At last month’s Monaco Yacht Show, Oceanco hosted a Creative Breakfast that introduced young designers to some of the biggest names in the business, before treating them to an exclusive boat trip to take a closer look at some of the most impressive yachts anchored off Monaco.
As the sponsor of the Young Designer of the Year Award, the Dutch yard is dedicated to helping the next generation of talent to kick-start their careers. Watch our highlights video below to take a closer look at this exclusive event:
One of the judges of the Young Designer of the Year Award 2018, Fiona Diamond of Seymour Diamond explained what it takes to succeed in this highly competitive challenge: “What we’re looking for has been a focus on functionality and the flow of the design within the yacht. I’ve always been very focussed on general arrangements and how a boat works — it’s absolutely critical to the running of a yacht as well as the owner’s lifestyle.”
Fellow judge Adam Lay, founder of the Adam Lay Studio, added: “What I’d really like to see is some creative flair, particularly in the hand sketching department — that is really important and something that we always look for as judges.”
Meanwhile, this year’s winner in the student category, Thibaud Le Merdy revealed that his career has taken off since scooping the prize back in February, with a job at Silver Arrows Marine working on the Arrow 460-GT Mercedes-Benz speedboat as well as an upcoming three-month internship at Oceanco. “It’s a nice opportunity for me, I am very happy about it,” he said.