Monday, August 4, 2008

Wellbeing and beauty on CRN’s new 57-metre yacht, which combines the features of a beauty farm and a floating palace. Beyond luxury, beyond elegance, beyond all striving for refinement and attention to detail. <br /><br /><br />CRN's construction project number 122, launched last April, is a 57-metre mega-yacht on which the client's cultural background has combined with the shipyard's expertise in interpreting new demands and needs, with the result being a return to an unadulterated concept of luxury and wealth. A close examination of the cultural preferences of the shipowner, the real project manager when it came to the vessel's interior decoration, made it possible for the CRN technical staff to bring to life his complex, sophisticated vision for this mega-yacht.<br />Monumental in size and dashing in style, this new 57-metre mega-yacht came into being like a work of art. Christened "Romance", its external form was designed in collaboration with the Zuccon International Project Firm.<br />A total of 12 guests and 10 crew members may be housed on this mega-yacht.<br />Thanks to the hands-on role of the owner, the CRN Design Department Office was able to pin down every detail of the boat's furnishings and interior design, selecting materials and decorative elements, all of them inspired by the glamour of the baroque period, that created a truly regal atmosphere.<br /><br />Valuable materials such as onyx, silk and gold are customised to create grandiose, opulent effects that appear to be taken from the stage. The silk carpet found throughout the "Romance" was made by hand and customised with a variety of designs tied to the decorative motifs in the different rooms and settings. The upholstery in all six cabins, including the shipowner's suite, are handmade, bearing the name of the renowned French firm Zuber.<br /><br />The creative complexity of the ship's features is readily apparent in the furniture, all of it rigorously custom made. The pieces, exclusively aristocratic in their design, are further set apart by inlays, varnished decorations and applications of gold, in keeping with the customs of the seventeenth century. Even the door handles, chiselled in bronze and gilded, point to a taste for luxuriant decoration typical of the Louis XIV style.<br /><br />Uniting the majestic forms of the furniture and accessories is the lone type of wood used for the panelling: mahogany and mahogany feather, found throughout the ship, with the exception of the panoramic lounge on the upper deck, where a lighter-hued decapé ivory is used.<br /><br /><br />A triumphal entryway leads to the lounge of the main deck, which starts with the large bar to the left, plus two twin panes of glass on which a peacock has been etched.<br /><br />Elegant sofas in pearl-white silk are framed by the large windows on the sides of the lounge, themselves decorated with inlaid columns and exquisite velvet curtains.<br /><br />Providing the backdrop is another finely crafted work on glass: a pastoral scene taken from a painting belonging to the shipowner separates the living room, which seats twelve, from the conversation zone.<br /><br />The bountiful supply of light beautifying the lounge is amplified by the mirrored ceiling, from which a 42" plasma TV descends. In the dining room, whose parquet floor reprises the same inlay found on the table, a highly refined Swarovski crystal chandelier, strictly a one-of-its-kind piece, was built.<br /><br />Leaving the lobby, from which a large glass elevator travels to all four decks, a professional-level kitchen appears on the left, and then the shipowner's apartment is reached. The suite is entered, in traditional fashion, through a private studio furnished with a desk made of mahogany burr, a large bookshelf and an antique planisphere, or model of the planets, that adorns the ceiling.<br /><br />Centred around the chiaroscuro effect of its furniture and fabrics, the shipowner's suite, found in the forward portion of the main deck, is rendered even more impressive by the Corinthian columns and the gold-leaf finishing on the panels. The crystal Swarovski decoration on the suspended ceiling follows the configuration of a celebrated constellation, creating a "starry sky" effect, while the gilded headboard with its tufting of white-silk velvet hearkens back to the regal atmospheres of the imperial style. Two separate bathrooms service the owner's private zone, both decorated in onyx. As a further touch to one of the two, the last precious block of Egyptian alabaster available on the market was purchased.<br /><br />The suite also comes with a terrace looking out onto the sea, decorated by the Fendi design house with a coffee table and chairs upholstered in lapin skin.<br /><br />Moving down to the lower deck, the zone set aside for the ship's guests is entered. They have four cabins at their disposal (two VIP rooms with double beds and two with twin beds), while a fifth VIP cabin is found on the upper deck. God-leaf decorations and elegant, hand-embroidered fabrics also adorn these settings, each of which has been given a special name by the owner.<br />In its stern portion, the upper deck holds a panoramic lounge measuring approximately 70 m2. and entered from an outdoor zone used for lunch and relaxation, as well as from the lobby. The well-lit, elegant lounges features wood panelling painted white, with gold finishing: hues that are reprised on the velvet sofas. An unmatched feature is the working wood fireplace, while video-projector hat folds out from the ceiling can transform the lounge into a movie theatre.<br />The large-size wheelhouse, with the Captain's cabin and the radio room sitting behind it, complete this deck.<br /><br />The crew area, with a dinette of its own and six cabins, is found in the forward portion of the lower deck. In creating "Romance", CRN has given full form to its concept of onboard wellbeing. The ship's lower deck also holds a Turkish bath and aroma-therapy area, a sauna made of aromatic fir wood and a massage room plus a beauty salon: nothing less than a floating beauty farm, set off by a luxuriantly exclusive design.<br /><br />The lobby that leads to this zone, and which is visible from the outside as well, is built around two back-lit columns, plus walls decorated with a mother-of-pearl mosaic and a central door featuring a bronze lion's head. The highly refined animal forms are a recurring motif on the vessel, appearing in the form of pure, moulded gold on all the faucet assemblies of the bathrooms.<br /><br />The concept of onboard wellbeing continues on the sundeck, where a large swimming pool measuring 6 m in length and 2.5 m in width, has been installed. A distinctive feature of the ship's pool is the option of treadmill swimming, thanks to an adjustable current.<br />The sundeck holds not only the swimming pool, the sunbathing area and a covered lunch zone, but also a workout room installed inside the mainmast, whose size was expanded for the purpose.<br /><br />Comfort and relaxation are two key traits of this mega-yacht, capable, thanks to its two 3512B Caterpillar engines, of reaching a top-speed of 15 knots and a cruising speed of 14. The construction of the boat has been followed by the surveyors Richard Davies and Roberta Johnson of Technical Support Limited.