Meet the 26 speakers at the 2016 Superyacht Design Symposium

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: 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.

An Italian architect with a degree in Construction Science from the University of Florence, Cristina Gherardi Benardeau, founder of Paris-based CG Design, has solid experience in the luxury world.

She began her career by conceiving all the Virgin Megastores and Kenzo stores in France, and several departmental stores for the Brunswig family in Switzerland. In1994 she joined LVMH as Director of Architecture for Christian Dior Couture developing luxury retail projects worldwide. Those years featured close collaboration with Jacques Grange and Peter Marino for a new architectural concept and the opening of flagship stores in Paris, New York, Geneva, Los Angeles and Tokyo.

Next she created the first Giorgio Armani Interior Design Studio in New York, working closely with Mr. Armani designing private homes and residential real estate projects worldwide. At Armani Casa, she designed her first yacht, Odessa, a 53-meter Christensen that won the 2010 ShowBoats Design Award for Best Interior Design. The following year, she founded CG Design in part to respond to the request to design a second yacht for Odessa’s owner. Savannah, his 83.5 meter yacht Feadship, is a finalist for this year’s Design Awards. Meanwhile, residential projects for private clients as well as real estate development for Fendi continues in Dubai, Riyadh and Moscow.

She credits the luxury world and working in a varied cultural universe for her sophisticated design yet insists her firm’s primary aim is to conserve a very strong architectural approach.

“Our aesthetic is contemporary, however, each project is the result of thematic research based on the client’s expectations and taste, the site, and the cultural environment, bringing together the French art of living, Italian design and American functionality,” she says.

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

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.