MV Nansen Explorer NANSEN POLAR EXPEDITIONS • EYOS Nansen Polar Expeditions teams up with EYOS to reveal a new product that bridges the gap between classic expedition ships and the ultimate superyacht. Words: Lauren Ho • Photography: Courtesy of Nansen Polar Expeditions / EYOS
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ou know you’re onto something good when
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Billed as a special-purpose expedition vessel, the
your first experience of a new ship is a pristine
12-guest ship has now emerged from an extensive
mudroom that not only looks the part, but is
refit, courtesy of Norwegian Marine Interior (NMI)
practical and well-organised too. This is the room
and interior architect Åshild Von Lantz. “We had a
that Ben Lyons, CEO of EYOS Expeditions, also notes
good dialogue with the Nansen team who briefed us
as his favourite, commenting that it represents the
to create a light, Scandinavian style,” says Svein Arne
transition between the ship’s utilitarian exterior and
Myrvold, Project Coordinator and Engineer at NMI.
its newly outfitted, design-orientated interior.
“Our approach is always to be functional and practical,
Built in Finland in the 1980s, MV Nansen Explorer
but also aesthetically pleasing, with a strong use of
is an ice-class ship that was originally used for Arctic
materials and colours.” Von Lantz adds: “It has been
research, before serving as a casino boat that sailed
a great pleasure to be a part of this work, to create
between Russia and Japan, and later being acquired
something unique together with the best crew.”
by Norway as a military vessel patrolling Svalbard.
The Nansen team were also keen for the design to
Today, the ship is owned and operated by Nansen
be influenced by scenes of the polar regions taken by
Polar Expeditions, who procured her with the aim of
a series of photographers, including both Enckell and
bridging the gap between smaller cruise ships and the
Audun Lie Dahl – another of Nansen’s co-founders
ultimate superyacht and, as the company’s co-founder
who has a number of awards to his name. “Usually
Martin Enckell says, “to create a new expedition yacht
artwork is amongst the last elements to be added to
experience in the polar regions”.
the design, but we have done the exact opposite,” says
As part of the masterplan, the group has smartly
Jojo Persson, Nansen’s Chief Operating Officer. “We
teamed up with EYOS Expeditions, a company best-
have based all our colour schemes and materials on
known for designing extraordinary superyacht
the photos.”
experiences to some of the most remote and extreme
And so, in the ship’s cosy lounge, the blue-grey
regions on earth. “They have the ship and we have
hues of the cushions take their cues from a photograph
the product – the expedition management capabilities
of a pair of penguins snapped by German expedition
– so to speak,” explains Lyons. “We have known the
photographer Stefan Christmann, while the inviting
Nansen team for years; we have such kinship in our
glow of the fireplace is intensified by a striking image
philosophies so a partnership was natural.”
of a polar bear, radiant with the light of the rising sun.
