The best Philippe Starck-designed yachts

Launched in 1999 by Tencara, Virtuelle is one of the earliest Starck yachts and saw the designer work in close partnership with naval architect Andrea Vallicelli. This 24 metre all-GRP sailing yacht is notable for her extensive use of curved teak decking, while below decks, she can accommodate up to six guests in three cabins.

"With Virtuelle, the challenge was to make the design of the boat coherent with the extraordinary know-how and science that was in it," Starck said. "I began to clean the design until I arrived at a completely smooth, completely ‘flush’, completely magical boat; a kind of silvery rocket, iridescent underneath, covered with teak and with a small bathtub to shelter humans."

Described by Dutch builder Feadship as a “spectacular departure from the norm”, Wedge Too hit the water for the first time in 2002 measuring 65.01 metres. Starck’s interior design flourishes include a luminous superyacht staircase, and an assortment of bespoke furniture, ranging from the exquisite to the bizarre. Accommodation is for 12 guests, with a separate owner’s deck, and she is staffed by 18 crewmembers.

Now a world-famous superyacht, Motor Yacht A was commissioned by Russian owner Andrey Melnichencko and launched in 2008 by German yard Blohm+Voss. Starck spent four years working on the project, creating the interior and exterior design, as well as the design for the custom tenders, while former collaborator Martin Francis provided the naval architecture. 

Commissioned by the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, who sadly died before she was completed and launched at Feadship in 2012, 78 metre Venus is another instant icon to originate from Starck’s drawing board. Her sleek exteriors feature a notably large proportion of glass, while her voluminous interiors are believed to total around 1,500GT. 

The largest and most controversial of all of Starck’s designs, the 142.81m Sailing Yacht A was the Frenchman’s second creation for Andrey Melnichenko. Officially described as a sail-assisted motor yacht, this divisive design comprises eight decks, with an underwater observation deck hidden in the bulbous bow. Built at German yard Nobiskrug, Sailing Yacht A boasts the tallest carbon masts in the world, each measuring in at more than 90 metres long.