The Feadship Joy features exterior styling by Bannenberg & Rowell and an interior by Studio Indigo. This is the owner’s first superyacht and he took a radical approach to the yacht’s exterior styling, with the brief “to create something totally different to every other yacht”. This, the yard says, brought with it a raft of challenges in terms of construction, fairing and painting.

“It has been a great pleasure to work with an owner who was keen to bring something new to the superyacht world in the same way as my father did from the early 1980s onwards with Feadship and others,” says Dickie Bannenberg. “While our design studio has an excellent reputation for interiors, including 12 for Feadship owners, Joy is the first visible exterior design of a new era for us. The flow between the interior and exterior spaces, and her generous wide walkways, are without precedent on a motor yacht of this size, and the vast exterior spaces have been used to great effect. Moreover, the wealth of concave shapes in the superstructure and judicious use of surface texturing have given Joy a design language and identity all her own.”

The designers have worked hard to create physical and visual connections between the interior and exterior spaces, including the link between the capacious foredeck and the owner’s stateroom, reinforcing the panoramic effect of 270˚ wraparound windows. Glass eyelets built into the structure of the lowered bulwark add to the views.

The glass doors on to the main, owner’s and bridge decks aft also keep up the connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. “These air-conditioned out-in zones are part of the fundamental leitmotif of blending exterior and interior spaces,” says Mike Fisher, creative director at Studio Indigo. “To further enhance the feeling of space, a clever use of finishes, materials and styling makes the exteriors feel like they are an extension of the interior spaces. Moreover, every living area has windows looking out onto the wide walkways, making the rooms feel much larger than they are.”

One of the highlights of the interior is a central cantilevered spiral staircase in wood, which wraps around a glass elevator connecting each deck. A sculptural piece of artwork frames the stairway.

“Joy is a testimony to what can be achieved when you genuinely start a superyacht build with a blank sheet of paper,” says Feadship director Jan-Bart Verkuyl. “The owner’s wishes have been successfully combined with Feadship’s experience, and the excellent teams from Studio Indigo and Bannenberg & Rowell to fashion a truly pioneering 70-metre yacht.”