Interviews med Harry Miesbauer

I studied yacht design at the well-known Solent University in Southampton / UK, graduating in 1998. Then I work for two masters at its time, Luca Brenta and the Frers Studio, both in Milan. Coming from a technical background, I do have also a degree in mechanical engineering.

I always say to my guys in the studio: “there are so many ugly things out there, we need to create beautiful things, beautiful yachts, where the owner is proud of, also after five or ten years”. Wasn’t it Dostoevsky, who meant in one of his novels “Beauty will save the world”…I think, in these words lies my everyday motivation.

No, nobody forced me. it was a natural choice. I always loved drawing, creating things. I was, at beginning of my career, more technical, performance orientated when designing yachts. Now, being more than 25 years in the yacht design business, I do like the styling and aesthetical side more. I think, a pretty natural path.

We are a yacht design studio in the “classical” sense. We provide the full package of yacht design, from the naval architecture, naval & structural engineering up to the exterior styling and interior design.

Being still an active sailor, I’m specialised on sailing yachts. We also do motor yachts in the studio... but my heart and passion is definitely much more towards the sailing side, and that’s why I would like to do only sailing yachts. at the end

If we talk about my design discipline, the yacht design… go sailing, be on boats, be on yachts. you have to understand, you have to use, to live the things you are designing, then you become a good designer.

And you need passion for design.

Great designers are setting trends, have their own design language, they stick a bit out of the crowd.

I think, Dieter Rams’ 10 principles of Good Design answers this question perfectly in a scientific/German way. But good design is more than scientific black and white.

Really good design needs to touch you also on the emotional side in the first millisecond. If you look on something, and your first impression is “wow” then you are on the right track. if you have to explain why something is good design, why it is beautiful, then you got something wrong in the beginning.

I think, there are so many examples out there where the good design made the difference compared to their competitors. if I look on my specific field. 25 years ago we looked much more on the technical side, the performance of our yachts and the design came with it, now we focus much more on the aesthetics of the yachts, and the technical part has to be done proper anyway.

Of course everybody should invest in good design. It gives you an edge.

a 100ft high performance sailing yacht, but we started with some sketches.

proportions are everything…. but every designer will tell you that.

secret ingredient? going through world with open eyes… I’m never short on ideas.

Flavio Manzoni, design director of Ferrari. He has a special design language. and made a great impact on their design by creating an internal studio stile.

The Scuderia 65, a 65 ft racer/cruiser,

we had a very challenging design brief. The first preliminary concept came out very nice, was very pleasing from the beginning. and the final design was just slightly modified from the first concept for technical reasons

we won a very important regatta in Greece with it , so performance is there. we won some design awards with it, where finalist in some awards. So the aesthetics are okay as well.

The client is still very happy with his boat.

As in everything, experience helps. Being open for new approaches helps as well.

I would have worked as an engineer, I guess.

Creating objects, in my case yachts, which people are proud of, which they dare to possess, and obviously which work in our harsh environment, the open sea

… elegance is the new performance….

I learned a lot working side by side with Luca Brenta… but that’s long time ago

Being based close to Milan, which is one of the capitals of Design helps a lot. You get a different mindset for design around here.

There are always obstacles in live, career, you name it. The obstacle never end. you just know to handle them easier when you are older.

a nice 45foot series production sailing yacht with a new design language.

I think goals should change every day.

I don’t know what people expect…. but my clients expect beautiful yachts which even work well in rough seas.

I think, we as a designer have the privilege to create things, objects, for a lot of people, and things which they use in their every day’s live. So we better make our designs beautiful and try to bring a smile on their faces, bring some joy to them. Even if it is just for a second.

Design which is beautiful normally doesn’t cost more.

we are working on a very nice 60foot sailing yacht with a special interior design.

Again the Scuderia 65, a 65 ft racer/cruiser.

I was on board when we won a very important 600nm regatta in Greece, the Aegean 600, with the yacht.

why? being on board what you have designed in many hours, seeing that the design concept also worked performance wise, and then winning that race, was literally “the icing on the cake” of a very long project.

I think , lot of design is commercially driven in the moment. a bit like music now… maybe because of instgram etc. everything is a bit levelled to an average taste. I would like to see more designs with personality, even if it’s a bit wild, a bit out of the normal schemes. you don’t have to be everyone’s darling.

AI is unfortunately a big issue right now in our field. Of course it might be inspiring, effective, you name it. but isn’t a bit too impersonal, doesn’t it lack of humanity?

a year to one and a half year, depending on the size of the yacht

for us as yacht designers it’s a bit specific... you need to get the weight right first ...

then we design the first hull shape, and then the fun part, the real design work starts.

Get me a good cappuccino in the morning at the bar and I’m happy for the rest of the day

That’s the “chicken and egg” questions. It really depends what you are designing. maybe nowadays designs follow too often trends, copying others.

Having a big technical part in our designs, like hydro- and aerodynamics, technology plays obviously a big role in our work

very important, obviously for the interior design. very important is also the light design, for both exterior and interior of the yachts

I can’t generalise that, but I need to be touched by the design in one or the other way

I’ don’t have a specific ideal design partner. I do believe in co-design/teamwork otherwise I would not go sailing with big boats, with big crews. And I do believe in the “youngsters” in our team. fresh minds are always inspiring.

When I started my own studio more then 15 years ago, you could see that I worked at the Brenta studio before. now, I think, influences come from everyone and everything.

Antonio Vivaldi. I would like to discuss with him about beauty, about harmony.

Happy about the awards, at least you know that the hard works pays off in a way .

hard to be famous? nothing has changed

colour: light blue

place: on the sea with a sailing yacht, Lake Como, Sicily

food: all Italian food

season: all four seaons have their beauty

thing : pen and my sketchbook

brand: I care about them, but, I don’t believe in brands. it’s not religion for me… things are either beautiful or ugly, good or bad, etc. no matter which brand they are

when I came to Italy to the Brenta office I spoke almost no Italian. On one afternoon I was alone in the office and somebody called -it was still the time before everybody had a mobile phone- who spoke only Italian and asked for Luca (Brenta). I didn’t understand a word. he said he will call later ( later means in Italian “piu tardi” and hung up. So, when Luca came back he asked me if someono called. I said: “Yes, Mr. Piu tardi “

It was obvious that it will be some creative work. For sure I didn’t want to become a policeman

For sure, the earth will rotate around itself in 24 hours

Coming from a technical background I studied yacht design at the well known Solent University in Southampton / UK. always loved drawing, creating things. it was a natural choice. Having also a degree in mechanical engineering, I was, at the beginning of my career, more technical, performance orientated when designing yachts. Now, being more than 25 years in the yacht design business, I do like the styling and aesthetical side more. I think, a pretty natural path.

We are a yacht design studio in the “classical” sense. We can provide the full package of yacht design, from the naval architecture, naval & structural engineering up to the exterior styling and interior design

creating objects, in my case yachts, which people are proud of, which they dare to possess, and obviously which work in our harsh environment, the open sea

… elegance is the new performance….

sailing yachts,

we also do motor yachts in the studio...

but my heart and passion is definitely much more towards the sailing side

The scuderia 65, a 65 ft racer/cruiser (sailing yacht),

we had a very challenging design brief. The first preliminary concept came out very nice, was very pleasing from the beginning. and the final design was just slightly modified from the first concept for technical reasons

the client is still very happy with his boat.

I was involved in the design of a 105ft sailing yacht

carbon, for weight and strength reasons

I don't have a specific time for that. can be any time of the day

obviously the concept work, ideation. my collaborators take care about the details and technical issues

but our designs have to work also out on the sea, not just in the safe harbour, in whatever condition you gonna find on the oceans. strong winds up to 50kts, big waves etc. this means we focus also a lot on reliability, functionality, ergonomics and of course structural and technical issues. if we do sailing yachts which compete in regattas, performance is obviously a major driving factor

always happy, can’t imagine a better job for me. always happy in the morning, that I can go to the studio.

happy, very proud and satisfied, as it always takes more than one year until we finally see the finished yacht on the water.

the launch of a yacht is really a big day for me ... guess not just for me .

the icing on the cake is, when we win races with one of our sailing yachts.

when our client is happy and proud about his new yacht ,

and obviously when the boat wins races

if the proportions are right ... I can always trust my eye

I think, we as a designer have the privilege to create things, objects, for a lot of people, and things which they use in their every day’s live. so we better make our designs beautiful and try to bring a smile on their faces, bring some joy to them. even if it is just for a second.

design which is beautiful normally doesn’t cost more.

I think, we will see still a big development in materials and of course the use of 3D printing will gives us new ways to model new shapes. we will be less production process driven. we will have more freedom of shapes.

we do see a lot of “retro” design in these days. also in art and music. I’m not a huge fan of this.

yes, you need to now history and what was done before, but it was done in a different time for a different reason. you need to understand why it was done in this way. copying history is like reading yesterday’s newspaper.

just being curious.... just walking through the world with my eyes open. inspirations can come from everything. nature, architecture, car design, etc… there is no rule for that , inspiration comes, it is there at the certain moment when you are in a certain flow.

… elegance is the new performance…

we have to create beautiful things, which are pleasing the eye. there too many ugly things out there … we don’t need more ugly stuff…

main characteristics: elegant, clean lines, correct proportions….

approach: if you have to explain your design, why it is good than you are already wrong… it pleases your eye or not. you don’t need an explanation.

our design don’t follow fashions. it should look fresh also in ten years time

in Italy, close to Milano,

if you are not getting inspired as a designer living in Italy, actually near Milano, then you might have chosen the wrong profession

we do get a lot of technical input from them, I see them more as a partner, and vice versa, than as a client

I think it is a matter of chemistry. if this is right at the beginning then you are happy through the whole design process.

very old school, hand sketching, hand sketching, hand sketching…. then I jump on modelling in 3D.

- tolomeo lamp

- a living divano sofa

- an old I-pod

- a viabizzuno lamp

studio - cappuccino at the bar - studio – coffee at the bar - studio – dinner ...

learn the basics first… you have to be able to walk before you can run…

design has to work, needs to be realisable… a concept which you can’t produce / realise is a nice picture but not a good design.

... god is in the detail...

there are no cons when you do your job with passion.

for us as yacht designers it’s a bit specific... get the weight right first .

then get the proportions right. done …

good eye for proportions, a good feeling for geometry,

having some technical background in order to know the limits on a production point of view.

very classic… various pencils with different hardness, overhead pens, sketching paper…

various 3D modelling softwares, special hydrodynamic software for the hull shapes…

good library in the studio

I’m not good in managing time …. but I always have a task for the day which I want to finish…

one year for two persons, the yachts we are designing are normally quite big.

where I do get my inspiration from?

the yachts for the Swedish America's cup team, Victory Challenge, 2003

the TP52 C-quadrat race yacht, 2006

the Scuderia 65, 65ft sailing yacht, 2019

50% private clients / 50% boatyards

the concept ideation work, but I do enjoy most of the different parts we have to do on a yacht. lately I like the interior design side a lot

we work in a team, where everybody can do more less everything in the studio. obviously some people are more specialised in one area, and somebody else is more specialised in another. but everybody is able to do every task.

all my current team members got a yacht design degree but are coming from either a architecture or naval engineering background.

www.hmyd.it

In all our projects performance is a key priority for our clients. Therefore we are very weight sensitive in the whole design process. We achieve a light and stiff boat by a cleverly designed structural layout of the yacht and we are saving weight by combining the interior, like furniture, interior panels etc., with structural elements. We have chosen a full carbon structure, as the advantage of carbon in its stiffness to weight ratio can’t be overseen. Furthermore we are working since 20 years with a high profile structural engineering office from New Zealand to optimise highly stressed elements by running Finite Element Analyses in that areas. Additionally some of the interior elements are modular and can be removed easily for regattas.

We have seen over the years that the number of experienced / enthusiastic sailors in a crew has decreased. Nowadays a typical cruising crew is divided in two or three good sailors who are doing all the manoeuvres and sailing, and the other part just wants to relax and having a good time on the boat, maybe haven’t been on a sailing yacht even before. Especially for a safety reason we have separated these two areas, and because the yacht has to be manged by a small crew you need to have all your sheets and lines in close reach for the ones who are doing the sailing part.

All winches for the sheets, halyards, reef lines etc. are situated aft in the cockpit close to the steering console. For example, we have eliminated the halyard winches at the mast. Two/three people can literally do all the manoeuvers from the aft area of the cockpit, and, as a side-effect, also in safer way as nobody has to be on the foredeck especially in windy conditions.

For racing yachts and one-offs we use carbon more than two decades now. As yards use it in the series production more and more, and do have more experience with the infusion process for laminating, the switch to full carbon was easier. Anyhow the impregnating of the carbon is more difficult than with “normal” E-glass. you definitely need experienced process technicians and one/two boats to fine-tune the laminating process. Obviously the Carbon comes with a higher price tag.

After a thorough parametric study and a comparison with other yachts, we decided the parametric envelope of the yacht. We than designed several different hull shapes modifying different parameters, and had them run through our in-house velocity prediction program (VPP). Based on the VPP results we had chosen three different hull shapes, which we, in this case, also checked for the IRC rating. Based on the IRC results the final hull and the final rig and sail dimensions were chosen.

Model cycles in our business are longer than in others. A successful model maybe runs 8 to ten years. therefore you can’t design something which is outdated in two years. Something which is, and looks fast has a certain elegance, obviously the proportions have to be right. And something elegant is difficult to get outdated quickly.

We are listening a lot to clients/owners, especially how, where, how long they use their yacht, and how big are typically their crews. This differs quite a bit among them. So you need to account for this different preferences with different interior solutions, paying a lot of attention to the weight of the interior. Obviously you think twice if you want to add a furniture or not. On the other hand you can’t have too many versions from a logistic point of view in the production.

When it comes to yachts which are used also in regattas or are optimised for some rating rules like the 54ft Racer/Cruiser, other yacht design studios will look what are doing. The A' Design Award is another great impulse that others check on your design in more detail. So, you can be sure that we will see some solutions of the 54 ft Racer/Cruiser on other yachts in the future

A great part of owners we talked to at the beginning of the project have their yachts based in the Mediterranean Sea, where you typically expect light winds. Many of them were not happy with the light wind performance of their current yachts. So, we therefore focused a lot on optimising the performance in light breeze for the 54ft Racer /Cruiser, and having developed a clever hull shape, we are not compromising the stability/safety for the upper wind range.

Fore sure opting for a full carbon construction is a brave step for a series production yacht. But we will see this coming more and more also in the motor yacht industry as environmental protection, fuel consumption and therefore weight saving is a big issue now for all in the industry.