Kirk Lazarus, Molori Design
Like Rémi Tessier, Kirk Lazarus stumbled into designing yacht interiors, but from a different direction. The entrepreneur and hotelier used to work in the energy industry and was obliged to entertain clients lavishly. “I’ve chartered numerous yachts of various sizes over the years, and I always felt the yachts didn’t make you feel at home,” he says. “They were too gold or too stark, and the use of space always followed the same layout.”
After putting a fleet of superyachts through their paces, Lazarus built his own, the 50-metre Told U So, which is decked out in a mix of sleek contemporary furnishings, antiques, animal skins and Missoni fabrics. “I wanted it to appeal to all generations, to be modern but also feature antiques and be homely. I also wanted whoever was chartering it to feel an instant sense of ownership, so the photo frames are designed so you can put your own photos in them, and each guest has their own section of the boat and own outdoor space,” says the self-taught, South African-born designer.
His personal approach—and bold, no-rules style—has drawn a number of commissions since Told U So hit the water. He’s working on a particularly exciting superyacht due to be launched in three years. “There’s a special water chamber, so you can scuba-dive from inside the boat and swim straight in and out.”
Lazarus, unhappy with the fabrics options for yacht interiors and outdoor spaces, is creating his own, some with Missoni and some in-house at Molori Design. “The Med can be cold, versus the humidity of the Maldives, so fabrics have to be resilient,” he says.
Molori Design is even creating its own cutlery, crockery and towels “with recognised names,” he says. “I find it naff to have a boat’s name on all the towels,” he adds, so don’t expect to see monograms. The fabrics and other products will be for sale at Molori Design’s new store in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, which is set to open in November. molori.com