Speedboats are the ultimate power trip, and few are designed as purely
for that purpose as the limited edition, $1.5 million version Marc
Newson has dreamed up for the Italian firm Riva. It’s an update of a
classic 1950s and 1960s powerboat—and puts you immediately in mind of
Sophia Loren and Dino De Laurentiis powering their way to Capri. The
Aquariva is La Dolce Vita's answer to the Chris-Craft— a display of boat
building wedded to design for speed—that allows you to get to Capri in
style, and fast.
Newson has brought the sexy back to status in everything from Swiss
watches (the Ikepod), to bicycles (the Biomega) to his black case for
Dom Perignon champagne. And his 1986 Lockheed Lounge chair sold for
$2.1 million last time it went up for auction.His latest nautical design leaves the basic idea of the speedboat alone, but gives it that shrink-wrapped, curved look that we by now expect in everything from our cars to our telephones. His Aquariva is wrapped in a white fiberglass skin that moves into the cabin to create seats and curves around the fantail, like a cowl. The surfaces between are not mahogany, but a textile-based laminate that the manufacturer insists will last a lot longer than wood (though it misses that burnished sheen). Aluminum accents and lime green cushions complete the update.
To be released at the end of the summer, Newson’s speedboat is being
marketed as a work of art: Only 22 of them will be available exclusively
via the ultimate power art gallery, Gagosian.
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