolution of our thinking. It’s the synthesis of all the ideas we developed together”. The distinctive design element is still the refined lightness that defines all her creations.

[ CREATIVE MINDS

In these pictures, the 24-metre yacht Veronika built by the Giangrasso shipyard in Viareggio. The interior design reflects the owner’s enthusiasm for flowers and nature – in the main saloon, for example, (right), where the carpet recalls the colours of a sky blue and Bordeaux orchid. Below, a rendering of the guest cabin. Below right, the yacht’s exteriors

“Despite using all the more advanced technologies, I still start my design by hand, always. I like to maintain the creative emotion inherent in the stroke that is shaped by the hand. Talking about emotions, my father was a musician, and we spent lot of time talking about music and I have always loved to introduce the same harmony and rules that guide music into my projects. “When we listened to Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ together, for instance, he used to make me pay attention to the voice and piano, so adeptly chosen they were enough in themselves. Then when the cymbals arrives and then the orchestra comes in, in an atmosphere already full of emotion, the sensation is thrilling. That’s how I

try to work – first the GA, the structure, the harmony among the parties, and when it works then the emotional details complete the picture”. Reverberi now lectures the Milan Polytechnic and the Rome University of Fine Arts, but is still deeply involved in the yacht industry. At the moment she is also working on the design of the 24-metre yacht Veronika for the Giangrasso yard, and on the refit of a 38m sailing Yacht by the Zancle757 Yard. “The yacht is a world in itself. She should breathe, generate energy, maintain the temperature. She is a living organism. Our job is to make it work well, with poetry. I design to make people feel good. And when I succeed, it’s like finding the right chord”.