Following in the footsteps of Silicon Valley, as well as the world’s various other technology hubs, Day Two of SuperyachtDESIGN Week 2016 began with an ‘un-conference’. Through the means of an unrehearsed and unstructured discussion, Martin Redmayne, Marnix Hoekstra, Richie Blake, Timur Bozca, Tony Castro and Pieter van Geest imagined the yachts of the future with delegates.

Ideas provided by the audience varied from the doable to the absurd but, for the sake of this discussion, there was neither idea too big nor challenge too small. Invariably however, after grappling briefly with the fancies of the future, and discovering that many of the fancies were, in actual fact, possibilities, conversation swayed towards how the industry might encourage owners to dive into the uncertainty of genuine innovation, as well as the diametrical opposition of resale value and outlandish design.

However, one of the more potent ideas to take hold, dressed up as an analogy of the iPad, is that owners do not always know what it is they want. “To say that owners always know what they want is a misnomer,” commented Richie Blake, director of Döhle Yachts. Prior to the iPhone or the iPad being released, consumers did not know that they desired these items; nowadays one can hardly move for seeing someone hunched over one of the aforementioned devices. Necessity may well be the mother invention, but presumption, perhaps, may be the more risqué aunty.

The afternoon’s intimate sessions came in a variety forms, but the day’s key theme, as a continuation of the morning’s discussion, seemed to be the owner conundrum. In a workshop entitled ‘The DNA of Design’, Timur Bozca, of Timur Bozca Design, and Casper Kleiman, of VBH, explored the idea of owner profiling - with the aim of creating “the perfect gift”.

The perfect gift, Casper explained, is rarely the one you ask for, nor is it the one you never wanted, the perfect gift tends to be the one you never knew you wanted and cannot part with once you receive it. Such is the challenge that the yacht designer faces, often with limited information to hand.

To round off the business end of the day, Van Geest Design’s Tracey Canavaggio and Genesis Technologies’ Torsten Steinbrecher shared their vision of the cinematic experience in a keynote entitled, ‘Let’s Go to the Movies’. With so much onus now being placed on virtual reality, the shared element of entertainment is arguably being lost.

‘The Lumiere’, the joint venture of Van Geest and Genesis, puts the immersive, shared experience back at the heart of entertainment. Utilising LED covered walls and ceiling, cinematic experiences have matching light tracks that ensure a room’s ambience perfectly matches the central experience. This technology can be used for films, meditating, games and much more.

Delegates ditched their notepads in favour of music, cocktails and conversation. Guests were delighted by the opportunity to design their own cocktails as they spent their evening amongst friends and peers, discussing the day’s events and plans for the future.

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