Interiors inspiration: Martin Kemp on designing the interior of 45 metre yacht Logica

With a bursting portfolio of high-end residential projects, including one of Monaco's most exclusive apartments overlooking the Port of Monaco, it was only a matter of time before London-based interior design firm Martin Kemp Design made the hop across the dock to superyacht interiors. Currently working on the refit of 85.95 metre yacht Ecstasea, the company's debut yacht interior was for the 44.8 metre yacht Logica.

Launched in 2014, the owner's brief was to create "fresh modernism on the high seas" incorporating bright colours and clean, modern lines. Here Martin Kemp talks us through his favourite rooms on board and how he fulfilled this challenging task.

The client's main concern with the design of the saloon was ensuring there was extensive lounge seating to create an area where they felt very much at home. This was easily achievable through the introduction of a selection of sofas, armchairs and dining chairs, creating the feel of a residential living room.

The creation of a bar and a more formal dining area for the client, his family and guests to enjoy, were two other key requirements. To do this, we opened up the dining room and widened the yacht's aft access area to create more space to accommodate these areas. The aft redesign also allowed us to make necessary location changes to the VIP sleeping area access, which sits below the yacht's saloon, and the guest powder room, which sits on the same level.

Aesthetically we wanted to create a space that was light and open whilst also comfortable so our design focused on maximising natural light with plenty of large windows and a light colour palette. I have always maintained that light installations make a huge difference to the overall ambience and feel of a project and this remains true when designing a superyacht. We installed a rigid glass light installation above the dining table by Haberdashery, a London-based design studio specialising in innovative, contemporary lighting products. We also chose custom Cesare Ferrari dining chairs for the dining area, a selection of sculptures by Charles Hadcock and throw cushions by Cameron Broom as well as resin walling from Based Upon.

The owner’s wife inspired a lot of the interiors in both the owner's cabin and en suite bathroom of Logica as we were tasked with figuring her name discreetly in several items of joinery and upholstery throughout the room. We were given a lot of freedom in designing this space as the owner trusted our signature MKD style. There were just two requests: that we gave the space a light, airy interior and, secondly, that we include plenty of storage space in the design of the room. Accordingly, we finished the room with an illuminated ceiling and neutral linens from Gayle Warwick and Oyuna and incorporated an extensive walk-in wardrobe for the owner and his wife.

Designing a yacht is a world away from the design schemes for a home and a large part of that is down to the space and shape constraints. When designing the owner's bathroom on Logica, the client requested that we fit a full-sized bath with a skylight overhead which initially posed a challenge due to the small space we were working with in comparison to the type of bathrooms we design for residential homes. This was, of course, an achievable request but required us to relocate both the shower and the toilet plumbing to create enough space down the bathroom's far wall.

The twin cabin was designed primarily for the use of the owner’s two children and therefore they became the influence in the interior scheme of the room. The idea was to create a room they would enjoy, using colours and patterns that were tailored to suit each of their individual tastes.

Similarly to the issues we faced in the owner's cabin, space constraints played a large role in the design of this room. The creation of storage space was one of the main requirements for this room in order to make up for the lack of space elsewhere on the yacht. In order to achieve this, MKD incorporated space for the children’s belongings underneath each of the beds together with some cleverly concealed storage within the room's walling.

The throw pillows you can see on each one of the beds, with their unique patterns, were custom made using Missoni fabrics. In a similar scheme to the owner’s cabins, the bedlinen was sourced from Gayle Warwick whilst the bed throws were selected from Oyuna, two brands MKD have worked closely with time and time again due to their great designs and the high standard of their products.

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