2017’s Superyacht UK Young Designer, Christopher Karam, on his four-week internship at Pendennis Shipyard

In January, promising young design talent, handpicked from across the UK, will gather at the London Boat Show 2018 to compete for the title of Superyacht UK Young Designer 2018.

Standing between them and the coveted title will be their imaginative transformation of a base vessel into an exquisite bespoke superyacht.

These students, and aspiring inventors and engineers like them, form the future backbone of a thriving British superyacht industry which is posting highest-ever figures of growth. The sector now generates a record £615million in revenue and employs a 4,244 strong workforce*. The UK also boasts two of the world’s highest ranking new-build shipyards in the sector**.

The prestigious annual Superyacht UK Young Designer Competition is run by industry representatives, Superyacht UK, an association of British Marine. It is the only competition of its kind in the UK and is among a select few across the world to recognise future design talent and provide them the opportunity to truly grow such talent within the industry. In recent years, the competition has been a launch pad for some of today’s most ambitious superyacht designers and naval architects.

The winner of 2018’s Superyacht UK Young Designer Competition will secure themselves a four-week internship at world leading custom superyacht builder and refit specialists and event sponsor, Pendennis Shipyard.

The runner up will receive the prize of a unique two-week internship at world leading design and naval architecture studio and event sponsor, Olesinski based on the Isle of Wight.

Peter Brown, Chairman of Superyacht UK, said: “The UK remains a global hub for superyacht design and Superyacht UK is keen to help nurture the next generation of design talent. The core skill of hand sketching is increasingly rare and is often dismissed in favour of software generated design work and so the challenge for young designers becomes one of differentiating themselves from much of the competition by employing a more traditional skillset when the situation demands it.”

 

*Findings from Superyacht UK Annual Market Report 2017

**Findings from The Superyacht Annual Report 2017, Superyacht Intelligence: New Build: Sunseeker International ranked 3rd and Princess Yachts ranked 15th in the world

 

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