16 MONTHS IN REFIT

AT THE DERECKTOR YARD IN DANIA BEACH, FLORIDA

Co. and, because it was Bartolomei’s first yacht project, former stewardess-turned-designer Aran Swart. ¶ Many of the details, though, he handled himself, with a passion for getting every last choice just right. ¶ “A guest on this boat will never see a porcelain sink,” he says. “It’s all hammered nickel sinks and crystal faucets. Everything is high-gloss polished nickel hardware. The switch plates around the outlets are all being changed out to brushed-oil brass, art deco style. The tiniest details are all being looked at.” ¶ Some reconfiguring was done, including in the master stateroom, which he says went from being “long and skinny” to “gracious and wide” with a spa tub, a mosaic sole, custom cabinets, Calacatta marble and “the highest-quality crystal French faucets.” The chair at the master stateroom’s desk was manufactured from plans for desk chairs on the Queen Mary. “We are going to have silver service items on the boat from the SS Normandy,” he says. “The ocean liner, traditional elegance feel will all be there.” ¶ Even the main-deck day-head received detailed design attention, with a custom art deco glass-scalloped tile sole and illuminated dome crystal faucets in a seashell pattern. “The tiniest details will make that room a jewel box,” he says. “I’m worried that guests will want to just go into the day-head and stay there.” ¶ Practical choices were part of the Ariadne refit too. A twin-bed stateroom now converts to a king — a feature that helps with charter bookings — and the sun deck was reconfigured to shrink working space while adding square footage for guest relaxation. ¶

And once the BarcaLoungers were gone and new furniture was installed in the salon, its overhead was changed so the whole shape of that space would feel better tailored. ¶ “We completely changed the ceiling in the salon because it was out of proportion with the new furniture; $30,000 later,” he says, “it looks terrific.” ¶ Spaces that felt right to him, he left alone structurally, changing only the décor within them. And by “felt right,” he means not only the room sizes and layouts, but also how he expects to use them while cruising. ¶ “I don’t like having my dining and living rooms in one area,” he says, thinking about standard main-deck layouts aboard yachts of Ariadne’s size. “I’m somewhat formal in that way. When you’re having cocktails inside, I don’t want to see the stewardess running supplies in and out of the galley. So, one of the things this boat has is a stewardess pantry between the salon and the dining room. It’s a full, separate dining room. I think that’s unique: the privacy, the elegance, the grace.” ¶ There is an homage aboard to the original Ariadne, etched by a Fort Lauderdale glass company into a mirror that’s forward in the salon. The design, which glows with lighting around its sides, is based on a statue in an Italian museum that celebrates the Greek goddess. She’s the wife of the wine god Dionysus, and she helped the hero Thesus escape a labyrinth, forever becoming associated with solving puzzles and mazes. ¶ To Ariadne’s owner, that story sounds a lot like shepherding people on their course, no matter where they want to charter — and showing them a way to enjoy the ride that they may not have previously considered. ¶ “It’s different from what’s available in the charter fleet,” he says of the yacht. “You go on most boats and say, ‘This is lovely, how nice.’ But it’s all similar. There’s nothing special, nothing different. This boat is special.”

ELEGANT INSPIRATION — EVERYWHERE “The font we’re using for the nameplates, and for the letterhead on paper, is the font that they used for the inaugural voyage of the SS France, the last great French liner of the 1960s,” the owner of Ariadne says. “We’ve adapted it for this boat.”