Lazzarini Design Reinvents the Luxury Cruise Experience With SeaFlower Concept

This would be one way to improve these seemingly-endless and ever-crowded vacations at sea: Italian designer Pierpaolo Lazzarini, founder of Lazzarini Design, suggests a more luxurious take on the cruising experience with his new concept for SeaFlower. In the process, he delivers a more intimate and personalized experience, through the gimmick of creating a flower-shaped main deck.

SeaFlower was officially presented in late June 2021 and, while it remains in concept stage and there are no plans to ever bring it into production, it is a good fit for autoevolution’s Italian Month. We’re holding a virtual party for all things Italian throughout the month of July, and we couldn’t do that without a mention of Lazzarini, one of the most striking and eccentric designers of recent years.

Born in Rome in 1982, Lazzarini does anything from actual products to reimaginings of classic cars, flying cars and superyachts. Along the years, he’s even done a few projects on architecture, though they’re at the intersection of naval design and architecture: floating islands or resorts, some of them sustainable and all of them, without exception, dripping in luxury amenities.

One of Lazzarini’s most hyped projects is also one that became a reality a while back. That would be the famous Jet Capsule, a powerboat shaped like a bubble, posing as a “mini yacht” that aims to redefine short-distance water mobility by offering a blank platform that can be customized into whatever the owner needs.

We’ve discussed several of Lazzarini’s projects on previous occasions. Most of them will never leave the page they were drawn on (figuratively speaking), but even so, they still stand out for daring to dream bigger. If Lazzarini had any other motto beside “Think about the future, never forget the past…,” it could very well be “Never be afraid to swim against the current, because it’s one way of getting noticed.” Or something along those lines.

This also applies to his cruise ship SeaFlower, a very luxurious yet decidedly more relaxed take on the cruise ship. With room for 100 passengers and 100 crew, SeaFlower would have a total length of 100 meters (328 feet), a beam of 32 meters (105 feet) and a draught of 8.50 meters (28 feet). Like today’s cruise ships, it presents a stacked structure for the decks, but makes them feel more airy and intimate thanks to the flower-shaped main deck.

The main living area is situated aft, with the decks splaying out from the main pool, like the petals of a flower. Here, you find the apartments for the guests, each with its own patch of lawn and some with private, smaller-size pools, as well as bridges, water tunnels, and a waterfall hidden from view. If you get slightly anthropophobic looking at today’s cruise ships, the view of SeaFlower’s living area could probably relax you – if not actually get you to dream of getting on it one day.

Mid-ship is the helipad with storage space, offering easy access on board, and everything else covered in solar panels. Lazzarini, it seems, has heard complaints about how the cruise industry is largely responsible for the pollution of our oceans and he’s willing to do something about it. The project, as it’s currently detailed on the official website, doesn’t list any propulsion system, but based on the presence of solar panels, it’s probably safe to assume the sustainability aspect of the cruise ship is being considered.

Forward are a couple of “visual decks” with separate pools. This is Lazzarini’s way of ensuring that, while still remaining a collective experience, his cruise ship would also offer privacy and isolation whenever the guests desired it.

The project also notes that SeaFlower could be fitted with extendable bridges, for a stingray look and even more space for guests. The designer takes his stated goal of offering “a new cruise experience” quite seriously, if only in a hypothetical manner for the time being.

The interior is not detailed, but since SeaFlower offers so much exterior space for the guests to play in the water, tan or do outdoorsy activities, the interior is probably a socializing space. This being a cruise ship, there’d be at least one restaurant and dining room, various lounges, an entertainment center, and a gym and spa. Since Lazzarini paints such an inviting picture on the outside, the interior should match.

As noted above, there are no plans to build SeaFlower. That said, Lazzarini always notes that his projects are just one step away from reality, on the condition that someone rich enough comes along to commission them.