I went to the Monaco Yacht Show and found myself admiring a bathroom.

AMOR À VIDA gives you plenty of opportunities to be distracted. Built by CRN, the 67.55-metre yacht extends over six decks, with a swimming pool whose transparent bottom illuminates the beach club below. The owner uses it for private cruises, and it is also available for charter during certain periods of the year.

We stepped aboard during the show. I kept finding reasons to slow down and look more closely, particularly at the rounded forms and the way different materials met. There was always another detail worth examining, which makes it slightly difficult to keep up with a guided tour.

Nuvolari Lenard designed the interiors and exteriors, with Valentina Zannier collaborating on the interiors. The studio describes a close relationship with an experienced owner who knew what he wanted and listened to the designers. It is easy to imagine how useful both qualities become when there are quite so many decisions to make.

Photography courtesy of CRN.

I tend to be nosy about interiors. A beautiful room usually makes me wonder who chose what, whether anything caused an argument, and which detail took far longer than anyone expected. On a yacht, there is the additional pleasure of remembering that all of this has to go to sea.

The curves caught my attention because of the work behind them. Once finished, a rounded surface can look entirely natural. During the visit, I became increasingly aware of how much skill was needed to achieve that ease. I would have liked to ask the craftspeople which detail had given them the most trouble.

Photography courtesy of CRN.

In the owner’s bathroom, CRN describes complex geometries requested by the owner, with curved surfaces and ribbed Taj Mahal stone worked strip by strip. The material was beautiful, and there was enough happening in its treatment to make me want to linger.

I would have liked to see the drawings and samples that preceded it. There must be a particular satisfaction in reaching the moment when a difficult idea finally exists in front of you, exactly as you had hoped. Standing there, I could appreciate both the desire to have it made and the skill required to get there.

The spaces for spending time together tell you more about the life imagined on board. American bars appear across the decks, with crystal quartzite and, in one instance, red agate requested by the owner. There are curved sofas, outdoor dining areas and a sky lounge with a gaming table. On the bridge deck, a pizza oven and a screen for karaoke suggest evenings that might continue rather longer than dinner.

Looking at these spaces, I began to picture them in use. Someone getting another drink, a conversation continuing outside, friends settling into the sofas. The number of places to gather makes you curious about the host. You can imagine the pleasure of planning all of this with particular people in mind, knowing how they like to spend an evening together.

Then there are the references whose meaning belongs more privately to the owner. Printed leather in the wheelhouse carries a map of an area he selected. The project was originally named Maranello, reflecting his passion for cars, while peacock blue runs through the interiors as a reference to his love of the sea.

These details make a visit feel a little like meeting someone through their surroundings. You start forming an impression, then encounter something that makes you want to ask another question. Why that stretch of coastline? What first drew him to it? How involved was he in choosing the shape I had just spent several minutes examining? An interior can introduce a person while leaving you very curious about the rest.

A yacht of this scale does change your perspective. You find yourself considering possibilities that rarely enter a conversation about a home. After a while, though, the impulse behind them feels familiar. We all try to build a world of our own, at whatever scale is available to us. We choose things we want to live with and make room for the people and habits we love.

At Rarefied, this is often where our interest begins. Beauty, harmony and quality make us look more closely; the choices within them make us want to know who is behind the project. On AMOR À VIDA, I left curious about the person whose imagination had given everyone involved so much to work towards.

I also left with considerable admiration for CRN’s ability to carry those ideas through to the finished yacht. Having seen the care given to its most demanding details, I would like to see what comes next: the next owner with a very particular dream, and the next way the shipyard finds to make it possible.