94Isea&iISPRING-SUMMER 2010Designs on the futuresea&ispeaks to the recipient of the Camper & Nicholsons sponsored YoungDesigner Award 2009, Maila Speitkamp, about her projects and views on thefuture of yacht designInterview by Laurent Pérignonyoung designer award

SPRING-SUMMER 2010I sea&iI95youngdesignersea&iWhat sparked your interest in designing yachts for a career?MSI grew up in an old industrial area of Germany known for coal mining. Itwas nowhere near the ocean, but when I was a child my father took us tothe North Sea on a small sailing yacht. We also spent holidays by theMediterranean Sea. When you are on the water you feel as far from everydaylife as you can be. The freedom to explore beautiful shores, the ocean andislands under an endless sky is the greatest feeling, and I have always beenpassionate about the sea. My interest in designing yachts came later on andI was able to merge both passions by studying industrial design at theUniversity Duisburg-Essen in Germany.sea&iWho are your mentors in yacht design, and why?MSI cannot say that one particular designer or piece of design has affectedmy thinking and work more than others. In fact, I think it's the variety ofcompletely different designs that makes the yacht market so colourful,fascinating and unique. I like authentic and true designs that are just asindividual as their owners. Ultimately, it is the detail and the innovation thatmake a strong design. sea&iYou won the 2009 Young Designer Award for Draconis: can you tellus more about the concept: how it came about and how it developed?MSI love sailing, but unfortunately sailing and sailing yachts often comeacross as traditional and dowdy for many people. I therefore wanted to createan exciting, spectacular sailing yacht that would fascinate people who usuallyprefer motor yachts. As I have always been enthusiastic about wing sails, Ithought about developing new versions to be used on a cruising catamaran.To allow calm anchoring and mooring when in harbour, I had to make itpossible to lay down the sails, which involved numerous technical issues. Itwas also very important for me as a designer to give this yacht a distinctivestyle and a strong character.sea&iWhat has such an achievement meant for you? MSThe most important outcome has been meeting a lot of interesting peoplefrom all over the world. It is always a pleasure to exchange views andexperiences with others in the superyacht industry. The awards' get-togetherat the Lürssen shipyard was particularly fun. It was interesting to meet theother highly talented finalists of the competition and I hope we will stay intouch both to discuss yachts and their design and to see what has becomeof each other. The award has also generated more public interest in my workand has enabled me to attract new business contacts and clients for the smalldesign studio I have been running in Essen, Germany, since 2008. We not onlydesign for the yachting industry, but also design products and interiors. sea&iDo you envisage Draconis becoming a real superyacht, or did youconsider it mostly as an exercise to bring innovative ideas forward?MSI never saw the Draconis concept as a yacht that would be built in the nextcouple of years. For me as a designer the most important thing about conceptyachts is to highlight new ways of thinking. This is the only way to pushinnovations forward and to design our future. I also wanted to show that evena traditional and environmentally-friendly sailing yacht can co-exist withextraordinary and modern shapes.sea&iWhat do you think about recent design evolutions in the yachtingindustry? Do you foresee environmental concerns becoming a major trendin superyacht design?MSForeseeing trends is a serious challenge. A designer always has to keeptrack of the current market, developments and innovations and be able tosketch out a yacht that will still be up-to-date in several years. But as designerscreate and support new trends, they also shoulder great responsibility forsociety and the environment. This is why I think that environmentally-friendlyand sustainable design hasto be a major trend. I am confident this isbecoming the case, and not only in superyacht design.nOpposite page:Maila Speitkamp in her office with a model of the Draconis Top and above:Speitkamp's current designs include the Mac 70 and the Zen 40m