In front of an audience of superyacht owners as well as the industry’s leading personalities, the 2012 ShowBoats Design Awards winners were revealed on the evening of Friday 22 June. This prestigious event honours the superyacht industry’s creative talents, rewarding the luxury yacht industry’s most talented teams for their specialist design skills.
67.2m sailing yacht Vertigo by Alloy Yachts
During the glittering gala evening hosted by former British tennis champion Annabel Croft at Monaco Opera House, 21 Neptunes were awarded to the winners. The coveted golden Neptune awards have quickly become a symbol of pride and distinction for the luxury yacht industry’s design professionals.
Alloy Yachts’ 67.2m sailing yacht Vertigo was declared the evening’s big winner, with designers Philippe Briand and Christian Liaigre taking home three Neptunes for Exterior Design & Styling, Interior Layout and Best Recreational Space for Guest Use (for her novel midships lazarettes on the lower deck.)
Motor Yacht Tango - Image by Eidgaard Design
Also picking up multiple awards were Peder Eidsgaard and the design team behind Feadship’s 77.7m motor yacht Tango, who received two awards for Motor Yacht Exterior Design & Styling and for the design of the Tender to Tango, much admired by the judges for an appearance that subtly matched its mothership while boasting supreme comfort and first-class construction.
Michael Leach Design swept two categories for Sailing Yacht Interior Design and Interior Layout for Hemisphere, sharing both as joint winners with sailing yacht Hetairos and Vertigo respectively. When both categories brought in a tie, the judges decided to award equal first places because the vessels concerned were so different.
Luxury superyacht HEMISPHERE Aft
Hetairos also picked up the win for her builder, Baltic Yachts, in the Design & Technology category for her diesel-electric drive train system featuring two 360-degree rotating thrusters that retract into watertight boxes.
Motor yacht Numptia won two Neptunes, for Naval Architecture thanks to Axis Group Yacht Design, and for Bespoke Furniture for Achille Salvagni’s design for the main dining room table.
Rossinavi 70m NUMPTIA superyacht from above
Musashi superyacht’s subtle blend of Japanese design with Bauhaus and American Art Deco influences saw Sinot Yacht Design triumph in the Motor Yacht Interior Design 60m+ category, while luxury yacht Bartender and motor yacht Satori took the smaller displacement and semi-displacement awards, respectively.
Luxury Yacht MUSASHI by Feadship
David Ostrander of Iluminus Design Group was in attendance to collect the Newcomer of the Year Award, presented for the restyling of the interior of charter yacht SnowbirD, and aspiring yacht designer Benjamin Julian Toth from Vienna, Austria, was declared the Young Designer of the Year for his project ReSeadence 50.
