A yacht-building campus

Art, design, luxury, customisation, Italian flair and know-how, in-house resources and sustainability underpin The Italian Sea Group’s corporate culture, shaping a yard in constant transformation

Author: Alessandra Bergamini

2008

Giovanni Costantino acquires Tecnomar through the Moda Design Srl. It proposes yachts up to 50 meters

2011

Acquisition of the Admiral brand, specialised in the construction of yachts and ships up to and over 100 meters

2012

Acquisition of Invitalia S.p.A. by Nuovi Cantieri Apuania S.p.A., the long-established yard in Marina di Carrara

2013

The launch of a multi-year investment programme for restructuring the yard and creating an area for refit activities

2017

Hong Kong office opened

2020

Change of company name from Nuovi Cantieri Apuania S.p.A. to The Italian Sea Group S.p.A. (also abbreviated to TISG S.p.A.)

2021

March - Opening of the new hangar 126 meters long and 26 meters wide, part of the TISG 4.0 enlargement plan

8 June – Listing on the Mercato Telematico Azionario organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A.

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Visitors to The Italian Sea Group headquarters in Marina di Carrara are immediately struck by the meaning of the word “shipyard” in its physical and metaphorical senses. The surprising reception welcomes them to the main office building on via Cristoforo Colombo, a former ferry construction yard, now the perfect location for a combination of art and design, a showcase for one of the major operators in luxury sailing owned by its founder and CEO Giovanni Costantino, a seasoned promoter of Made in Italy production and avid art collector. This is the yard as a venue for constant research and cross-fertilisation, and the layout of the offices often changes according to the works of art on display. It’s also the yard as a showroom in perfect detail, as well as a workspace and area for welcoming owners, their teams and crews, with dedicated meeting rooms, virtual rooms and The Village with lounge bar, restaurant, gym and spa. The brand’s international clientele find perfection in their yachts, where everything is customised to meet their desires by a yard that, in the finest tradition of Made in Italy know-how and style, is really an atelier, from art direction by Gian Marco Campanino, who designs made-to-measure exteriors and interiors with the Style Centre or the owner’s architects and designers, to the R&D division handling engineering and technical solutions, and from the metal-working department to the tailoring section. These in-house resources enable the

yard to use artisanal methods and generate improved time and cost management when handling commissions and creating a relationship with owners. It’s an astonishingly varied array of functions in a yard that covers around 100,000 square metres with unique facilities like 2,000 metres of quayside and 200 metres of dry dock, makes it possible to implement a constant transformation of the production spaces so the yard increasingly resembles a yacht-building campus on the Mediterranean. This March saw the opening of a new hangar 126 metres long and 26 metres wide, equipped with two overhead cranes and a 100 kW solar-panel roof. It can house two 75-metre vessels at the same time, and they will be launched using a submersible basin, exiting through the giant doors onto the 6,000 square metre apron in front. Work on the TISG 4.0 enlargement project also includes covering the existing basin with a fixed structure that will enable the new hangar to host ships up to 130 metres long, as well as the creation, already under way, of a construction basin 145 metres long and 50 metres wide with a “boat door”, enabling eight yachts to undergo refit at the same time. The project will also lead to the expansion of the superyacht range offered by the two illustrious brands, the Admiral steel and aluminium flagships over 50 metres in length, planing, semidisplacement and displacement, all totally personalisable, and the sportier Tecnomar models up to 45 metres in length, featuring innovative technology and materials and with top-end design and presentation. The yard also hosts the operations of NCA Refit, which specialises in refitting motor and sail yachts and superyachts above 60 metres in length. The list of launches in 2021 by the two brands includes the 55-metre charter megayacht Geco, developed in-house for Admiral in collaboration with Gian Marco Campanino, and Tecnomar’s new EVO120. Another recent development is the partnerships with Automobili Lamborghini for the design of the Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63, to be produced in a limited edition, and with Giorgio Armani S.p.A. for a series of personalised yachts with stylistic solutions developed and shaped by the famous fashion brand.

Opening pages. The reception area of the main office building on via Cristoforo Colombo in Marina di Carrara, a space where a mix of Italian design and works of art is on permanent display (photo 2) 1. The new EVO120, a combination of style, functionality, engineering efficiency and cuttingedge design. Naval architect The Italian Sea Group, exterior design Tecnomar Centro Stile 3. The Village welcomes owners, their teams and crews with lounge bar, restaurant, gym and SPA 4-5. Admiral Geco, a recently-launched 55metre charter megayacht developed in collaboration with Gian Marco Campanino, the group’s Art Director. Naval architect Admiral, exterior and interior design GMC Architecture

Photos: courtesy of The Italian Sea Group