Meet the 36 Superyacht Design Symposium 2017 speakers

Leonardo Ferragamo, is Group Executive Chairman of Nautor Holding that owns Nautor’s Swan, Camper & Nicholsons Yachts, and the Marina di Scarlino.

Having worked from a young age at the family company, in 2000 Leonardo became Director of Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A., Ferragamo Finanziaria, the financial holding of the Group and Executive Vice President of Fondazione Ferragamo. At this time, he also moved to take responsibility as CEO of Palazzo Feroni Finanziaria S.p.A., one of the two holding companies of the Ferragamo family, managing the activities in real estate hospitality and diversified activities.

Leonardo is Chairman of “Windows on Tuscany”, specialising in the management of apartments and luxury villas, which merged in 2008 in “Windows on Europe”. He is founder and Chairman of Associazione Partners Palazzo Strozzi, who are committed together with the City of Florence and other institutional members to launch the Palazzo Strozzi cultural activities to make it an international centre of arts. Now an Honorary Chairman, Leonardo initially headed Altagamma from 2000-2009, which unites high-end Italian companies to promote the Italian lifestyle and gain recognition at an international level.

Leonardo graduated in Business Administration from Imede, Lausanne and obtained a degree in Administration and Finance from Columbia University.

Luca Bassani is the founder and president of Wally, founded in 1994, which introduced a new concept of sailing cruiser that opened up a new route in yacht design. Having revolutionised the sailing yachts, in 2001 he developed and introduced the wallypower line changing the whole powerboat design.

Luca created an outstanding and iconic brand in both the yachting industry and the luxury market, his breakthrough products are regarded as the state of the art in design: Wally is the only yachting brand two-time winner of the Compasso d’oro, the world’s most important award for quality and design. In 1994 Luca Bassani began racing the Wallys and in 1999 he founded the Wally Class, the largest fleet of racing superyachts and one of the IMA divisions - International Maxi Association.

Luca Bassani has been owner and helmsman of different yachts. In the IOR, he won the Mediterranean Championship and the Two Ton Cup in 1972 with the 43-foot S&S Locura, and in 1975 he owned Phantom, the first maxi-yacht at those times. After the IOR, he moved into the 6-metre division, winning two European Championships (1986-1990). He then started sailing in the Mumm 30 class winning the 1998 World Championship.

Luca Bassani graduated in Business/Economy at Bocconi University, Milan, in 1980. In 2004 he received the Honorary Degree in Industrial Design from the University of Architecture in Genoa, Italy.

Timur Bozca is a nature addict adventurer and a designer who is best known with his vehicle concepts.

Timur established his design studio, Bozca Design, in 2013 which focused towards creating new trends in yacht, aviation, automotive and architecture. The firm also works toward creating intrigue and innovative living spaces. Bozca Design’s vision is to create solutions through design by considering human factors, technology and aesthetics. The philosophy of his design firm is determined on not only creating for tomorrow, but also for the day after.

Timur graduated from Coventry University with a degree in automotive & transport design and continued his education at the Politecnico di Milano where he completed a masters in yacht design.

Timur Bozca was awarded as a Young Designer of the Year Award at ShowBoats Design Awards. Afterwards, he became a winner also in International Design Awards and A’Design Awards in the yacht design field.

Vripack is a third generation studio founded in 1961 and is lead by designer and naval architect Bart M. Bouwhuis and Marnix J. Hoekstra. The Dutch naval architecture, design and engineering studio has created over 7000 designs and is renowned for its high quality no-nonsense-go-anywhere ships that roam the Seven Seas.

“To seamlessly blend the sailing wishes of our clients into a design that first throws them off their feet and later on is embraced as if they thought of every inch themselves gives our team and thus me a great pleasure”, says Marnix J. Hoekstra.

"At Vripack we believe that a good design should not meet all requirements. It should surpass them, creating a boat that is able to go beyond dream. Vripacks holistic design approach is crucial with regard to working on the cutting edge of design and technology. At Vripack we don’t just design yachts, we Engineer Fantasies."

Guillaume Rolland is presently in charge of Studio Liaigre’s yacht design division. Guillaume joined Christian Liaigre’s team in 2002 and became the principal in charge of the design studio and has since been involved in all the projects developed. Before this, from 1998 to 2001, Guillaume worked with Philippe Starck.

Guillaume Rolland is an active sailor. He has been cruising and sailing since his early childhood and races an olympic keelboat all year round. He frequently participates in regattas on maxi-yachts.

Guillaume Rolland graduated from the Paris Beaux Arts School in Architecture and Fine Arts.

Projects include: Wedge 2, Rosehearty, Vertigo, Seahawk, Cloudbreak

Ronno Schouten is manager of Feadship's design department responsible for layout, styling and technical feasibility of new projects.

Since joining De Voogt Naval Architects in 2003, Ronno has held roles including manager of Yacht Services, responsible for refits, as well as manager of the Naval Architecture department. Before De Voogt Naval Architects, Ronno worked on several yards mainly involved in yacht building.

Ronno has a masters degree in naval architecture as well as marketing.

Like many young men launching themselves into a career in design, Jonny Horsfield’s first love was focused on the curves of a beautiful car rather than those of a yacht. Following a degree in transport design from Coventry university, he quickly discovered the possibilities of superyacht design working for both Martin Francis and Donald Starkey. “It was great grounding. Over the next five years he started firstly working on yacht exteriors, but gravitated towards interior design which he quickly mastered on the job. “Don and Martin were very different, but they taught me a lot about the business, which you don't get at college. And it is a business at the end of the day. You can be very creative and still fail.”

H2 Design is now about to celebrate its 23rd anniversary. Jonny identifies that the turning point came in 2006, with the commission for the interior of the 54.2 metre Talisman C (now Talisman Maiton), and since then he and his team have gone on to design over 30 yachts with more than 15 coming out of Turkey. More recently H2 Design were identified as the exterior designers of the extraordinary 124 metre Project Jupiter launched from the Lürssen shipyard, as well as interior designers of the equally impressive 107 metre explorer Ulysses. The H2 Design studio is located in south-west London, currently numbering around 15 designers, and continues to work on an unusual mix of yacht projects for its clients around the world.

Richard Woolley is the studio director for Special Vehicle Operations, working under the direction of Gerry McGovern, Jaguar Land Rover board member and Land Rover’s chief creative officer.

Richard leads a team of creative designers looking at new product opportunities. This includes design responsibility for the Special Vehicle Operations business within Land Rover, which develops high-end luxury bespoke and extreme performance vehicles, including the range Rover SVAutobiography and the Range Rover Sport SVR. His significant design achievements include the 2003 Range Stormer Concept, 2004 Range Rover Sport, 2007 Freelander and 2009 Range Rover. He also led the design team working on the all-new 2012 Range Rover.

Before Land Rover, Richard spent time working in Detroit for Ford Design North America as well as the Rover Group on numerous passenger vehicle programmes including Rover, MG, MINI and Land Rover Vehicles. During this period he also worked in Tokyo, Japan and Munich, Germany.

Richard started his career in the UK, completing studies at Swansea University College of Art and Design before taking on his first design role at Airbus Industry in Hamburg, Germany.

Celia Sawyer is a renowned interior designer with clients across the globe. With an uninhibited sense of style, merging classical with contemporary, she is deeply inspired by architecture and experimental design. Being extremely hands-on in her Mayfair design studio, Celia has worked with an impressive roster of people, from film stars, musicians, leading business icons, not to mention names worthy of the Forbes rich list.

As an interior designer, Celia holds an impressive command over furniture design. Working from sketches of her own vision, Celia will create bespoke and beautiful pieces for clients. Her signature look encapsulates use of textures, colour and creativity, amounting to a design style that exudes opulence and sophisticated glamour.

Celia’s design intuition and personal connection to each project echoes throughout homes, aviation and marine across the globe. It is her attention to detail, unflinching dedication and dignified charisma that have contributed to the notable success Celia has achieved, both in and out of the public eye.

Celia is frequently in mainstream press and national television, alongside being an official columnist for the MailOnline, Hello! and the Huffington Post. She recently joined the Board of Advisors for Football for Peace. This is a global organisation that has had HRH Prince William and the Prince of Monaco, as well as various sporting legends, support the cause already.

Passion and precision embody Celia’s work life; many designers say there are not enough hours in the day, for Celia she always finds them. She intends to leave a legacy trailing behind her in gold and will continue to create bespoke, glamorous interiors for very special clients.

Andrew Winch is the founder and creative director at Winch Design, his position enables him to inspire both clients and design teams with his vision, passion and energy. Winch Design was founded in 1986 by Andrew and Jane Winch as a specialist Exterior and Interior Yacht Design Studio. Over time, the studio has added Aviation, Architecture and Interiors teams to its yacht portfolio and is now a multi-disciplinary studio employing over 75 people, made up of architects, engineers, graphic, interior, textile and furniture designers plus project managers and support staff. Currently working on numerous international design projects on land, in the air and at sea, Winch Design creates spaces which are majestic, timeless and unique. Based in an old fire station on the banks of the River Thames in London, Andrew Winch is celebrating 30 years in business this year.

Prior to Winch Design, Andrew worked at Jon Bannenberg Ltd as an apprentice designer after having spent a year sailing as a crew member across the Atlantic and in the Caribbean on a private 52-foot sailing yacht.

Andrew’s formal training took place at St Martins’ School of Art, London and Kingston College of Art which laid the foundations for his career. Andrew grew up sailing on the south coast of England in dinghies and cruising yachts, his love of the sea embodies all of his work.