Each J Craft Torpedo is way more than just a jaw-droppingly gorgeous boat that’s built on a small island in Sweden. In fact, each J Craft Torpedo is a one-of-a-kind work of art that takes a talented and dedicated team craftspeople over 8,000 hours to build. To put that in perspective, each hand-built boat takes the equivalent of one man or woman working 4.5 years to build.
And since I’ve been lucky enough to test drive these amazing craft in Monaco, Sag Harbor, and Fort Lauderdale too, I can say from firsthand experience, it’s hard to find another powerboat design that combines the elegance, craftmanship, comfort, power, control, seaworthiness and the almost mystical X-factor that J Craft Yachts do. The hull is designed to provide both stability and performance—in addition to movie-star good looks of course.
And no other boat I know of combines the vintage glamour of a lusciously varnished mahogany and teak deck, a rose polished-steel dash, and a Ferrari 250 GTO Nardi steering wheel with state-of-the-art innovation quite like a J Craft Torpedo either. In fact, the coolest thing might be that each J Craft Torpedo is built–I’d even say curated–to combine artisan quality and impossible good looks with the best technology available today including: two, powerful and highly maneuverable Volvo IPS drives, a Skyhook digital anchor, gyroscopic stabilisers, touchscreen controls and in full James Bond-mode, you can even steer the boat with a Garmin smart watch. And oh, by the way, each J Craft Torpedo is capable of hitting speeds up to 40 knots and to be able to handle big seas that would keep other boats of this type in the marina.
But I’ve got to be honest. Since I get to act like a movie star when company owner Radenko Milakovic lets me drive, and receiving admiring glances from literally everyone who sees these amazing boats underway is quite…intoxicating, I’ve never really paid much attention to the interior.
Sure, I knew the interior always featured the finest leathers, materials, and of course, craftsmanship. But J Craft’s latest collaboration with the storied Venetian textile house Fortuny (whose elegantly intricate fabrics have been used in the grandest interiors for more than a century) takes exclusivity to a whole new level. Introduced by interior designer Sarah Magness of Studio Magness, this partnership is more than a meeting of two heritage brands. It’s a study in the enduring power of craftsmanship that transcends time and trends. And since some parts of life are becoming increasingly impersonal thanks to technology, A.I., the internet, and other factors, I believe products (like a J Craft Torpedo with a Fortuny interior) that are made by hand to impossibly high standards of quality and beauty are more important than ever. They connect us to, and remind us of, our shared humanity!
That’s why I’m hardly surprised that Sarah Magness of Studio Magness (an interior design firm known for its reverence for history and deep understanding of hand craftmanship) saw bringing Fortuny into the world of high-end yacht design was a natural extension of both brands’ shared ethos.
“J Craft is rooted in the artistry of boat building; Fortuny in the artistry of textile making,” she explains. “Both require patience, precision and an obsessive dedication to craft. The two coming together was inevitable.”
This collaboration, which sees Fortuny’s signature fabrics reimagined for life at sea, is not just about aesthetics — it is about reviving a lost sensibility, one where true luxury is measured not by excess but by expertise. It also signals a broader shift: an embrace of slow luxury, where brands steeped in tradition continue to find relevance through reinvention.
As one of the lucky ones who’s been able to test drive 100’s of new boats over the last 20 years or so, I’ve never experienced anything as satisfying or stimulating as the feelings of speed and style that I felt at the helm of the J Craft Torpedo. And I’ve never seen such an elegant interior either.
A boat like this really belongs in a Bond movie. Or, better still, on your dock at home in South Florida. In fact, if you happen to at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show next week, swing by the docks at Pier 66. That way you can see just how stunningly beautiful these rare, hand-crafted-works-art really are for yourself.