A True Oasis

Author:Abigail Stone

Studio Ganz brings high-end boutique hotel style to the water

“I love working with clients who challenge conventional ideas of luxury,” says Sondra Ganz, of San Francisco-based Studio Ganz. Ganz combines the simplicity and functionality of Northern California with the statement-making sensibilities of her New York design training. “The result is spaces that are both harmonious and thought-provoking,” she says. This vision is tempered by her experiences in the hospitality industry. “I understand the importance of tailoring each project to its place and its context.” 

Place and context mean something very different when the space in question is a yacht. “The owner of “Oasis,” an 81 foot 1981 Hatteras, is a third-generation sea caption, with a European background and an affinity for classic boats and champagne drenched style,” she shares. While he understood it would take years of renovation to create the boat of his dreams, it was the soul of the interior that had caught his attention. “We needed to peel back the decorative layers that had accumulated over the past 40 years to uncover the original, beautiful bones that had seduced him,” Ganz observes. “From there we would layer in the details that would create a space that was both refined and inviting.”  

Ganz was given two months to renovate the main deck, the below deck alleyways, the primary stateroom and the guest cabins before the first guests arrived from Germany for a Thanksgiving cruise. Music accompanied the firm’s mood boards. “It was the fastest way for us to identify the right vibe,” Ganz says. “We wanted to interrupt the typical yacht design trend which tends to tip sleek and minimalist or traditional and neutral.” Instead they settled on saturated jewel tones, rich textures and maximalist details with an Art Deco vibe. 

Practical considerations accompanied the every step of the renovations. “Renovating a boat is very different than working on a home,” Ganz notes.  “A boat’s interior requires the careful marriage of beauty, functionality and a keen attention to the practical concerns of water, mold, stains, color fastness, and the harshness of salt air.” The spaces are smaller, the walls are thinner and, of course, things sway in time to the rhythm of the waves. “We had to velcro the artwork to the wall so it didn’t move,” she laughs. Significant changes to the interior can also affect a boat’s seaworthiness. “We avoided anything that would affect the wall placement,” Ganz points out.

Instead, the firm focused their efforts on the furniture, the finishes and the installation of the high gloss marble-look radiant heat floor the owner requested. “Usually gloss plus wet is a bad idea but because the boat is mostly in the waters off San Francisco where it’s colder and there’s less swimming, it actually proved to be sticky on bare feet,” she notes. “Below deck, we used a contrasting Greek Key meander pattern carpet that reminded the owner of a favorite hotel lobby in Vienna as a way to implement old world ornamentation in a contemporary way that was also durable and comfortable,” she gestures. “The high gloss marble flooring reminded him of the stone floors of the yachts he experienced growing up in the Mediterranean.”

The result is a space that feels like a home away from home for the owners. “They cried at the reveal,” Ganz says. “”They told me that it feels more like home than their actual home.”