Meet the 26 speakers at the 2016 Superyacht Design Symposium

For the first time, speakers at the Superyacht Design Symposium will consist of superyacht industry experts and some of the biggest names from the wider design community.

Stephen Bayley, Chairman of the Superyacht Design Symposium

Stephen is an author, critic, columnist, consultant, broadcaster, debater and curator, of whom Tom Wolfe famously said, “I don’t know anybody with more interesting observations about style, taste and contemporary design”.  He also works with designers, architects, consumer goods and manufacturing businesses at the highest level, including Ford, Coca-Cola, BMW and Conran.

His best-selling books and award-winning journalism have, over the past thirty years, changed the way the world thinks about design. With Terence Conran he created the influential Boilerhouse Project in London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, which became the capital’s most successful exhibition space during the Eighties and evolved into the influential Design Museum in 1989.

Stephen was formally educated at Manchester University and Liverpool University School of Architecture and, as well as his books and broadcasting work, he writes for a huge range of publications including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, GQ, The Official Ferrari Magazine and The Financial Times.

With the backing and guidance of Stephen Bayley, the Superyacht Design Symposium will continue to stimulate and inspire debate and will encourage designers from all over the world, from all genres, to share their stories and expertise, sewing the seeds for the superyacht projects of tomorrow.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Superyacht Owner Panel

Nick Candy is a British real estate entrepreneur and businessman best known for co-founding global luxury interior design firm Candy & Candy and for his role in some of the most high profile real estate projects in recent times.

In 1995, Nick and his brother Christian bought their first property in with the help of a £6,000 loan from their grandmother. They renovated it in their own style and successfully sold it on 18 months later at a substantial profit.

Candy & Candy was then established in 1999 and quickly went on to become one of the world’s leading luxury interior design firms, recognised internationally for designing the most luxurious real estate in the most coveted locations, as well as designing superyachts, jets, luxury cars and a wide range of commercial environments.

The company’s most high profile project – the globally celebrated One Hyde Park residential development in Knightsbridge, London – revolutionised the residential property market worldwide, breaking industry records and setting unparalleled new standards in luxury design and living.

Nick has also diversified his interests outside of Candy & Candy by adding several new companies and investments to his portfolio in real estate, technology, media and telecommunications, healthcare and natural resources.

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: What is the new luxury?

Axel de Beaufort graduated in design and naval architecture in Southampton University. He set up his own design office (Nacira) in 2002 after having worked with different architects such as VPLP. He was involved in different large yachting projects.

Axel de Beaufort was awarded for his own designs of 60 and 70 feet sailing yachts. He received the Yacht of the year award of the London Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) in 2005 and the Milano Nautical Design Award in 2012.

He joined the Hermès bespoke department in 2012 as consultant for special projects. In 2013, he was appointed design and engineering director for special projects from yachts or private plane interiors to cars and exceptional objects.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: What is the new luxury?

Entrepreneur Lapo is the grandson of the late Gianni Agnelli, the famous chairman of FIAT, Italy’s much loved car company. The Agnelli family built FIAT with an inimitable mixture of industrial innovation, shrewd investment and a passion for art and design. Lapo is an inspiration at both FIAT and Ferrari and his Italia Independent consultancy carries on the family work in fashion. He has founded eight companies the latest of which is Garage Italia Customs, which customizes cars, aircrafts and boats with tailor made Italian flair. He’s a passionate sailor and owns Lap1, the first Baglietto MV13, which unsurprisingly showcases Garage Italia Customs fabulous style. Work is currently underway on Lap2.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: What has a superyacht got in common with a warship? Why should we care?

Trained at the Central School of Art and Design,  Martin Francis worked as a cabinet maker before in 1967 starting working with Architect  Norman Foster on a wide range of projects including the glass wall of the Willis Faber and Dumas building in Ipswich. He was for many years a director of Foster associates in London and the managing director of Foster France, working on Stansted airport, the Tecno range of furniture and the Carre d’Art in Nimes.

In 1982 he joined Peter Rice in the creation of RFR, a Paris based engineering company where among other things he was responsible for assisting IM Pei in the design of the cable structure of the Louvre Pyramid using yacht rigging technology.

40 years ago he started his career as a yacht designer with a number of large sail boats. His first motor yacht was the iconic ECO (now called  Enigma) is now 25 years old and still does 35 knots. This was followed by a number of innovative vessels like Senses,  Golden Shadow, Sultan and the 118 meter Yacht ‘ A’ for which he was the Technical and Naval designer, a joint project with Phillippe Starck. He also was engaged by RCCL Celebrity Cruises to design the exterior of the Solstice class – a series of five 120,000 GRT Cruise Ships.

He was recently retained by Vitsoe to head the design tem of their new 2000m2 headquarters and production facility to be built in Leamington Spa UK.

His largest project to date was the new Lürssen built 124 meter  Golden Odyssey delivered October 2015.

James O'Callaghan is a structural engineer with more than 20 years of experience. Widely acknowledged as an authority on structural glass, he is perhaps best known for his highly innovative designs for glass stairs, bridges and other structural elements in Apple’s iconic retail stores around the world.

He co-founded engineering design firm Eckersley O'Callaghan with Brian Eckersley in 2004. The practice is based in London, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Paris and Shanghai.

His contribution to the Feadship Venus was instrumental in demonstrating and justifying that glazing of such a scale could be used in the marine environment. This landmark success has paved the way for his dedicated team of glass engineers to further support the industry in realising large-format glazing and striking glass features such as canopies, stairs or swimming pools in superyachts. The team provides technical design, detailing, and procurement expertise to deliver cutting-edge glass structures meeting classification regulations. O’Callaghan believes that collaboration and engagement are key to continuously redefine what is achievable in this ambitious market.

PLENARY SESSION SPEAKER: Form vs Function

Paul Priestman is a designer and Director of PriestmanGoode, the leading travel and transport design consultancy whose work ranges from aircraft interiors to hotels, high speed trains, private jets, commercial spacecraft and cruise ships.

Paul is known for creating luxurious passenger experiences in small spaces and has designed many award winning airline interiors, including First Class cabins for Qatar Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Air France, Swiss International Airlines and TAM Airlines among many others, as well as the new high speed trains in China.

Based in London and China, PriestmanGoode employs an international staff of over fifty people – from designers to visualisers and textile specialists – who excel at creative problem solving and continuously push the boundaries of travel and transport design.

Paul believes that design is not just about styling, but about making things better, both for passengers, as well as to manufacture, run and maintain. A well-known figure in the global design industry, he is regular speaker on the subject of design and its value to business. He is currently a trustee of the Design Council and earlier this year was voted one of London’s most influential people for the third consecutive year.

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.