Oliver Rommelrath from Staffordshire University has been named 2023 SYUK Young Designer of the Year.
Second place in the Superyacht UK Young Designer (SYUK) competition, sponsored by Marine Resources, was awarded to Ben Kenward from Coventry University and third place to Dhruv Raajput, also from Coventry University.
“This is the first time doing a superyacht design and winning feels like a great achievement,” said Oliver.
“There have been challenges such as working out how to fit the exterior design around the interior design. I knew from the start I wanted to do a motor yacht and once I had the brief, I had a vision in my head of how it would look.”
Opportunities
Along with the winners’ title, Oliver can now choose from two opportunities – either an internship with Olesinski or Sunseeker, with the runner-up taking advantage of the other internship.
The competition took place at the 2023 Southampton International Boat Show with judges Justin Olesinski, MD at Olesinski and Douglas Hynd, senior project manager at RWD providing the competitors with an overview of what to expect and outlining the competition brief which had been created by the judging panel.
Unique selling points
The competitors were given a day and a half to produce a profile illustration/drawing of the vessel, a block General Arrangement (GA) drawing defining the general space allocation and detailed sketch developments (including 3D illustrations as appropriate) illustrating at least three unique selling points of their proposal, which were then presented to the judges.
“The judges have been really impressed by the diversity of the designs and commend everyone for using their imagination and for the quality of their designs in such a short space of time,” said Stephen Hills, chairman of Superyacht UK and one of the competition judges.
James Ward, founder and CEO of Marine Resources concluded: “It is vital for the industry and showcases the talent that is out there outside of the industry, and it is key that we seek to attract this talent to the sector. None of these designers come from a marine background, these amazing designs have come purely from talent.”
