Can you still remember your first attempt at a yacht design? Does it still exist?

From eleven years old I wanted to be a car designer, so I managed to go to University to study transportation design to realize my dream. Two of my house mates were into boats (and cars) Jaso Macaree our partner being one of them and one of our tutors was a self-taught naval architect with patents and designs for Hydrofoils and other alternative watercraft which fascinated me. I also was fortunate to have close family friends with a small sail boat and later a sunseeker in Jersey and the combination of these influences steered me towards yacht design.

I am a qualified and trained art historian and archeologist and have a strong interest in fine art and art research. Becoming a yacht designer in 1989 came by pure accident while I was in London looking for a position in a design studio.

Is there a specific design that is particularly close to your heart? If so, why?

Again it is onboard Aviva, an indoor full competition size padel tennis court come sports hall. Our initial concept for the new Aviva was to have a fold out glass court on the exterior decks as we never thought we could fit it inside. The owner had a very different challenge for us as he wanted to play in a permanent court, airconditioned and without the direct sun, inside the yacht. The result was possibly the most significant challenge we have faced and when people visit the padel court for the first time, their jaw drops as no one is expecting such a vast and high space to be hidden within this yacht.

Aviva padel tennis court is on the top of my list, followed by the snow room and Nemo room on board Serene.

What was the most unusual material you’ve ever used in a yacht?

I have so many I can’t share! One that I remember was a meeting with a potential Abeking client on his yacht in Sardina. Till von Krause and myself flew into Sardinia and met up with André Jonker, all of us intending to fly home the same evening, that didn’t quite happen. We joined the yacht and the owner immediately said “we are sailing to Corsica as my friends want to see Bonifacio”. We set sail, had lunch, later dinner, and a very pleasant day. However, we hadn’t started discussing the new yacht design and we were still in the wrong country to fly home. Eventually we sailed back to Sardinia by which time our flights were gone, and we started the meeting which went on until the early hours of the morning with a fully engaged and excited yacht owner. A tender ride back to shore in the pitch dark we had to somehow find our hire car and then to find a hotel that was open and with rooms in August!

Our first delivery with Abeking of Bravado. The owner was so excited to get delivering of his yacht that he literally came with his suitcase to the shipyard on the delivery day and left the yard on his yacht with saxophone playing on the dock “Don’t cry for me Argentina”.

What is the most important advice you would give to new yacht designers?

It is becoming a key issue for our younger clients. Materials such as dark exotic rare woods were often the requirements for yacht interiors in the past, not only because they are beautiful but also because they were rare and therefore exclusive and subsequently deemed ultra luxurious. We see a trend towards the use of sustainable materials, which also goes hand in hand with the trend to create lighter, more airy interiors which we also prefer. We have created yacht interiors without any woods at all and decks without any teak. Most yachts are now far more efficient and clean than they used to be, especially those with a hybrid powertrain and we have enquiries for yachts powered alternative fuels such as hydrogen which ultimately will be the way to move forward.

This is a very difficult question as yachting and sustainability if you are not a sailing yacht is very difficult to achieve fully. But we are working on it.

If you had the chance to design a yacht for a movie, which movie would it be, and what would the yacht look like?

What future trends in yacht design excite you the most and why?