Meet the 26 speakers at the 2016 Superyacht Design Symposium

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Form vs Function

Ilse Crawford is a designer, academic and creative director with a simple mission to put human needs and desires at the centre of all that she does. As founder of Studioilse, together with her multi-disciplinary, London-based team, she brings her philosophy to life. This means creating environments where humans feel comfortable; public spaces that make people feel at home and homes that are habitable and make sense for the people who live in them. It means designing furniture and products that support and enhance human behaviour and actions in everyday life. It means restoring the human balance in brands and businesses that have lost their way. As founder of the department of Man and Wellbeing at the Design Academy Eindhoven, her mission extends to nurturing a new generation of students to always question why and how their work improves the reality of life.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Is beauty a science or an art?

Terence Disdale Design is one of the world’s leading companies specialising in yacht design. The company employs a team of 15 and was formed in 1973.

Prior to this Terence Disdale worked as one of Jon Bannenberg’s two design assistants for a few years. His other experiences were in the hotel design industry and with shop fitting and joinery specialists.

In his forty years of experience Terence has participated in the design and construction of more than a hundred yachts including fifty of these above the category of 45 meters. Eighteen of his projects have been completed above the category of 60 meters & he is the holder of thirty international design awards for his projects, including their latest creation the 81 metre Kibo which won the 2015 Showboats Holistic Design Award.

In 2015 the 163 metre Eclipse was recognised by Boat International with the status of ‘Motor Yacht Of The Decade.’

His forte is in creating the total design concept of the yacht from the water line upward. The design team develops the complete deck by deck planning, the superstructure lines, design and detail as well as the complete and totally bespoke interior.

Occasionally they have been invited to work on the interior of private aircraft and the houses of various clients where they have carried out extensive architectural work, landscape design and interior design.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Is beauty a science or an art?

Theo Fennell went to Eton in the 1960s, and surprised his teachers by becoming the first pupil there in living memory to go to art college. He first studied at the York School of Art and then at Byam Shaw (now part of UAL), and began in portraiture. He soon realised he would starve if he continued down this path, and by pure fate was then offered a job at the great silversmiths Edward Barnard’s where he discovered an aptitude for silver and jewellery design as well as a huge respect for craftsmanship.

As well as his one offs and masterworks, Fennell also designs jewellery which is inherently wearable and of course, impeccably crafted. He has numerous famous fans including Lady Gaga, Cara Delevingne, David Beckham and Sir Elton John, of whose AIDS Foundation he is also a committee member. He has a number of accolades under his belt including winning the ‘Oscars of luxury’, the Best Luxury Craftsmanship Award at the Walpole Awards for Excellence. In 2007 he curated Show Off, an exhibition of his works at the Royal Academy, and has exhibited at the esteemed art, antiques and jewellery fair Masterpiece London, for the past 3 years. He also whole-heartedly supports the work of young jewellery and silver students – The Royal College of Art Theo Fennell Awards for Jewellery and Silver are in their 10th year this year, and he also works in conjunction with Central St Martins and Goldsmiths.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Is the client always right?

Francesco Lovo, graduated in Aeronautical Engineering at the Politecnico of Turin in 1993, starts his career at Fiat Avio with particular assignments related to ESA programs for the development of new generation reusable space launchers and advanced ‘airbreathing’ hypersonic propulsion systems.

In 1997 he starts collaborating with Pininfarina Extra as Engineering Manager establishing a new CAD virtual modeling unit for industrial design projects.

From 1998 to 2001 he is responsible for business development while in 2002, he takes the responsibility of the creative, design and engineering management at Pininfarina Extra as R&D Director.

In 2005-2006, in the occasion of the Olympic Winter Games 2006 in Turin, he manages the whole research, development and manufacturing program for the Olympic torch, produced in 12.000 pieces by Pinnfarina SpA.

From 2007 to 2013 he manage the development program at Pininfarina Extra for the new passenger cabin interiors for Sukhoi Superjet-100 regional jet.

In the meantime he establish a new architectural-design division at Pininfarina Extra.

In the following years he manage the design development programs for superyachts projects collaborating with the selected shipyards and the end users.

In 2015 he take the responsibility of the whole operative activities relevant to the Pininfarina projects outside the automotive field as Pininfarina Extra Vice President Operations.

Up to now he has managed more than 400 different design projects in different design and industrial fields working with customers all around the world.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Is the client always right?

Peter Lürssen has been the managing partner of the Lürssen Shipyard since 1988‎, continuing the company's family-owned tradition in the fourth generation together with his cousin Friedrich Lürssen. A graduated naval architect, industrial engineer and having obtained an MBA from Cornell University, Peter Lürssen oversees all seven Lürssen shipyard locations in Northern Germany and is active in the operative business of yacht sales. Not only passionate about yachting and sailing, Lürssen has made the support of marine protection a priority in his charity work. He is a strong supporter of the Blue Marine Foundation, a marine conservancy successfully and efficiently campaigning for the set-up of Marine Protected Areas in the world's oceans, and he passionately spreads the word amongst clients and industry leaders.

‎In his free time, Peter Lürssen prioritizes spending time with his family, on sailing cruises or at home in Bremen.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Superyacht Owner Panel

Owner and captain of 41m Superyacht Komokwa, Brian O’Sullivan is a self-proclaimed ‘meat and potatoes boater’ who states; ‘luxury for the sake of luxury’s sake has never interested me, unless it serves a higher purpose.’

Currently the President of the Mexico Power Group, Brian is an entrepreneur with an active career in sustainable wind energy and most recently solar energy. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Wind Energy Associations and is founder of the California Wind Energy Association.

In October 2013 Brian departed from Vancouver, Canada for an extended round the world cruise, stopping in at the Montenegro Rendezvous on the back of his tour of the Balearic Islands.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Is beauty a science or an art?

Marek Reichman is Chief Creative Officer and Design Director of Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. Since joining the company in 2005, he has strengthened its iconic styling and led it through a prolific period, introducing the graceful high-performance Rapide S, the new Vanquish and Aston Martin’s recent flagship model, the stunning One-77. The most recent creations to leave the Aston Martin Design Studio include the DB10 Bond car for Spectre, DBX Concept, Aston Martin Vulcan and Vantage GT12. Throughout his career, Marek has been involved with some of the world’s most iconic cars, including the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the Lincoln MKX and Navicross Concept Cars and the Range Rover Mk lll. After beginning his design career with Rover Cars in 1991, Marek moved to BMW Designworks, California in 1995 to become Senior Designer. Here he led the overhaul of Land Rover design DNA for future production models, with the most significant of these becoming 2003’s new Range Rover. He joined Ford in 1999 as Chief Designer for the company’s Ford and Lincoln Mercury brands and rose to the position of Director of Design for Product at Ford North America before moving to Aston Martin.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Superyacht Owner Panel

Dr. Alexander Rosa-Alscher studied “Business administration of structure” and “Building construction of architecture” in the cities of Regensburg, Munich, Berlin and Budapest.

Dr. Rosa-Alscher is the owner of the Rosa-Alscher Group, which formed in 2006. The Group achieves remarkable architecture under one brand and distributes all the real estate expertise among its independent companies. It enriches the creative processes with experience and quality.

Before placing the order for motor yacht Noga as a 100pz custom built vessel, Dr. Rosa-Alscher was the previous owner of five other super yachts.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Form vs Function

Andrew Winch has been in the specialist yacht design environment for over thirty years. Having grown up sailing on the south coast of England in dinghies and cruising yachts, his love of the sea embodies all of his work. Formal training at St Martins’ School of Art, London and Kingston College of Art laid the foundations for his career. This was followed by a year sailing as a crew member across the Atlantic and in the Caribbean on a private 52 foot sailing yacht.

On his return he joined Jon Bannenberg Ltd as an apprentice designer. Here he learned his trade and went on to collaborate with Bannenberg on four major sailing yachts; Shirley B (80ft), Acharne (112ft Huisman), Garuda (102ft Nautor custom) and Starlight (94ft).

In 1986, Andrew launched “Winch Design” with his wife Jane. Since its foundation, the studio has delivered 75 super yachts including both sailing and motor yacht projects – and has won over 30 prestigious awards from the leading awards bodies. With dedicated Exterior and Interior Yacht design departments and a highly experienced decorating team, AWD offers its clients a fully turnkey design package. The studio’s 2013 deliveries include  Madame Gu (99m Feadship), Sea Owl (62m Feadship) and Inoui (33m Vitters).

Andrew places great importance on nurturing and developing the AWD team. Based in a converted fire station on the banks of the Thames in London, the AWD team of 70 people (who hail from all over the world) is today recognised as one of the leading International Design Studios.

Fred van Beers has been the CEO of Blohm + Voss since March 2015 and has held senior leadership positions in the maritime industry for more than 15 years. Fred joined Blohm+Voss from his former position as Vice President Services Northern Europe at Wärtsilä, the global leader in complete lifecycle power solutions for the maritime industry and energy markets with a presence in more than 70 countries.

Fred van Beers is a qualified ship engineer, went to sea for four years, and has led all stages of design, engineering, production and aftermarket services. He has a proven track record in delivering profitable sales growth. Throughout his career at Wärtsilä and his positions in various maritime industry organisations in the Netherlands and Europe, Fred van Beers built up an extensive international network within the community of yacht and ship owners, yacht designers, shipyards and the maritime supply industry. For the past 20 years delivery of systems and services for yachts has been part of his wider responsibilities.