Words: Holly
The 256 foot yacht designed by Steve Jobs before his untimely death in October of 2011 made it’s first appearance as a completed vessel in 2012, just months after his death, but in a rare sighting this weekend the public have now gained a slight glimpse into the actual interior of the yacht.
Commissioned in April 2007, Jobs worked with Philippe Starck (the French architect) over the course of four years in order to design ‘Venus’. It is rumoured that the men would meet one Sunday a month at Jobs’ home in Palo Alto whereupon said meetings could last up to 12 hours at a time, no doubt due to Jobs’ obsession with aesthetic perfection. Despite his diminishing health, Jobs was insistent on completing the yacht. Saying himself of the project undertook, “I know that it’s possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat, but I have to keep going on it. If I don’t, it’s an admission that I’m about to die.”
As one might expect from the Apple founder, the guide lines upon which Starck had to work with were extremely simple and precise. The hull had to be exactly 82m long, big enough to fit the whole family and crew, with sleek simple lines (like that of the Apple philosophy) and the most important factor – there must be silence. In keeping with of Jobs’ obsession with silence, Starck said of the requirement, “Steve wanted to be sure that the teenagers could be set up in the front of the boat when he was at the back and vice-versa”.
Now owned by his widow Laurene Powell Jobs, the incredible vessel is made entirely of aluminium (in keeping with Jobs’ clutter-free philosophy) with 27-inch iMacs for its control room, floor to ceiling windows (spanning 40ft in length and 10ft in height) and elegant minimalism throughout. The boat has been described as that which might belong to a ‘Bond villain’.
Whilst it has been seen sporadically over the past few years, last weekend provided the closest image yet of the actual interior. Spotted in the BVI this weekend by ‘Woods Hole Inn’ and later posted to their Instagram, we gain for the first time a closer view of the interior.
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