In 2001, two designers rented half a rope workshop on Venice's Zattere with one drawing table, a secondhand plotter and a belief that beauty and engineering are the same conversation. This year Larboard Naval Studio delivers its 140th yacht. We asked around the industry what happened in between.
The early years
The first commissions were brave refits nobody else wanted: tired hulls, impossible deadlines, owners with more dreams than budget. “Those boats taught us everything,” recalls Marco Larboard. “When you can't hide behind money, you learn proportion.” By 2008 the studio was drawing new builds for three Northern European yards.
The method that stuck
Ask any yard that has built a Larboard design and you'll hear the same thing: the drawings arrive buildable. Fairing data, glass engineering, weight control — resolved before the contract ink dries. “They design like builders who learned to draw, not drawers who learned to apologise,” one production director told us.
What's next
The Plus series, the S1 sailing line and a waiting list the studio politely declines to discuss. “Counting is for anniversaries,” says Elena Vianello. “The rest of the year we just draw.”