Meet the 36 Superyacht Design Symposium 2017 speakers

Charlie Hagan is Co-Managing Partner and Head of Training and Nutrition for luxury personal training and nutrition firm Hagan & Pappin.

Charlie spent several years in the health & wellbeing industry advising individuals, families and corporates on fitness & nutrition optimisation before setting up Hagan & Pappin in 2014. He has worked with leading international exercise labs and for private clients across the Middle East, the US and Europe.

Hagan & Pappin manages and optimises the health, nutrition and physical activity of individuals and families across the globe. The firm’s team works with designers to custom build bespoke fitness areas into clients’ Superyachts and private homes specially tailored to their needs and physiology. They also deliver nutrition training to on-board chefs and supply on-board trainers and physical therapists.

Charlie has an early background in the industry. His father is an Offshore Powerboat Racing World Champion and Superyacht designer. Charlie is a competitive offshore yacht racer with an RYA Yachtmaster.

He has a BSc, Chemistry from the University of Bristol. He qualified as a Personal Trainer in 2002 and holds successive advanced qualifications in fitness, nutrition and physiology. He was a corporate M&A lawyer in London before moving into health.

Peter Mikic is a London based interior and furniture designer working with mid-century antiques and contemporary art. A new entry in House & Garden’s 100 Leading Interior Designers 2015, he is commended for delivering “ultra-stylish, subtly coloured interiors featuring sharp tailoring and beautifully chosen art”. Peter has been featured in AD Collector’s Top 100, his style described as ‘avant-garde glamour’ and a new hardback book called ‘Room’ by Phaidon press features his work.

He is currently working on several houses in London and abroad, refurbishing a luxury yacht and a wonderful country house with a modern twist. He also designs his own range of bespoke lighting, rugs and furniture using the finest artisans.

In 2007, his first solo commission was a 53m superyacht called Elisabeth F. It went on to win best refit at the Showboats Design Award in 2007, as well as receiving a ‘highly commended’ at the World Superyacht Awards. He has worked in the UK and abroad on a range of private houses, yachts and private jets. In 2006, Candy & Candy commissioned Peter to design couture uniforms for a luxury yacht called Candyscape. They loved the embroidered Japanese cranes on the women’s cocktail Kimonos so much they commissioned embroidered curtains, cushions and upholstering for the yacht.

Peter studied fashion at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology between 1988 – 1990 where he completed a BA in Fashion with Distinction and during which time won Victoria’s Womenswear Designer in 1990 for the Australian Wool Corporation. He moved to London in 1992 working in fashion for almost 15 years before moving to interiors. It was by default, though inevitable, he has a passion for all design.

Gregory C. Marshall Naval Architects is a Victoria B.C. based design firm owned by Principals Greg Marshall and Gordon Galbraith. The firm has been operating from Victoria for 22 years, and has created more than 400 designs from which more than 1000 vessels have been built.

Gregory C. Marshall NA (GCMNA) designs a wide range of vessels from small aluminum runabouts to a current project under construction that is over 270 feet. The firm is involved in the Design, Naval Architecture, Structural and Mechanical Engineering as well as interior design. Their projects are building on all continents except Antarctica. The firm is in the regular business of designing in Steel, Aluminum, FRP as well as wood.

GCMNA has won numerous Awards worldwide including “Best Naval Architecture” (2 times) , “Best Yacht Under 500 GRT” (3 times) , “Most Innovative Yacht” (3 times) “Best Styling” (3 Times) “Best Interior” (3 times) and “Best Refit”.

Peder Eidsgaard founded Eidsgaard Design in 2005 to create exterior and interior designs for superyachts. The company is headed with partners Ben Harrison and Ewa Eidsgaard.

The company’s team of eight is based in London, from where they have delivered designs for yachts including Tango, Saudade, Angel’s Share, Halo and Vanish.

“- We enjoy creating yachts that each have a unique character to reflect the owners personality. Only the engine room location is conventional in our layouts, which are fully created from scratch around the lifestyle of the owner.”

Eidsgaard’s exteriors aim to each have a certain dynamic elegance, but every profile is made to be individual and recognizable.

Peder decided on his chosen career after reading about London’s superyacht designers in a magazine when he was 12 years old.

He was born in Great Britain but grew up in Oslo, Norway, and gained a Bachelor of Science degree in design in Switzerland, before he spent nine years working for Andrew Winch Designs in London.

Since 2005 Peder Eidsgaard has also delivered 23 V-VIP private jets under his separate company Pegasus Design: “- Superyachts and private jets are vastly different in that one is a holiday home and the other a business tool, but both disciplines share the same design process and the same design-conscious clientele.”

For several of Peder’s clients the team has designed both the jet and yacht.

Peder’s spare time is spent with family and friends on the ski slopes in the Winter and on his small boat in Norway during the Summer.

Jeremy Roche is WIDER’s Sales & Marketing Director. Joining in February 2015, Jeremy brings a remarkable knowledge of the industry and strong management skills which are now applied to promoting the WIDER brand and increasing sales for the Italian superyacht builder. “We are overjoyed to have Jeremy on board, he brings international experience in the world of superyachts that is of fundamental importance to the growth of our company.” Tilli Antonelli, WIDER Founder and CEO.

In 2001 Jeremy took up a post with Boat International Media, quickly rising to the position of Sales Director. During his eight years in this role, he gained the respect and confidence of top executives from shipyards and brokerage houses across the world.

A chance meeting in Spain opened Jeremy’s eyes to the possibilities of the yachting industry, and he spent seven years employed aboard both motor and sailing yachts. During this time he completed three Atlantic crossings, and a delivery from Thailand to the South of France, and also qualified as an RYA Yachtmaster.

Jeremy studied Chemistry at Durham University.

Maurizio Minossi is the technical Director at Videoworks which he joined in 1998. He is also a member of the Board and Director of research and development. Maurizio is currently focused on smart environments, IT redundancy, weareable devices and virtualisation of AV devices.

Videoworks entered the Luxury Yachts Market in 1998 and has been involved in more than 80 projects from 27 to 330 feet in Italy, Netherlands, US and China.

Maurizio began working in Industrial Automation and Industrial Networking in the early 1990s. He has an MBA from Institute Adriano Olivetti ISTAO, 1994 and graduated in Electronic Engineering at the University Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona in 1991.

As head of AMELS’ in-house design and naval architecture department, Hans is intimately involved in the construction of luxury motor yachts of the absolute highest quality, working closely with the most renowned pedigree yacht designers and suppliers. As well as the AMELS Limited Editions range, Hans and his team of talented naval architects and experts in large yacht construction handle AMELS Full Custom design and proposal bids. Among the almost 60 AMELS yachts delivered, Hans has worked on milestone projects such as the first MCA-compliant TIGRE D’OR, the avant-garde EVENT and the recently delivered 74-metre PLVS VLTRA and 83-metre HERE COMES THE SUN. In his role, Hans applies his extensive production experience at AMELS as well as from his previous role in shipbuilding at a Fincantieri yard in Italy.

Before entering the superyacht world, Hans began his career as a Navigation Officer for Holland American Line (an affiliate of the Carnival Cruise Line Company). He is a graduate in both Marine Engineering and as a Naval Officer at the HZ University of Applied Sciences in Vlissingen, the Netherlands.

Rebecca Sawyer is a Senior Interior Designer at Reymond Langton Design, splitting her time between London & Bath. She studied Fashion Design at Leeds University. After graduating in 2010 she began work experience at Reymond Langton Design and quickly fell in love with the industry. Within a month of starting at RLD she was offered a full time position, allowing her to put her knowledge of design and fabrics to practical use. Seven years later she has seen the launch of eleven new yachts under the Reymond Langton brand, along with refits and the development of numerous interior concepts and current projects. Most of her time is taken up by project management, along with artwork, furniture and fabric development. Although she loves working on such forward thinking projects, her dream project would be to refit a classic steam ship for a private client who appreciates the film Casablanca.

Thomas Haffa has been passionate about boating from an early age, inspired by a little folding boat with sails that his uncle gave him. Thomas’ enthusiasm for boats has remained constant and his passion has grown with his age and wealth in size and scope. So far, Thomas Haffa owned 33 boats –including the famous Wally Tiketitoo. While racing this boat for several years, he invented, together with Massimo Perotti, his Sanlorenzo Alloy No. 1 4H. – winner of the 18th Showboats Award 2008 in Monaco. Recently, he developed the Cantieri di Pisa 22 together with Luca Dini and currently he is discussing an explorer project with Sanlorenzo.

Thomas Haffa is a German entrepreneur, well-known as founder of EM.TV AG, a German Media Company. Thomas Haffa was the

company’s CEO and major shareholder until July 2001, when he sold his shares. Today, Thomas Haffa operates Air Independence GmbH, an exclusive air charter company based in Germany and Austria, amongst other entrepreneurial activities. His latest venture is dotbooks GmbH – an electronic book company.

Thomas Haffa is founding member of the International SeaKeepers Society (www.seakeepers.org). For charity commitment, Thomas Haffa runs the Thomas Haffa Foundation (Thomas Haffa Stiftung).

Paola Trifiró is the owner of S/Y Ribelle, a 107ft carbon yacht in build at Vitters with Malcom McKeown and Remi Tessier interiors which will be delivered in Holland between the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017. As a passionate Regatta participant, with Paola’s husband Salvatore, this new boat focuses on lightness and speed for racing, without sacrificing the space and transparency for cruising pleasure and sea life.

Paola has been involved with many sailing yacht building projects, from just 7-meters as a young student, to the impressive S/Y Zefira, a 50-meter Dubois design, receiving critical acclaim for lightness, elegance, speed and modernity. As a lover of design and art, Paola has always been a sailor at heart. In particular, she is fond of adventurous sailing to far distant seas and has cruised the oceans from the South Pacific – Fiji and Samoa, to Norway and Alaska, and not to mention Panama and California.

As a passionate bibliophile, she has an impressive personal library of more than 14,000 books containing a special collection (recently catalogued and available online) entirely dedicated to history of food, gastronomic culture and science, international cooking - including many incunabula and rare editions.

Paola is a professional lawyer, specialising in Family and Inheritance law, graduating at Università degli Studi of Milano magna cum laude with a degree thesis on ancient Roman Law and has been Research Fellow in Civil Law for some years.