area 123 | on the water

Giovanni Polazzi: You are today known as one of the most sought-after designer in the boating sector, and your projects in the context of yacht design are highly appreciated and widely published. How have you reached this position and level of expertise?
Francesco Paszkowski: My story is a very long one: I have worked in many countries in the world but my training and probably my fortune is linked to the fact that I had the opportunity to meet and work with Pier Luigi Spadolini. During a business dinner I encountered a customer of the Spadolini firm, a Greek jewellery manufacturer who did business between China and Singapore. He offered me to work at a new yacht building yard in Singapore specialized in the construction of 28 to 42 meters long boats. In those years the Italian economy was hampered by our old currency, the lira, and by our high labour costs, while the worldwide importance and diffusion of the dollar made it possible to build a boat of the same type in the East for less than half the cost. A 42 metres which it would have cost around 25 billion lire to build in Italy could be realized in Singapore for about 10 billion, and therefore many companies had moved their production and built yachts in yards located in these countries. The problem was that these contexts were very behind the times in the yachting sector. In fact, Singapore has always been a transit port, they only had experience with ships and trade, while the yachting and luxury sector had not yet been developed; and as they were in search of professional skills and expertise, I have been able to take advantage of this situation and acquire a solid knowledge and experience in the field from a young age.
G.P.: Did you build for foreign customers, using imported professional expertise and local manpower?
F.P.: It has always been like that in Singapore. The great challenge consisted of finding specialized workers in Italy and importing all the machinery, while the unskilled labourers were local.
This wonderful experience began when I was 27 and lasted 6 year. The commercial and administrative departments were located in Athens, and so I travelled between these two cities, learning a lot in a relatively short period of time.
G.P.: Where has the yacht market brought you? Where are you working now?
F.P.: I am currently working in Europe, mainly in Italy. I continue a collaboration which I initiated in 1996 with a Dutch boatyard, and at the same time I realize projects on the request of other yards and direct customers. Recently it has become common practice for yacht builders to invite designers on the basis of their fame and recognized experience, in order to offer their customers exclusivity and high-quality design in addition to recognized construction qualities.
G.P.: Does the yacht builder suggest a designer, or does the customer autonomously recognize him?
F.P.: If you work for a direct customer you live the yacht building yard reality in a completely different way. If it is, vice versa, the boatyard that entrusts you with a project, the customer is the yacht builder, and the story and the relationship are therefore completely different. I live my particular relationship with the boating world according to these two channels: that of the private customer with whom one sometimes also chooses the boatyard, or that of the boatyard which chooses with whom to work depending on the designer’s experience and the demands of the market.
G.P.: Do different yacht builders ask you to prepare a concept which they then present to the customer, or do they indicate the limits and parameters of the design?
F.P.: The yacht builder supplies what they call a box, specifying the parameters and limits (costs, dimensions, etc…) which must not be exceeded, at the same time giving the designer free reins to express his fantasy in terms of style and thus design. During the work everything must remain within the parameters, for instance 70 metres for 70 million. The project is 70x70. Most of the controls are effectuated by the yacht builder, but also the architect must, while working on the layout, continuously check the project and the proposals in order not to exceed a limit of 3,000/4,000 euro per square meter as far as the interior decoration is concerned. Subsequently one must add the assembly to this figure, and this is a knowledge and skill that can only be acquired with time and experience; this is why some designers are more in demand than others, because of their ability and creativity on an aesthetic level, but also because of their ability to keep their project within the budget.
G.P.: What is your specific sector?
F.P.: Upper-works (NdR. the part of the hull located above the water line) and interiors, in other words everything you see: it is a matter of bodywork. If I were to classify myself, I would say that I am a body designer, an interior designer and a decorator, but then I am called a designer. As I just pointed out, I have had the fortune to work with the Spadolini firm and thus to get a lot of experience while I was still a student at the architecture faculty. I have become a designer, even if I really started out as an illustrator. At that time I did photorealistic renderings, which were not very diffused at the time. I spent days and nights preparing drawings in black and white. Then I got my real experience in the field, also by working in Singapore, where I worked directly with carpenters and craftsmen. Today there are yacht design schools which only teach to summarily manage the Rhinoceros program, but without paying much attention to the specific theme of yachts and boating in general. The students graduate with too much confidence in their creativity, but then they are completely unable to manage the economic part of a project. The few capable architects I have met are those who have worked with very large firms, as Rogers, Spadolini, Piano… where one learns to move in both worlds at the same time, that of architecture and that of boat building, or in other words to tackle both theory and practice.
G.P.: To return to design, does the starting point consist of the parameters, which represent the basis of what we can define the tender specifications or rather the consulting specifications, provided by the yacht builder?
F.P.: The yacht building yard provides the parameters, but then you must try to create something new to outdo the competition. It is not just a matter of style. When I began to work with Sanlorenzo, a boatyard in Viareggio and Ameglia, these boating yards had not yet built anything with a material as for instance aluminium, which to some extent represented an incognito. They have therefore asked me to do something new, while knowing that I had worked for Baglietto and that I already had experience with aluminium. I have suggested a project, a new idea which I had elaborated years before: it is a matter of a boat with balconies that are projected when opened, in the salon and the master cabin: in the final analysis it is a matter of a closed box that opens in a fascinating manner, to watch the ocean. The project was appreciated and has been very successful. The designer must, in general, create and suggest, for the same space, new functions and new opportunities that differ from those of the competition, for instance a beach club at the stern, a spa near the sea, etc…. essentially, an original idea that turns a design into a unique and original expression.
It is an anything but easy challenge, because a boat is always a boat, the area remains the same, and so you must either play with kinematic motion or with the way the space is utilized, the rotation of the hull: in short, it is a matter of details. The winner is the designer who has the greatest sense of the details and manages to present an idea that is more innovative, more captivating; we use to say that the essential goal is to elicit amazement while remaining pragmatic and technically irreproachable.
G.P.: Also with the use of innovative materials?
F.P.: No, there is actually a lot of resistance against using new materials. Also due to the hazards that are often associated with their use. I have recently tried to present a project with a material I found near Ancona, similar to a fabric. If one cuts a hole in it, it reforms itself due to a kind of memory effect that makes the fabric reconstruct itself.
I thought of realizing a superstructure, to cover the surface in order to create something “spatial”.
I happened to meet an Arab shipowner who was looking for something new, something that had never been seen before in the market. I then began to think of transforming the image in a kind of ‘Vespucci’, in something different, essentially exploring the characteristics of that material; one could rotate the jib to turn them into pieces of flying fabric.
It was a matter of an incredible material that enabled me to turn this boat into a gigantic lamp by night. The shipowner liked the idea, but for now the project has come to a stop because we did not manage, with the yacht builder, to keep the costs within bounds. It is a matter of a very interesting project, a mix between sail and engine: it is born from the idea of making the sails with this innovative material, also using photovoltaic panels in the future in order to turn the superstructure into a source of energy. The skeleton, on the contrary, instead of being made in aluminium, could be in plywood, thus also meeting the “green” requirements that are entering and influencing not only the world of architecture but also that of yachting.
G.P.: Does one pay attention to issues related to sustainability also in the yachting sector?
F.P.: You cannot avoid paying attention to it, but in a motorboat it is impossible to reach significant results. Some yacht builders have tried to make electric boats (Ferretti) but we are still far from success. The only way would be to build a kind of oil tanker with many square metres of photovoltaic panels to assure the supply of a great quantity of energy to move the propellers, but the more you increase the surface, the greater mass and weight, and you can therefore never reach the goal. In this field the shipyards have gone in another direction; while maintaining diesel engine they have focused on designing hulls with a better performance thanks to attentive engineering research aimed at obtaining a smoother flow and thus lower consumption and power requirements, and at making the engine, which previously pumped litres of diesel in indiscriminate quantities, pump half the quantity while guaranteeing the same, and often a higher, speed. The hulls are changing, and thus also the superstructure and the general design. I am working together with an engineer of Livorno, Rabito, on a hull that is longer and thinner, with a higher performance, a kind of canoe that makes it possible to consume and pollute much less because it requires a less powerful engine in spite of an improved performance. This is ‘green-oriented’ research.
G.P.: What relationship is there between the yachting sector and other worlds associated with industrial design, as for instance the car industry? Do they proceed at the same pace?
F.P.: I wouldn’t say so. We have made a kind of experiment with Lancia to see how yacht designers would get by in the car sector. It has been lots of fun, but as far as car design is concerned, the only possible migrations are limited to the emulation of lines and profiles, and not much else. Certain transmigrations are very conspicuous in my drawings. But as a result of the changes that have occurred, especially recently, car design can as I see it never be associated with yachting to any great extent. I try, because it has always been my dream, but I know it is hard.
G.P.: How much do the history and tradition of boating influence new designs?
F.P.: I am working on a project, which is a kind of starting point for a new way to interpret the theme of the yacht, to return to the boating tradition which has a number of valences that are distant from the world of architecture, even if many customers consider a yacht a kind of floating villa. Every time you must invent something new, you must put a distance between yourself and the past, the familiar, even if I believe a lot of the Italian yachting tradition has been lost in recent years – and this is an anything but positive development – because the trends and demands in the market have changed. Perhaps the crisis is also affecting the research; before 2008 the banks had realized that yachting represented a strong business sector, and they funded many projects and initiatives.
You met billionaires who came to a yard and ordered a yacht, then a foreigner came and wanted it, even at 30% more, raising the bid, and the flow of money favoured research and experimentation. It is no longer like that today. The sector has faced a serious slump in 2008, and we are going back to the yachting tradition of 20 years ago, more banal, less experimental and talentful.
G.P.: Do you work for Italian yacht builders?
F.P.: Yes, but also for foreign ones. Today I could work a lot in Turkey, but I don’t for personal reasons. Actually, the Italian yacht building yards are the world’s best in terms of production capacity. However, as far as 360° quality is concerned one must go to Germany or the Netherlands, it is like buying a Mercedes or a BMW. You notice the differences in the organization, in the product and in the technology, it is a cultural and mental question: you cannot improvise anything with a German, if you tell him the yacht will be ready in 6 days, on the 6th day he arrives and if it is not ready, there will be consequences that Italians are probably not used to.
In terms of quality, Italian products are still strong: we produce lines that are aesthetically more beautiful and striking; our boats are faster than others and the proportions excellent. But we are above all interested in the aesthetics, the surface, and focus less on what happens between the structure and the surface. In that package there is a whole world, which may vary between 30 and 40 million per boat, of the same dimensions.
Germans are especially good with everything that is invisible. The first time I went to the Netherlands and to Germany, the tubes you leant on in the hot and scorching engine rooms were cool, because they were chilled by the water that passed inside them. A lot of attention is also dedicated to the comfort of the crew, something which is not the case in Italian yacht building yards, it‘s a cultural issue.
G.P.: Are our prices still much higher today as compared to Turkey or China?
F.P.: Yes, and this is very dangerous, as far as Turkey is concerned. The Chinese, on the contrary, make principally financial investments (they have for instance invested in the Ferretti group) rather than conscious choices in terms of developing the yachting sector; China has an objectively ugly sea, the coasts are neglected and there are no touristic harbours at all because the Chinese do not, by tradition, enjoy the sun and the sea. Rich billionaires own a Ferrari, but many keep it in the garage: the average age of the rich is 27 years, and perhaps they have other interests than a love for the sea. In the Western world the yacht is a sign of power, in China this is not the case!
Some European yacht building yards are going to China, trying to establish a part of their production there, but it is a matter of sporadic events. Foreigners turn to Baglietto, Sanlorenzo and so on precisely because they are an expression of beauty and Italian style, luxury made in China still does not work. In my opinion, this transmigration to China is a bubble that is bound to deflate. The Chines buy their luxury items in Europe. Moreover, the new rich do not want copies, as they can afford the original, the authenticity of a tradition that fortunately remains solidly in the hands of the European. G.P.: What projects are you working on now?
F.P.: I have resumed collaborating with Baglietto after an impasse of two years caused by a problem of management of the yacht building yard. A new owner, the Gavio Group, has now taken over. I am working on 5 boats for them, 2 of the new management and 3 of the old one. Then I am working on a multifunctional yacht for Sanlorenzo; it is suited to all kinds of oceans (the North Sea, the Caribbean, Mexico), it is a displacement vessel, completely green, very interesting. I am also designing a 60 metres for CRN, a 50 metres for the Dutch Heesen and two 65 metres for Tankoa, and I‘ve just completed the interiors of a Canados 120.
G.P.: Do the yards begin to build these great designs even if they do not have a customer, or not?
F.P.: Before 2008 there was a greater willingness to launch new initiatives and to take risks, because the market was in any case sufficiently active. Today this is no longer the case; the acquisition process has become more complex, with payments, guarantees, fidejussions etc. The design of a large yacht normally takes 3 years and, if it is a particularly difficult project, also 5 years, but nobody wants speed up the process without the due assurances.
G.P.: How many persons do you employ?
F.P.: I today have 6 persons working for me, even if I have another 4 externals: 2 renderers in Cascina and 2 persons who prepare final construction drawings of furniture in Genoa. 6 is the minimum number for guaranteeing work of high quality. You must in any case team up with satellite firms that you can set adrift in moments of crisis, even if I have never done so. I also work with the Ciapetti firm, an advertising graphics agency in Florence which takes care of all aspects related to the image, photographs and books for me. We publish a volume for every boat which interests us particularly, so that also the owner has a book to give his friends.