Justin Olesinski has become the second naval architect known for work with top superyacht builders, to have branched out alone in recent months.
Olesinski, whose father’s studio Bernard Olesinski Limited has designed Princess Yachts for 35 years, set up a superyacht division when he took over the business, with an eye to large-scale independent projects.
‘With the last two boats we designed for Princess – the 32m and the 40m – we’ve shown we can design that big,’ he says. ‘Up until then people knew about our hull design and that we designed for Princess, but we didn’t have a market presence. Now people recognise us as doing superyachts. We’ve got expertise in that area and a dynamic team.’
The studio will continue to design for Princess and the studio’s own work will focus on the 60m-plus category to avoid competing with the smaller yacht-focused brand. The new superyacht division will offer naval architecture, interior and exterior design, with a cost and time discipline built up over decades working for a production builder. The studio has already been approached by two yards and a private individual for 50m-plus designs.
Olesinski’s move follows that of naval architect Malcolm McKeon, who left the sailing yacht specialist Dubois in November after 31 years, to set up his own design studio Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design – which is already busy.
‘While still at Dubois I started two projects still in build, those clients have asked me to finish design work and oversee the remainder of construction directly – one is 46m motor yacht at Feadship, the other a 46m sailing yacht at Vitters,’ says McKeon. ‘I’m also working on 32m and 50m, both composite sailing boats, in response to new enquiries.’