Interviews
Interview With Yacht Designer Patrick Knowles: The Art of the Process
Meet Patrick Knowles of Patrick Knowles Designs, an award-winning American design firm that found its early footing in aircraft interior design for private, VIP and Head of State before transitioning to the luxury yachting market.
With over 30+ years of experience in the superyacht industry, Patrick has had the pleasure of collaborating with the likes of Burgess Yachts, Feadship, ISA Shipyard, Palmer Johnson and more throughout his career and has a long working relationship with many of his clients (some who have returned up to 19 times for new projects)!
Patrick was kind enough to answer a few questions regarding his own design process and his thoughts on the yachting industry. I hope you enjoy his insights as much as I have.
BRENON
What is your story? What is your earliest memory of being interested in design?
PATRICK
From an very early age, I was drawn to aesthetics from architecture and interior. I was mainly attracted to automobiles, airplanes, and boats, but it wasn’t even on my radar that I could pursue those disciplines of design.
BRENON
Do you come from an artistic/design-oriented family?
PATRICK
No, I am alone in that endeavor in my family.
BRENON
Tell us a little more about Patrick Knowles Designs. Describe what the early days of starting the company looked like and what it has grown into today.
PATRICK
The early days of my company witnessed a very different landscape. When I started my marine career in design in 1989 so much of it was done manually.
Back in those days, most were still building interiors onsite. Now, with the advent of super technology, many companies have emerged that are deemed “Interior Fabricators” in which they construct interiors….to a dizzying level of detail and complexity.
Often this takes place in a different country and the entire interior is then shipped to the shipyard, un-crated, and assembled in the envelope of the vessel’s interior. Much precision and skill is needed for this.
Also, our style of presentation has changed, which also used to be manual and done by hand, and now EVERYTHING is automated. All of my project presentations are virtual in which we produce, I must say, a stunning visual reflection of the owner’s wishes and our ideas.
I am constantly amazed by the visuals we produce because of the advancement in technology. I’m currently designing a 90-meter expedition vessel in which we will be releasing a brief movie presentation for next week.
Also, I have a Bentley-inspired helicopter I am designing that will yield an amazing optic when the visual production is complete.
BRENON
What does your design process look like? How long does it take to create a design you are happy to share with others?
PATRICK
That varies. When I sign a new yacht, aviation or land-based project, I listen intently to the client and I allow that to simmer for varying periods. And then the unexpected happens.
There is not a set time, there’s no schedule, it just strikes me, and I can simply envision the project. When that happens, it is helpful if I’m near a pad and pencil as it just flows freely. When I reach that point of assimilating a project, it happens very quickly.
I can sit and sketch tens of pages (20,30,40 and more) in a matter of hours!
Once it has been made tangible, I progress to the next level, which is editing followed by refinement.
Something interesting I would like to say: in many cases, the very first drafts of my frenzied sketches are more often than not, what the final design becomes, or at least very close to it.
I think it has to do with the clarity I have when arriving at my initial comprehension of the project. It’s typically a highly creative zenith or point for me, a moment that solidifies my direction. Paying keen attention to the nuances of the client’s details is critically important and when I allow that to resonate into my subconscious, the moment of realization for the design explodes!
BRENON
Does Patrick Knowles Design have a particular design style or “DNA” that you are known for?
PATRICK
No. I try very hard not to cultivate a brand style or DNA. I would become bored if I were to do that. I prefer the challenge of doing something new, of absorbing the character of the client and reflecting that back in an interpretation that is intended only for them. That gives me the most gratification in what I do. I love creating something bespoke and new.
BRENON
What are some of your own favorite design projects to date and can you briefly explain the story behind them?
PATRICK
A 58-meter yacht in which the design brief was a request to fulfill the owner’s love of wood and natural stone. The interior has 21 species of wood and some dozen types of marble and the vessel was quintessentially “masculine” with bronze inlays in the woodwork and stone, leather floors and hand carved furniture.
Then there was the opposite end of the spectrum in that of a 63-meter I designed for a young family in which the design brief was for the family to feel like they were at a floating resort, the likes of the Four Seasons in the South Pacific.
Hence, the design was light, open, airy and lighthearted, with incredible hand-carved panels of marine and tropical fauna finished in nickel leaf. Other details included hand-painted murals depicting a rainforest in the grand staircase, a 3-story glass light fixture in the form of sea anemone spanning all decks of the yacht, and a massive Swarovski crystal-studded coral reef hand made by a jeweler depicting the owner’s family in a school of seahorses, each one colored to match each of their accommodation suites.
And yet another favorite yacht I designed was a Classic American Yacht reflecting times gone by with gleaming white planks and teak batten overheads, teak decks, keeper rails and an eye-pleasing array of fine, classic millwork details.
There are others I can recall, however for the sake of the length of the interview, I will exercise self-control and stop at 3 of them!
BRENON
What are some important questions you would recommend a new client ask when looking for a potential yacht designer?
PATRICK
It would be beneficial and revealing of them to ask, among other questions: “How will the designer be communicating the design to them? What does the designer require of the owner?”
Sometimes there can be a disconnect in this department as sometimes owners might not realize how much skin is going to be in the game for them. Not all designers are intuitive or proactive, or assertive, and when that is the case, the project can lag all the way into the state of permissible delays with the shipyard.
The client needs to perceive the level of the designer’s ability to process the owner’s directive, turn that around and project it back to the owner. On most build projects, there are milestones and some of them can be weighty.
Ensure that the designer you hire has the staffing power and brain power to meet such demands. If you perceive that does not match up…keep interviewing.
Whomever you chose will be your project colleague for 2,3,4 or more years.
BRENON
What have you been reading or watching lately?
PATRICK
More than anything recently, I am an avid observer of many social media platforms, and I digest and process aesthetics from all sources, not just the obvious “design” platforms even though they are good.
I love observing travel and vacation platforms, automotive platforms, special interest platforms and more, which I do for a couple key reasons, one obviously is for the design and aesthetic and the other is for the integration and interaction of people in such environments.
It isn’t always about the interior environment or being on the deck of a boat either. It’s about watching people live and use and express their experience in a specific environment or a setting.
BRENON
When do you feel the most creative? Are you a morning person or a night owl?
PATRICK
I am absolutely a morning person. When I do not see the dark turn to light, I feel as if I am chasing the day. When I greet the dawn, I feel empowered and in control of my day.
I typically watch the sun rise on a daily 4-mile walk – it’s therapeutic for me.
BRENON
What does an average work day look like?
PATRICK
My day starts the night before. I typically go to bed with a laser sharp view of what my next day will be like and the tasks I need to accomplish by the time I return to my sleep again.
I wake up early….in the 4am hour, I walk 4 miles on a great trail in my community, I come home and reflect on my spiritual needs for the day, and then I start my day, which of late is at my home in which I sit at a desk 8 floors up overlooking a golf course with the skyline of Fort Lauderdale in the background.
That sense of open space opens and refreshes my mind. I vacillate between my desk for emails and other laptop tasks, my favorite chair when I switch to doing my work on my phone, which is the lion share of how I do my work each day, believe it or not, and on my drawing table to sketch for my projects or anything that comes to my mind that I am inspired to sketch. That is my baseline day.
Of course, that all changes when I visit my office to handle the business-side of my business, visit a site or a shipyard, meet a client, or visit a vendor or a showroom.
BRENON
Do you have any daily habits that help you focus when designing?
PATRICK
Yes. Clear my email. Clear my text messages. Clear my voicemail. Clear any and ALL static before I escape into my alternate reality in which I immerse myself into my virtual project.
I become very engaged and perceptive of what I’m designing, what I’m putting down on paper and I live in that environment, I can feel it.
That can’t be done successfully or at least easily with static and distractions.
BRENON
Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
PATRICK
Everywhere! In nature and in walking around and observing people and how they dress and how they interact with the environment.
One of my greatest sources of inspiration is when I travel, in which architecture is king. One of my last business trips before the lockdown was Lisbon, on that trip, I couldn’t get enough of the tiled buildings.
The inspiration for that sort of detail remained at the forefront of my mind, and now, I am designing a boat in which photos of those buildings inspired details that are being woven through the project.
BRENON
If you are having an “uninspired” day what do you do to get in a more creative/productive frame of mind?
PATRICK
Nothing. If that day is not gelling with me in a creative sense, then tomorrow it is. Forcing design or creativity is like forcing excitement over a dish you don’t like…it’s just not there.
Engagement, conviction and joy needs to be present when designing because it will be reflected in the end result. It takes a lot of mental and emotional bandwidth to design a good outcome.
BRENON
What advice would you give to new designers embarking on their careers?
PATRICK
Explore every facet of design. Design is a big word and it touches EVERYTHING we touch and within design there are so many niches and opportunities to stumble upon – often in a sector or discipline of design you weren’t aware of.
At the onset I mentioned I was fascinated with automotive, marine and aviation design but had NO idea at a young age of how to connect in that regard but yet here I am now – a yacht designer formerly aviation designer, all by exploring different avenues of design.
Neither of these were on my radar initially!
BRENON
What might you have done if you had not become a yacht designer?
PATRICK
Hands down….a pilot!
BRENON
Describe a dream project that you’d love to work on?
PATRICK
I would love to work on a conversion of epic proportions! Either the conversion of an Airbus A380 into an ultra swank private aircraft (I have produced a concept which I designed for a major publication years ago and would love to see something similar come to life). Or, the conversion of an SST (Concorde) into an uber luxurious business or VIP jet!
One can dream…
BRENON
Do you have any exciting works-in-progress or upcoming projects you can share with us?
PATRICK
I have several. A 49-meter expedition catamaran, a 226′ commercial vessel conversion into a private expedition vessel / yacht, an early stage 90-meter expedition vessel, and a series of highly customized VIP helicopter designs.
I am also getting set to deliver a 3-year project within the next 90 days which is an amazing 94′ sportfish fighting machine with an environment filled with accoutrements typically reserved for the finest megayachts.
BRENON
What excites you most about the future of yacht design?
PATRICK
Today, I am most excited about the quantum shift we will see in the very near future when 5G technology becomes firmly integrated into our daily life (there are pros and cons) but strictly from a design, aesthetic and experiential standpoint, I eagerly await how this frontier of technology is going to reinvent how we live in our environment.
The integration of occupant and the living space will take a very huge and fast leap forward, and I am thoroughly excited about that!
BRENON
How can you be contacted and where can people find more information on Patrick Knowles Design?
PATRICK
For more information on Patrick Knowles Designs, please email info[at]patrickknowlesdesigns.com or visit patrickknowlesdesigns.com