With Guest Editor Yasmine Ghoniem, we are launched headfirst into the world of unique and eclectic design. From architecture to interiors, there is nothing that can’t be enlivened with bespoke interventions. Granted, a stunningly beautiful home can be made by simply shopping for the best, but when the artist’s hand is introduced, some pure magic is possible. Whether it is an artwork or a new upholstery, a built-in component or a mosaic inlay, these gestures, whether bold or subtle, are what make the home unique.
Aboard The Jackson Sydney, Vivid became less of a walking route and more of a floating dinner, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra playing against the lit-up city.
We spend a lot of time looking at architecture in daylight: how buildings sit in the city and how people move through public space. Vivid Sydney offers a different kind of reading. For a few weeks each winter, the city is lit, animated and viewed after dark — not a fixed skyline, but a moving stage.
I had never properly experienced Vivid from the harbour before. Standing on the deck of The Jackson Sydney, beneath the illuminated span of the Harbour Bridge, it was hard not to see why the city lends itself so naturally to this kind of spectacle. Sea creatures moved across the sails of the Opera House, market lights flickered along the water and people waved from the dock as the boat pulled away from Barangaroo.
For Vivid Sydney 2026, The Jackson hosted a Sydney Symphony Orchestra Dinner series, bringing a curated ensemble from the orchestra onto the harbour for the first time during the festival. Held across two nights, the event combined a live orchestral performance with a five-course dining experience as the superyacht moved past Sydney’s most familiar landmarks. The second and final evening takes place on Saturday 30th May.
Despite the grandeur, the best moments were the simpler ones: stepping outside between courses, watching the lights shift across the Opera House, hearing strings carry through the room as the harbour moved in and out of view.
Inside, guests were served a five-course menu by The Jackson’s culinary team, paired with Penfolds wines. Around the tables, the evening had the rhythm of a Sydney winter event: coats over chair backs and people moving between the dining room and the deck whenever the view changed.
The route offered uninterrupted views of the Opera House, Circular Quay and the city skyline, all lit by Vivid installations. But it was not only the major icons that held attention, there was also the sparkle of market stalls, ferries moving through the dark and crowds gathering along the water. There was a certain joy in seeing a city perform for itself.
For an event built around visibility, the sound mattered just as much. The Sydney Symphony ensemble gave the evening a different pace from the usual Vivid experience. Instead of walking from one installation to the next, guests stayed with the harbour as a moving stage.
Certainly, designed as a multi-level harbour venue, the Jackson itself allowed the event to shift between dinner, performance and open-air viewing without feeling too fixed in one mode. The deck became the place everyone returned to, especially as the vessel passed the Opera House and the Bridge at close range.
With Guest Editor Yasmine Ghoniem, we are launched headfirst into the world of unique and eclectic design. From architecture to interiors, there is nothing that can’t be enlivened with bespoke interventions. Granted, a stunningly beautiful home can be made by simply shopping for the best, but when the artist’s hand is introduced, some pure magic is possible. Whether it is an artwork or a new upholstery, a built-in component or a mosaic inlay, these gestures, whether bold or subtle, are what make the home unique.
