Designer hobbies: Philippe Starck on waves, yacht design and invisibility

Philippe Starck has no hobby. "Creative people don't have time for a hobby. Their lives are all about creating," says the designer. His passion is for waves, genetically determined by the family of sailors in which he grew up. Even as a child, he steered his father's large wooden sailing boat and spent winters calfing. The smell has stayed with him to this day. At the age of 16 or 17, he became a "survival trainer" at a sailing holiday in Brittany, showing students how to capsize and right boats. The water was cold, the waves big. It was there that he developed his fondness for waves, which has characterised his entire oeuvre. Sailing and aviation are based on a binary system, which is why Starck also has a pilot's licence. This binary situation fascinates him because errors in the weather forecast have immediate consequences.

Regattas and thrills

Starck sailed regattas with his brother and won thanks to a special tactic. "We were so fast that we were always in the lead until we capsized," he explains. However, they were able to right their boat and pick up speed so quickly that they were the first to cross the finish line. He describes his relationship with the sea as extremely physical, pretty gnarly and wet. He is constantly analysing whether a wave will capsize his boat or whether it will be the next one. For him, the thrill lies in this controlled yet permanent state. The binary system makes it possible to understand water, clouds and their meaning, the wind and its consequences. He is particularly interested in the exact shape of the waves. Recently, he looked at the giant wave of Nazaré, at eye level with this massive wave of billions of tonnes of water that moves very slowly.

Design from the inside out

Starck only designs boats for good reasons. Many people only buy yachts to show off their wealth. Some designers share this view and design boats to reflect the wealth of their customers. These boats are designed from an outside perspective. "Unfortunately, we often witness the aesthetic pollution of landscapes by boats that are entirely based on non-human, non-natural and non-positive values," he criticises. He always draws his yachts from the inside out, inspired by the wind, the wave, life, people and what we really need. Not what we think we need. "Motor Yacht A" has an ingenious hull that does not create waves even at 25 knots, "a great ecological innovation. The shape and lines are derived directly from wave proportions and whale reflections."

Merging with the environment

The reflections on whale bodies exude a special spirit and have a special logic. The basic idea behind "A" is that it merges with its surroundings. "Venus"created for Steve Jobs, Starck tried not to adapt to nature, but simply to make it disappear. It was part of Jobs' character to be invisible. Starck shares this invisibility syndrome. He designed the boat with a maximum of glass. The first deck is a transparent, completely glazed space. The roof is also completely glazed, which required extraordinary technology. The windows are around 23 metres long, 2.50 metres wide and six centimetres thick, as well as being curved. All of his boats are the result of his relationship with nature and his personal experience.

Houses by the water

Starck can always work when he is alone, like a monk. The only thing he needs to see to feel alone is the sea. He owns a collection of houses that he calls "In the middle of nowhere". 95 per cent of them are on the water, usually with a boat anchored about five metres away. When his brain is completely fried and about to burn out, he can hop on a boat, set off and hit the waves. He explains simply why this is the best pastime for him: "Then I'm just a person who plays with the laws of physics."

This article first appeared in BOOTE EXCLUSIV 2/2021 and has been updated for this online version.