This year, Lürssen celebrated its 150th anniversary, a fact all the more compelling due to the company remaining in the founding family’s hands. Although its yachting division only came about in 1988, it quickly became one of the most prominent yacht builders globally. The Lürssen Fine Art Book not only coincides with the major milestone, but also takes you aboard some of the builder’s most famous and elusive deliveries to date.
Elusive is the key word. “It’s rare that we get to go onboard our yachts, and even rarer that we’re allowed to photograph them,” notes Sylke auf dem Graben, from the yard’s marketing department. Although deliveries such as Kismet are in the book, so are ones like Be Mine, Ahpo, Pelorus (below), Luminance, and Rising Sun. A total of 36 yachts dominate the 304 pages of the Lürssen Fine Art Book. Significantly, 12 photos of the yachts are gatefolds, oversized pages folded inward and opening outward like a gate. It’s akin to a centerfold.
Photographer Jarmo Pohjaniemi, who spent 10 months traveling the world capturing the yachts, knows all about centerfolds. He’s a fashion photographer who may be best known for his work for Playboy. Interestingly, his understanding of how to shoot fashion and models is what landed him the job for the Lürssen Fine Art Book. As the story goes, upon seeing superyachts in Miami, Pohjaniemi noticed similarities between their curves and those of women. He began shooting, and Dan Lenard of the Nuvolari-Lenard studio came across his work. Lenard introduced him to the shipyard, and the rest is history.
From Cypress to Thailand and from the famed South of France shores to the Seychelles, Pohjaniemi captures images yachting enthusiasts are unaccustomed to seeing. Take, for instance, synchronized swimmers in the pool of Flying Fox, or an ominous freak storm approaching Pelorus in Cyprus. (That storm, by the way, nearly destroyed his drone.) Complementing the visual stories, the words of journalist Rachel Ingram tell additional stories. A regular contributor to Forbes, Robb Report, and The Telegraph, Ingram recounts the family and brand history. It had humble beginnings in 1875, growing in scope and influence through four subsequent generations to today.
The Lürssen Fine Art Book is notable for yet one more fascinating fact. If each of the yachts lined up single file, they would extend nearly 1.9 miles (3 kilometers). It’s the equivalent of the distance from Monaco to Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France or nearly the width of Manhattan.
Price for the limited-edition book: £250 (about $328).
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