A custom suite for a continuously mobile life, by Studio AHEAD — featuring VAVA's first architectural fiberglass.
Photography: Inge Prins. Design: Studio AHEAD (Homan Rajai, Elena Dendiberia). General Contractor: List GmbH. Cape Town, 2025.
As featured in:
Galerie Magazine — Tour a Collector's Retreat Aboard the World's Largest Residential Yacht (March 2026)
Dezeen — The World yacht residential suite by Studio AHEAD (April 2026)
After several years with a lakeside home in Tahoe, Studio AHEAD's client needed a change. She loved the water. She also wanted to move — to travel without leaving home. So she bought a suite aboard The World, the largest private residential yacht on Earth, and gave Studio AHEAD a brief that began with a single line:
"She wanted the World."
The yacht almost never docks — three or four days at a time, in port. Suites are capped at 3,000 sq ft. The window count is fixed. The natural design vocabulary would be white-on-white, or some softened nautical — neither suited a pioneering biotech bon vivante who is also a matriarch hosting her mother, daughters, and grandchildren.
So Studio AHEAD rebelled against the obvious. They emphasized light and air to play against the ever-changing sea outside, used welcoming forms and rounded edges "no one would be afraid to bump into," and treated the small space as a beloved summerhouse rather than a vessel.
For VAVA Objects, the commission was a first: a custom fiberglass kitchen — the first time our material has moved beyond sculptural mirrors and furniture into a fully integrated architectural element. Brought in via Aybar Gallery, the kitchen anchors the suite as a single sculptural form, with stove, fridge, and dishwasher hidden behind a continuous fiberglass surface. It is VAVA's only contribution to the suite — the rest of the project is the work of Studio AHEAD and a long roster of collaborators credited in full below.
The custom fiberglass kitchen — VAVA's first architectural element
Fiberglass has a long history in yacht-building. It's how hulls are made. So in a suite aboard the most globally mobile residence on the water, returning to the material — but in a domestic, sculptural form — felt right. Light. Hand-finished. Continuous.
Studio AHEAD worked with VAVA to take the language of our sculptural pieces — the irregular hand-laid surface, the slight imperfection of a moulded form — and translate it into the bones of a working kitchen. The result reads as a single object rather than a set of appliances. Moroccan zellige tiles by Davinci Marble (Zen) and Clé Tile (Shattered Pearl) line the backsplash in pearl and sea-foam green. The sink and culinary kit in black walnut are by The Galley. A 30" induction cooktop by Sub-Zero Wolf is integrated into the run.
The kitchen sits behind the dining and living spaces, visible from the whole suite. It's what you see first.
The dining room
Studio AHEAD describes the dining room as "soft colors and shapes, nothing precious, nothing you'd be afraid to dent." Walnut chairs and benches by Hagerman Studios surround a goatskin dining table by Karl Springer (1stDibs). Chair cushions were commissioned from Llane Alexis Dominguez, an artist who collaborates with weavers and artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico. A green tile cabinet by Piet Hein Eek (The Future Perfect) anchors one wall; a fiberglass "Mush Lamp" by Jorge Suarez-Kilzi (Love House NYC) anchors the other.
The art reads in layers. Larry Rivers' Golden Tales (1990) hangs alongside Mary Silverwood's Desert Landscape 8 and Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer's American/New Orleans, 1. The Strangers Club Cape Town — a recurring source throughout the suite — supplies a silver vintage bowl and hand-blown glass. The floor: a custom "Moss" carpet by Mendoza Stanton (Floortex Abbey Carpet).
The living room
The custom built-in TV cabinet and bar runs the length of one wall. Its centerpiece is a large sliding panel by John Gnorski — a single artwork that conceals the television and the bar behind it. When closed, it reads as a wall-sized object rather than millwork. When open, the suite reconfigures.
A pair of vintage Gianfranco Frattini sofas (Italy, 1969, sourced via 1stDibs) sit on custom walnut bases by List GmbH. A fish-bone chair by Florence Provencher (Bruises Gallery) is the conversation piece. A pine side table by Jesse Schlesinger anchors the corner. The room's books were curated by Sanri Pienaar.
The primary bedroom
Studio AHEAD designed a custom Sheep bed and matching Sheep ottoman for the room, upholstered in cream wool felt by JG Switzer in Sonoma, California — sourced from her own herd. The matching lumbar pillow and throw are felted from the same wool. The bed is dressed in undyed organic crinkled percale by Coyuchi. Beside the bed, a large painting Homan Rajai found on a trip to Mexico City — Cold Ocean by Sw Morten Slettemeas (JO-HS Gallery, CDMX) — opens the room into a second view. A walnut-accented standing closet by List GmbH closes the loop. A Nigerian terra cotta sculpture from The Strangers Club Cape Town sits on the dresser. The floor: a custom "Indigo" carpet by Mendoza Stanton.
The primary bathroom
Continuing the zellige material story: pearl-and-foam wall and floor tiles ("Eastern Elements Rice paper") by Clé Tile, with "Shattered Pearl" tile borders. A custom walnut vanity by List GmbH, with back-painted glass countertop and matching back-painted sconces. Brushed-platinum fixtures by Dornbracht (Vaia line). A small walnut wood sculpture by Christopher Norman.
The guest bedroom
The brief here was different — being at sea got Studio AHEAD thinking about the rise and fall of islands. A volcanic side table by Lland reads as freshly cooled lava beside a pair of Studio AHEAD Sheep twin beds in cream wool felt by JG Switzer. A "puffball" fiberglass sconce by Faye Toogood for Matter Made (The Future Perfect) and an ostrich egg from The Strangers Club Cape Town sit on the side table. The "Ublo" mirror is by Invisible Collection.
The installation — five cities
Because The World almost never stops, the suite was installed in stages:
- Montreal, Canada — initial installation of furniture
- Boston, United States — finishing of the install
- Vienna, Austria — full off-yacht review of the remodel per design specifications
- Cadiz, Spain — major built-in install during the yacht's three-year, month-long maintenance window
- Cape Town, South Africa — final photography
The Cadiz window was the only opportunity for a project this scale: every three years, The World docks for one month of maintenance, opening a rare construction window. That timing shaped the entire schedule.
About Studio AHEAD
Studio AHEAD is a San Francisco-based collective of art and design professionals creating spaces filled with emotional narratives. Creative directors Homan Rajai and Elena Dendiberia describe their collaboration as a new Silk Road — a juxtaposition of Eastern and Western identities, contemporary and primitive, logic and intuition. From custom objects to large-scale projects, AHEAD works to preserve each client's individual notion of home, however complex.
Full project credits
Design: Studio AHEAD — Homan Rajai, Elena Dendiberia
General Contractor: List GmbH
Photographer: Inge Prins Photography
Stylist: Studio AHEAD
Yacht: The World Residences at Sea
VAVA Objects contribution:
- Custom fiberglass kitchen (with Aybar Gallery) — VAVA's first architectural use of fiberglass beyond sculptural furniture
Studio AHEAD custom pieces (upholstered by JG Switzer):
- Sheep bed and Sheep ottoman (primary bedroom)
- Sheep twin beds (guest bedroom)
- Custom built-in bookcase, TV cabinet, walnut bases for vintage Frattini sofas, custom closets, custom walnut vanities — built by List GmbH
Material & furnishing collaborators:
Hagerman Studios · Karl Springer (1stDibs) · Llane Alexis Dominguez · Bruises Gallery · The Future Perfect · Piet Hein Eek · Davinci Marble · Clé Tile · The Galley · Sub-Zero Wolf · Dornbracht · Mendoza Stanton / Floortex Abbey Carpet · Jesse Schlesinger · Love House NYC · John Gnorski · Christopher Norman · JG Switzer · Lland · Faye Toogood / Matter Made · Invisible Collection · The Strangers Club Cape Town · JO-HS Gallery (CDMX) · Coyuchi · Sanri Pienaar (book curation)
Art: Larry Rivers · Mary Silverwood · Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer · Sw Morten Slettemeas · John Gnorski
Press
Published features on this project:
- Galerie Magazine — Tour a Collector's Retreat Aboard the World's Largest Residential Yacht (March 2026)
- Dezeen — The World yacht residential suite by Studio AHEAD (April 2026)
For press inquiries, hi-res imagery, or to license images for editorial use: info@vavaobjects.com
