Invictus GT320 Versilys strikes the perfect balance between original lines and classic charm in an innovative project by Christian Grande
by Massimo Longoni
The design combines aesthetics and functionality, it mixes art with engineering and coordinates form and function. The objects we use every day, even the most ordinary one we can imagine, are the fruit of a designer’s thought who has studied a specific need and found an answer with an innovative object we often take for granted.
«THE CLASSIC DOES NOT ONLY BELONG TO THE PAST, IT IS THE IMAGE IN WHICH EVERY CIVILISATION HAS IDENTIFIED THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED FORM OF ITS CULTURE. IT IS SOMETHING THAT REMAINS DEEPLY RELEVANT AND CONTINUES TO STAND THE TEST OF TIME». CHRISTIAN GRANDE
The weight of the Versilys version is only 70 kg more than the standard model thanks to the unprecedented processing of marble slabs.
With this project, Christian Grande enhances these dichotomies in the word design, a term that was born with the industrial revolution to mass produce products at a low cost and optimize industrial costs with respect to the one of craftsmanship. Grande applies the meaning of the word design to artisanal production in a period that is quite distant from the industrial revolution, giving life to a boat that is truly one of its kind.
«Ours is an era that celebrates the unusual and the paradoxical, capable of integrating contrasts and transforming any apparent contradiction into a wealth of meaning. In the wake of this idea, what is apparently irreconcilable finds its space: stone and sea, archetypal elements, meet and merge in the space of thirty-two feet. As for the Renaissance artists, who animated the marble of their sculptures with throbbing muscles and veins, once again intention shapes reality through technique. The infinite complexity of a process translates into an immediate, authentic, true form: the original, in a single instant, becomes a Classic», explains Christian Grande.
Technical studies are in place for the development of the marble processing technology on board and Invictus Yacht will release further details in the near future.
The lines conceived for the Invictus range, since the first GT280, have added a distinctive sculptural vocation to the typical dynamism of boating. The half-reverse bow and harmonious convexities of the hull strike a perfect balance of strength and agility: an authentic family feeling that elevates the vessels by the Italian shipyard to true classics.
THE FULL-LOAD WEIGHT DIFFERS ONLY SLIGHTLY, ABOUT 70 KG, FROM THE 8 TONNES OF THE STANDARD MODEL THANKS TO THE UNPRECEDENTED PROCESSING OF MARBLE SLABS AND TO THE USE OF CARBON PARTS, SUCH AS THE HARD TOP AND THE SUPPORT POLES OF THE AFT AWNING.
Technical studies are in place for the development of the marble processing technology on board and Invictus Yacht will release further details in the near future.
Giving life to a new classic was the goal embraced by Invictus Yacht and Henraux. On one side, Paolo Carli, CEO of Henraux; on the other, Christian Grande, Chief Designer for Invictus. The idea was to use marble, which is a precious, eternal, sculptural material, on a modern, powerful, and fast boat. After processing and installation tests, the two companies reached the goal of using thin slabs of grey Versilys marble on board a GT320, the iconic model of the Italian shipyard.
The marble was used for the walkable surfaces of the deck as well as for various details and complements on board, from the kitchenette top in the cockpit to the bathroom top and washbasin.
(Invictus GT320 Versilys, when marble meets the sea – Barchemagazine.com – January 2023)
