SUPERSAIL WORLD 21 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2018
eight different processes, several types of
carbon fibre and an astonishing 250 hours
were required to build it. Each one is different,
with raw materials selected for varying degrees
of bounce and flex, and the colour and style
of the leather according to the client’s wishes.
Unsurprisingly, it is not cheap – from £29,000.
Arens had been mulling over the design for
years. “The chaise is something extraordinary,”
he said. “It has taken about seven years to
make it a reality. I used to design sailing boats
for X-Yachts and designed all the custom bits
like the bowsprit and wheels. I loved working
with carbon fibre and wanted to bring it into
the mainstream; to celebrate carbon as a
structural material.”
Besides the chaise longue, there is a
striking cobra barstool, whose shiny black form
seems to rear up, the backrest like the cobra’s
raised hood when it is ready to strike. The inner
surfaces have a Textreem finish, checked with
different weaves of carbon fibre, and the seat
is inlaid with a strip of bamboo. But the design
that seems to have caught the superyacht
world’s imagination is that staple: the director’s
chair. Arens has reimagined it as a super-fine
‘S’ shape in gloss carbon, finished with a teak
veneer and upholstered with marine leather.
It looks incapable of supporting a person’s
weight, but it isn’t. An optional stainless steel
frame underneath allows it to fold away.
There are more new products coming
soon. A chance encounter at a trade fair with
designer Sebastian Conran has led to an
exciting collaboration to produce ‘the lightest
chair in the world’, weighing in at a fraction
over 1,000g and costing around £1,500. “We
sketched some ideas together, have built a lot
of prototypes and are about to get the first that
we can sell,” said Arens.
So watch this space, or the deck of a
superyacht near you, for more on this rising
British brand. Other products in the pipeline
include dining chairs and loungers, and there
is already a selection of wafer-thin ‘aero
benches’ available.
Essenceofstrength.co.uk‘It looks incapable of
supporting a person’s
weight, but it does’
BENCHMARK: THE SLIM
BUT SUBSTANTIAL
CHAISE LONGUE AND
AERO BENCHES