Bellini Yacht’s Astor 68: Teak, the Collection Born from an Angled Line
Cannes, Vieux Port. The Astor 68 is the newest step in the Bellini Yacht range, and it makes its world debut here. It grows from a precise idea of how time is spent on board: fluid, open spaces in constant dialogue with the outdoors. The beach area exceeds 37 square metres and opens less than a metre from the water. We stepped aboard with Katia Paracchini, but this time not to show a product. To tell the story of a project, in three videos.
A partnership that grows with the shipyard
"Our collaboration with Bellini began with the Astor 36," Katia tells Laura, "and from there we followed the shipyard through the development of its different lines, up to the Astor 58." With the Astor 68 the relationship went one step further: not an ELKA product placed on board, but the result of a project born from a genuine collaboration with the shipyard.
How Teak was born
It started with a wish from the shipyard: to bring our carbon shower column on board. From there we began thinking together about something new, designed specifically for the Astor 68. The inspiration came from the swim platform, where teak is a strong, defining element, and it came from Camilla, Bellini Yacht's interior designer. Working with her, with Davide and with Claudio, we developed the details, the materials and the style of the collection.
The name is not a generic nod to the nautical world: it is literally where the design began. The surface texture echoes the rhythm of the deck planks and the depth of the seam between them, so that the everyday gesture of opening a faucet speaks the same language as the deck you walk on.
Not an adapted product
"That is the most beautiful part of the project," says Katia. "We worked with the shipyard to create something new, designed specifically for this boat. A product that wasn't simply placed on board, but became part of the design and identity of the Astor 68."
It is the kind of work you can only do by joining a project early, while the materials on board are still an open decision rather than a constraint. "For us, this is the value of a collaboration: bringing different skills together and arriving at something that didn't exist before."
February, April, September
The behind-the-scenes story is told by Camilla Carrara, Bellini Yacht's interior designer, together with Claudio De Giuseppe, in the second video.
"We started with the 36 line, getting to know you and really appreciating your products, and from there we brought them onto all our lines," says Camilla. "With the 68 we wanted something truly unique, something that would add an even greater touch to the detail." The idea was born in February, during a visit to us in San Maurizio d'Opaglio, when the model was still to be decided. The first route was to bring the textures of the interiors onto the mixer lever. Then came the tests: colours, materials. "In the end it was born simply by looking at our boat. We had used this pattern on our teak decking, and we said: why not bring it onto the faucets? It was the detail that was missing inside."
That pattern is a shipyard signature. Bellini's teak decking doesn't follow the classic vertical line: the planks draw a motif created by Davide, the shipyard's designer, already found on the Astor 36 and the Astor 58 and carried through on the 68 all the way to the shower grating in the master bathroom. Today the same line runs from the deck to the faucet.
The first prototypes, Katia recalls, were rejected by the shipyard. "And it was a real challenge: creating something that truly reflected what you had in mind." The conversation started in February, everything was defined by April, and in September the boat is in Cannes for its world premiere. "It isn't easy to find suppliers who follow you in things like this, who make a thousand tests for you," says Camilla. For us, this is why the company exists: "the dream of opening a faucet company exclusively for the nautical world," says Katia, "precisely to have this kind of relationship with our clients."
The UK connection
Also on board that day was Oliver Lanza: ELKA's distributor in the United Kingdom and, for the past two years, official Bellini dealer with Sebino Yachts. It was through him that we first met the shipyard.
"Someone who buys a boat like this wants something special, something perhaps no one else has," says Oliver. "These are the details that count." And Katia: "I'm curious to see how this collection will evolve, because it all started from that teak pattern."
The way we like to work
Listening to the client, listening to the shipyard, working closely with the people designing the boat. Building something together that has its own identity. "This is exactly the way we like to work," Katia concludes. "Making sure that even a technical element, like the faucets, becomes part of the yacht's style. Not just faucets, but a detail that tells the story of the boat."
Truly tailor-made
Sometimes a conversation with a shipyard leads to a custom finish. Sometimes to a detail redesigned to fit a particular space. Sometimes, as here, to an entire series designed for a single boat. We design and manufacture marine faucets in San Maurizio d'Opaglio, Italy, and every time we start again from the vision of whoever imagined the boat. Discover our tailor-made philosophy: https://www.elkadesign.us/tailor-made-philosophy
Watch the other episodes
The fifth and final episode of the "ELKA at Cannes 2026" series.
EPISODE 1 — PREVIEW: https://youtu.be/7PnZ2s0bM6I
EPISODE 2 — PARDO GT65: https://youtu.be/OMcPRj4QtjU
EPISODE 3 — FIM 580 CONTESSA: https://youtu.be/gyr_bj6rgzY
EPISODE 4 — INVICTUS: https://youtu.be/ihJ46Lk6DJM
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