French designer Philipe Starck teased us all last week when he revealed during a radio show interview that he had been working on a “revolutionary” new product with Apple that would launch within the next 8 months. As the news began to circulate, Apple quickly denied working with Starck, and the designer backtracked on his comments.
Starck has now confirmed that he was actually helping the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs design his own yacht.
“It’s not a project with Apple. It’s a private project that began with Steve Jobs and that has been taken over by his wife,” a spokeswoman for Starck told The Wall Street Journal. Starck revealed during his interview that he now meets with Steve’s wife, Laurene Powell, whenever he’s in California.
Steve revealed several details about his yacht to his biographer, Walter Isaacson. He began designing the boat after taking a cruise from Italy to Turkey, which he described as his “best vacation.” He repeatedly changed the design of the yacht during its early stages, and like the products he helped design at Apple, Steve stressed perfecting the tiniest details.
Steve nearly cancelled the project in 2009 during his battle with pancreatic cancer. “I didn’t think I would be alive when it got done,” he told Isaacson. “But that made me so sad, and I decided that working on the design was fun to do, and maybe I have a shot at being alive when it’s done.”
“I know that it’s possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat. But I have to keep going on it. If I don’t, it’s an admission that I’m about to die.”
Isaacson said that the yacht is “sleek and minimalistic,” with a special glass designed by the chief engineer of Apple’s retail stores. The boat is being built by custom yacht builder Freedship.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
