Yachtline 1618
The interiors firm Yachtline 1618 has two production sites on the outskirts of Pisa, both of which you are welcome to visit via helicopter. “Our factories are equipped with helipads where our clients can land,” says owner and CEO Fiorenzo Bandecchi. And there’s good reason to make the trip. Yachtline creates a 1:1 replica of each boat’s interior at its facilities before shipping, so both yacht owner and shipyard know exactly what the final product will look like before everything is formally installed.
“They revolutionised the production method by reserving more than 16,000sqm of their facilities for mock-ups,” says Vincenzo Poerio, CEO of Tankoa Yachts, who has collaborated with Yachtline on about 50 projects in the course of his career. “In this way, the customer can check every single detail of the interior of his yacht.”
Yachtline is used to unusual requests. For one project with shipbuilder Perini Navi, the owner wanted a unique look, so he required that the interiors feature titanium, a metal commonly used for reinforcement in military vessels. Bandecchi and his team incorporated the strong material into finishes and furniture, from the ceilings and cabin doors to one of the dining tables. The final product, the nearly 70m Badis, is the largest sailing yacht ever made in Italy. Its unique oak, leather and titanium design earned it the Best Interior award at the Monaco Yacht Show. A significant accolade, but one that hasn’t gone to management’s head. For Bandecchi, Yachtline’s work remains as straightforward a process as ever. “The client comes with a design, and it’s our duty to make that into a reality,” he says simply.