Although the newest addition to the Magellano fleet is a personal creation of Giovanna Vitelli, President of the Azimut/Benetti group, the story of what immediately became the nautical crossover goes back a long way. Since father Paolo Vitelli decided in 2006 that the time had come to propose a new type of boat, a boat that could satisfy the desires of those owners interested in rediscovering a more direct contact with the sea. More navigation comfort and the desire to extend routes to go beyond the usual destinations.
The essential form of Jarkko Jamsen
A boat capable, today even more than yesterday thanks to the completely vertical hull designed by Jarkko Jamsen, one of the greatest nautical designers, of holding the sea better without hitting the waves. Faithful to the very essence of the Magellan fleet, which is to sail. Protected and safe, wrapped almost in a shell with a clean and linear design, a design conceived to last over time because it is above fashion and trends. At the base, respect for the Magellan DNA combined with a work of subtraction conceived to arrive at what the Finnish designer defines as a "bare shape", the essential form.
"We tried to go back to the essence of things, therefore trying to eliminate all superfluous lines from the boat. And we tried to create a surface as simple as possible, because the boat moves and to see as many reflections of the sea and sky as possible on the moving boat", explains Jarkko Jamsen. "When you're here with friends, I hope you don't focus too much on the things you can see, but on your friends and family. I think that's part of the luxury."
What guided Jamsen in designing the New Magellano is the search for purity and simplicity: "I wanted to convey a feeling of freedom, which is the fundamental characteristic of this boat. And I did it through the layout, in the main lounge for example you can sit comfortably and have an unobstructed view all the way to the stern. From every point it is possible to see the sea.
It was fantastic to work on this project, and it is obviously a great source of pride to work with the largest yacht builder in the world.
There is a lot of innovation in the new Magellan, but always respecting its DNA. We went back through the history of the series, the design of that era and just emphasized some key features and eliminated a lot to make everything more linear and clean. This boat certainly represents Magellan's DNA, but with a push towards the future."
Interior design by Michele De Lucchi
No frills that could in any way disturb that contact with nature sought in the exteriors as well as the interiors, in a continuous dialogue between inside and outside. This is also guided by Michele De Lucchi, strongly desired by Giovanna Vitelli to give her Magellan that sophisticated elegance that makes the boat warm and comfortable. Although his collaboration with Azimut is now long-standing, it is with the Magellano 27metre that De Lucchi goes on board a boat for the first time.
With his studio AMDL Circle he signs the interior design of the new Magellano with a very specific idea: to combine spaces and objects with the expectations of today's world.
“The first time we met with Azimut it was to talk about stands, presentations at fairs, everything around the world of boats, not about the boats themselves,” explains Michele De Lucchi. "And this was a fortunate way of approaching boating, because we were able to begin to see the boats from the outside, not from the inside. The boats represent an idea of freedom, of escape from everyday life, from the life of work, commitments...
The basic idea that guided us in this project was once again to combine spaces and objects with the expectations of today's world. The world changes, even if we don't want it and even if it seems to us that it never changes, it changes. Our desires, our dreams, our expectations change, dragged by the great problems we have and also by the great opportunities that come our way. So for us too, working on the boat was really about bringing current issues of today, bringing them into a specific world where, unlike all our past projects, here we have a big world above our heads and a big world under our feet. This is the difference between designing a living environment on land and designing a living environment at sea."
One of the main characteristics of Magellano27M is in fact the continuous dialogue between inside and outside, it is as if nature forcefully entered the internal spaces, and is especially evident on the main deck.
“It is a great theme, a theme that we have very close to our hearts in our AMDL Circle studio, but it is also a current theme born after the pandemic, because we realized that we cannot resolve our comfort and our idea of the future in closed spaces, but that we need open spaces. This reconsideration of what it means to be outdoors and what it means to be indoors has completely transformed the very idea of architecture. We need a new relationship with nature, today nature is not something we want to keep away, instead we want it to be integrated into our spaces. Nature has become an internal need.”
Everything around us speaks of design, a design whose sole purpose is to make you feel good.
“Design is a choice in some way, it is something that builds our identity and our personality. The project today no longer concerns individual elements, but their combination, the choice of something that gives us the impression of growing, that gives us the impression of taking a step forward towards a better future. In the end, design is precisely this: it is choosing and building something for a better future.”
Within the interior design project also Michele De Lucchi's passion for Japan, evident in the details of the workmanship or in the use of the highly prized Hoose fabric, which transforms the headboard of the bed into a true work of art. The design recalls wooden rings, the absolute protagonist of the entire project.
“In some ways, Italy and Japan, although poles apart both geographically and in terms of mentality, are similar. At least they are similar in the field of craftsmanship, manual work, in the idea of making things and attributing a special value to objects. But there is a difference: while the Japanese tendency is to achieve perfection to almost hide that an object is handmade because it is so perfect that it seems to be machine-made, the Italian interpretation of craftsmanship is to do things that are different from each other because there is something innovative in each one. Here, I wanted to put together the concept of Italian experimental research with the search for Japanese perfection. I believe it has great value and whenever I can I try to bring it into my projects, because objects are not just tools, they are only to a small extent tools, they don't just have a function, but they are mirrors of ourselves. This is evident in the headboard of the flagship cabin, the Hoose fabric created in ancient Kyoto looms. We have recreated the landscapes hidden within the fibers of wood, the most natural material we have.”
The true protagonist of the entire project is the sea, thanks also to the large windows that erase the boundaries between inside and outside.
“The boat is in the middle between sea and sky. Contrary to the architecture that is made on land and which is based on sinking into the earth, in a boat we float and float in the light."
Architect, designer, thinker, now also artistic director of the Triennale Milano and the Design Museum, we ask Michele De Lucchi: "can the boat, with its spaces, be considered a perfect gym for training creativity?"
"Yes, for a very simple fact: we are much more willing to conceive the boat as an object, and it is a floating object. Recognizing this fact makes the boat become something that communicates a story, and it does so through its shape. I find that Magellan is a meditative boat where a lot of our mind, a lot of our personality is also cultivated. On a boat we look inside ourselves much more than when we are on land, we have that more solid, denser, more engaging time. On a boat we inhabit the sea and we they also inhabit themselves a little, in this sense I am a man of the sea.”
The Cannes Yachting Festival
With over 700 yachts and more than 680 exhibitors, the Cannes Yachting Festival is in fact the first major international event of the nautical season. Among the 150 world premieres of this 49th edition there is also the new Magellan.
“We arrive here with a number of important boats and four world premieres including the Magellano 27M, the third generation of this boat which was an invention of Azimut in 2009,” explains Azimut Benetti president Giovanna Vitelli. At the time you had to choose between a fast boat or a slower boat, a very aggressive design boat or a very traditional boat. Magellan allowed, and still allows today, not to have to make these choices because he is both. This yacht has been compared to SUVs: just as the SUV was a revolution that brought a new category to the automotive world, so the Magellano brought a revolution to the nautical world, it is a sort of crossover. It is in fact a boat that allows various speeds and that allows you to make long journeys. In fact, we call it Voyager. Its mission is precisely to sail and therefore to spend a long time on board, to make long voyages and this brings with it some characteristics such as a very soft hull which allows you to hit the wave and sail at medium speeds, therefore both slow and to reach 24 knots in case you want to give a little more speed. It is also a very spacious boat, because the concept is to stay on board for a long time and therefore you need to be comfortable. The environment is a bit reminiscent of a house, so even the interiors convey a warm language, they speak of a place where you can spend a lot of time.”
One of the characteristics of Azimut is that of being an innovative brand and we also see innovation in the decision to call a designer who has never worked in the nautical sector, Michele De Lucchi, to create the interiors of Magellano.
“With Michele De Lucchi and the AMDL Circle studio we have been working for a long time, but always on the ground. We started with the boat show stands and it was like recreating a home away from home. Then we moved on to our headquarters, then our offices. So finally getting to a boat was the right completion. For Michele De Lu Lucchi and his studio, Magellano 27M is the first boat and as always a virgin eye, a new eye to sailing brings a particular touch. Especially if you consider that it is not just an architectural studio but a studio where professionals with a very strong artistic streak work, very ecliptic designers and architects who have competed in projects of all kinds, from large buildings to houses, from museums to schools.
In this project the love for wood is evident, therefore for materiality, for warmth and this is exactly what we wanted to interpret Magellan which, in fact, must be the Voyager, the place of great journeys, of well-being. It is not, as Michele De Lucchi says, just a place for traveling from a geographical point of view, but also for a personal journey. The boat is almost mono-material, wood reigns supreme but thanks to the skilful use of different materials the environment is rich. In fact, we cannot define it as minimalist, even if this richness is never ostentatious, it is a very elegant boat, of great sophistication.
Jarkko Jamsen, who designed the exterior, brings a touch of Scandinavian design. He started from the previous Magellanos because we wanted to maintain the family feeling and then he, as he himself states, subtracted in order to arrive at what he calls the "bear shape", that is, the essential shape, a very sculptural shape which on the one hand almost takes us to a typically Nordic industrial design, but which also maintains warmth and romantic hints".
Finally, we ask Giovanna Vitelli, what is the feeling she wants an owner to experience when climbing aboard one of her boats?
"I believe that what distinguishes our company, and which perhaps also derives a little from being a family business, is that a team of great dedication and passion works on the product. I am convinced that this makes the difference. We sell something that cannot be masked by a good marketing campaign or good advertising, it is something that people experience. In our boats there is attention to space and detail, attention to the well-being of those who will experience those spaces that I hope people perceive when they get on edge. Let's say that, from this point of view, the results speak in our favor.”
