Sailing and building
The very first element on which I have always thought our work should be based on is the sea, not for the dreams it creates, but simply for thewater it moves. It may be strange to think about the sea limiting it to water, to the wave and its motion. To think about a boat we have to dive in the sea and move water, move it and understand it. To design a boat means, above all, to understand water. Surely sailing and racing for so many years and on so many boats has helped us to “start from scratch”, but it is just the correct knowledge of the laws that rule over the motion of submerged bodies that helps us to “feel” how a boat behaves and to perceive how it should be. Design intuition is none other than a “symbiosis”with the element and a global vision of the laws that rule over it and that have to be“acknowledged” by the project. In order to understand, to grow and to design better, we have to be able to listen to the boat motion when it sails and to know which are the elements and the forces that interact with one another. In addiction to the natural element, the other basic ingredient for a good outcome of the project is the boat yard, “the manual arts workshop”, the ability to create and build.
The creation of a boat is the most complex thing in the world, a jumble of specializations that goes from materials science, to aeronautical manufacturing processes, from electronics, to craftsmanship. The “arts and crafts” of man are all involved and the important thing to understand is that they do not live separated, but they all belong together, just like a ship, if the quality level is very high, it is a pulsing organism where every element works together with the others. The designer must seek this if he wants to aim at excellence and it is for this reason that we cannot even remotely think that a good designer would not be a good builder before anything else,well rounded. Up to the most remote details, boat building training guides us in our projects. To know how a piece is going to be built and what issues a simple filter could be giving to a system, are not just the basis of a good project, but also the outcome and reliability guarantees. For this “belief ” I have worked so much in the yard and in 1989 with Marine Services we gave life to the first “planning-boat yard”, an advanced structure, that has allowed all of us to grow professionally and to realize many innovative projects as well as research, with our own hands. The designer job is slowly changing and increasingly turning into a supplier, not only of “geometries” but also of architectural processes of installation, material technique, electronics, etc… Future is tied to the abilities of providing an “executive” design, complete at all levels. We talk about “integrated” design, that could lead the production phase to become a simple and efficient executive process.