James Shakespeare, a transport design student from Staffordshire University, has won the annual Superyacht UK Young Designer Competition 2019, sponsored by Marine Resources at The Superyacht Design Forum.

James’ design was praised for its overall visual style, excellent aesthetics and the eco-friendly features. His presentation skills were also highly applauded by all the judges.

James beat nine other contenders in this year’s competition securing himself the prize of a split four-week internship across two of the UK’s leading superyacht companies.

To start, James will spend two weeks at the world leading custom superyacht builder and refit specialist, Pendennis Shipyard, where he will have the invaluable opportunity to develop his understanding of how to translate great design into practical production working on one of the shipyard’s high-profile projects.

For the first time in competition history, following the internship at Pendennis, James will undertake an additional two weeks at the award-winning yacht and superyacht design house, Olesinski Ltd. Across the four weeks, he will be introduced to the world of yacht design, learning how all the different aspects of boat design and production come together to produce beautifully crafted yachts.

On winning the competition, James Shakespeare said: “I am over the moon to have won the Superyacht UK Young Designer Competition. It’s been an amazing experience and I feel so lucky to have met lots of inspiring designers. I loved the James Bond theme and enjoyed creating stylish garages, helipads and casinos for my superyacht design.

“The environmental element of the brief was a good challenge and I learnt a lot from the talks at The Superyacht Design Forum. For my design, I created a unique hydrogen system that allows the boat to take hydrogen from the water it’s travelling through and make energy from that. I’m thrilled to be undertaking two internships and look forward to all the experiences I’ll gain.”

The prestigious annual Superyacht UK Young Designer Competition is run by industry representative, Superyacht UK, an association of British Marine. This year the competition took place at the prestigious Superyacht Design Forum in the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour.

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.

Jeff Houlgrave, Chairman of Superyacht UK, commented: “It’s been an excellent couple of days watching and mentoring Britain’s next generation of design talent at the Superyacht UK Young Designer Competition. All the contestants produced some very stylish designs, in keeping with the James Bond theme and no doubt inspired by the spectacular setting at The Superyacht Design Forum in the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour. As the industry becomes more environmentally friendly, it was encouraging to see the students incorporate a variety of functions in their designs to protect our planet.

“This year it was particularly difficult to decide between the top four contestants, but we are thrilled to crown James 2019’s Shakespeare Superyacht UK Young Designer. James was chosen as the winner because he provided the best all round package. He created a feasible and sound concept with quality design.”

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