AMSTERDAM, May 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Oceanco is highly supportive of new talent in the yachting industry and proud to be the sponsor of the annual "Young Designer of the Year" Award, a ShowBoats Design Awards competition, presented by Boat International Media. In order to be eligible, student designers under the age of 25 must submit a design that relates to a realistic client request. They are encouraged to exhibit their detailed technical and design skills. The entries are judged by a group of international superyacht designers, including the Oceanco Director of Design & Innovation, Dirk de Jong.
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This year's international group of young designers - Baoqi Xiao, Lujac Desautel, Leah Gowoon Park, Ben Hills and Marlene Ratajska - arrived in Amsterdam on the 17th May and were warmly welcomed by Oceanco's Marketing team for dinner at Lotti's, a bistro on Amsterdam's historic Herengracht canal.
The next morning, the group went to Oceanco where they were introduced to Patrick Casanova, the Head of Design, as well as to Dirk de Jong, Director of Design & Innovation. The young designers had the opportunity to discuss their projects in detail with Patrick and Dirk and, in turn, they received useful feedback, based on real life examples.
Afterwards, the finalists toured the Oceanco facilities including the new state-of-the-art building and dry dock, which is expressly designed to accommodate yachts up to 140 meters in length. They got a feel for the unique projects that are currently under construction at Oceanco.
During and after lunch, Martin Selles, Oceanco's Head of Fleet Support discussed how yachts are used, and gave the group more insider background on the operational side of yachts as well as examples of functional design elements.
Last on the agenda was a meeting with Bolidt, experts in synthetic and ecological materials. The group discovered and experienced innovative applications through a workshop where they had to create some new deck designs.
It is in Oceanco's DNA to be open to innovative ideas and to embrace forward thinking technology. By sponsoring the "Young Designer of the Year Award," Oceanco hopes to encourage young designers to express a fresh and original approach to yacht design and get a step closer to joining the yachting industry.
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