There are projects that are designed to be better than their predecessors. And then there are others that are conceived with a far more ambitious goal: to push the boundaries. It is a subtle but significant difference. Because improvement means optimising what already exists. Pushing the boundaries means imagining something that does not yet exist. This is the central theme of the new issue of Top Yacht Design. It is not often that we are able to feature, to the delight of our readers, two designers of the calibre of Guillaume Verdier and Flavio Manzoni on the same pages. Two designers from different worlds, yet today they come together to tackle one of the most fascinating technological challenges of recent years: the Ferrari Hypersail. On the one hand, Verdier, the designer who revolutionised foiling sailing with the Gitana 18 and the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, and who also penned the naval design for the Ferrari Hypersail. On the other is Manzoni, Ferrari’s Chief Design Officer, tasked with translating the Prancing Horse’s stylistic language onto that very same vessel, giving shape to a new concept of performance. Two different approaches. One shared philosophy. Verdier sums it up in a phrase that ought to be displayed at the entrance to any design studio: ‘Naval architecture is the art of compromise, and our job is precisely to quantify it’. Behind every knot of speed, there is no miracle solution, but rather a balance between weight, rigidity, safety, control and energy.
This is the true culture of design. Manzoni reaches the same conclusion from a different perspective: “Form must follow function; in this specific case, performance.” For years, we have talked about design as a language and a formal exercise. Today, it has once again become, above all, a tool for performance. Every surface alters a flow, every volume shifts a balance, every detail produces a measurable consequence. Verdier sums it up with a brilliant quip: ‘Try removing the hulls and putting everything directly into the sea, then we’ll talk…’. Behind the irony lies a lesson in naval architecture: even in the age of foiling, it is still the hulls that guarantee rigidity, stability and safety. Manzoni, on the other hand, turns our attention back to the most ancient act of design. In an age dominated by software and artificial intelligence, he states: “I am convinced that drawing by hand is still fundamental; my team and I consider it an indispensable tool, at least in the early stages of our work.” A thought that goes beyond the Ferrari Hypersail and reminds us that every innovation still begins with a pencil, a blank sheet of paper and the ability to imagine what does not yet exist. This is perhaps the message that runs through the entire issue. Great innovations never arise from an isolated intuition, but from the convergence of different skills, experiences and disciplines. Naval architecture, car design, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics and engineering interact today as never before. This is the territory that Top Yacht Design continues to explore. Because design is not simply about the form of things. It is the courage to imagine what does not yet exist. And, above all, to be able to build it.
Matteo Zaccagnino
