DESIGN, NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, ART OF LIVING: THE MOST AMBITIOUS DESIGNS IN RECREATIONAL BOATING ARE UNVEILED IN PREMIERES AT THE CANNES YACHTING FESTIVAL

The 49th edition of the Cannes Yachting Festival will take place from 8 to 13 September 2026 across the iconic pontoons of the Vieux Port and Port Canto. Since its creation in 1977, the event has established itself as Europe’s largest in-water boat show and this year it will once again bring together the leading names in recreational boating with an exceptional programme of new launches and world premieres.

For the 2026 edition, the festival will showcase 150 world premieres on the water, highlighting the breadth of creativity and innovation shaping the industry. Among the most anticipated debuts are Michele De Lucchi’s first maritime collaboration for Azimut, a superyacht measuring more than 38 metres, designed by Fulvio De Simoni for ISA Yachts, and an innovative 40 m² floating house from Croatia powered entirely by solar energy.

Across the two ports, visitors will discover around 700 boats ranging from 5 to 50 metres, alongside 680 international exhibitors. The festival is expected to welcome approximately 56,000 visitors, confirming its position as one of the key events of the recreational boating calendar.

“Naval design is a demanding discipline, built on generations of expertise and driven by designers whose work can stand alongside the great achievements of architecture and industrial design. The 150 world premieres presented on the water this year offer a remarkable illustration of this diversity from Michele De Lucchi’s first maritime project to an unexpectedly innovative floating habitat. It is this range of visions and ambitions, revealed for the first time on our pontoons that makes the Cannes Yachting Festival truly unique.” Constance Brément, Director of the Cannes Yachting Festival

A discipline shaped by tradition and visionary designers naval design has developed as a distinct discipline since the 1960s, evolving through the work of pioneering designers who transformed the way yachts were conceived.

Among them, Australian designer Jon Bannenberg often referred to as “The Yacht’s Corbusier,” was one of the first to approach the hull, superstructure and interior as a single, integrated architectural composition. Over four decades, he designed nearly 200 yachts and helped establish the modern role of the yacht architect a designer responsible for envisioning the vessel as a complete environment.

In parallel, Carlo Riva turned his family’s boatyard on Lake Como into an international icon of industrial design. The Aquarama launched in 1962 with its distinctive lacquered mahogany finish became known as the “Ferrari of boats.” Today, it remains a collector’s piece exhibited in museums and coveted in much the same way as a rare automobile or exceptional piece of furniture.

Decades later, Philippe Starck’s Motor Yacht A, measuring 119 metres and delivered in 2008, further demonstrated the unique potential of yacht design. Few industrial objects bring together architecture, engineering and lifestyle as seamlessly as a yacht.

It is this combination of disciplines, scales, traditions and individual design signatures that the Cannes Yachting Festival celebrates each year, set against the exceptional waterfront backdrop of the Bay of Cannes.

Design as a vision of life at sea at Port Canto, every premiere presented in 2026 offers a distinct interpretation of what life on the water can be. Through their forms, materials, technologies and heritage these new vessels express different visions of the relationship between people and the sea.

Whatever their size or category, design has become a defining force behind innovation in recreational boating. The traditional boundaries between boatbuilding, naval architecture and interior design are increasingly fluid, transforming the yacht into much more than a means of transport.

A yacht becomes a living environment a place where the horizon expands the rhythm of time changes and every journey creates new experiences.

This emphasis on experience, freedom and the boat as a place to live extends across every category represented at the Cannes Yachting Festival. From established yacht-building traditions to radically new concepts, the 2026 premieres demonstrate how designers and builders are reimagining recreational boating for a new generation.

At Cannes, these ideas move from concept to reality unveiled on the water for the first time and offering a glimpse into the future of life at sea.