Terence Disdale is called the rock star of superyacht design, and it seems to fit not only his creative credo, but his life style in general, too
He left school at 15, having little idea of what to do next, and started as a “tea boy” at an engineering company, where he was soon promoted to a junior engineering draughtsman, when they saw that he could actually draw well.
Quite soon the young man got really involved in design – and off it went. In 1960-70s the British capital was the center of fronting intellectuals and mods, the cradle of new trends in art, pop music and avant-garde fashion.
Back in the 1970s long-haired Terence sported in long flowing Afghan coat and flared floral pants. And by the way it is still impossible to find a single photo of him wearing a business suit – he keeps dressing, and actually living, in his rock-n-roll style.
He doesn’t have any formal training in design. But he was lucky to work for Jon Bannenberg, whose studio became a real school for numerous yacht designers, some of which later became famous.
Having learnt from the master of design, in 1973 the young man decided to found a studio of his own - Terence Disdale Design. It was he who caused the emergence of a new concept in luxury yachting formulated as “Don’t decorate beauty”. And it’s not about the posh luxury of the imperial gild, but the textures of natural materials like raw stone, aged timber, rough leather, glass with flakes, panels of patinated bronze, textured textiles, some Zulu plaits – in Disdale’s opinion, all of this natural beauty will never make you feel bored or go out of fashion. And besides, it doesn’t only appeal to the eye, but gives you tactile pleasure, too. “We love everything to be tactile” is another pet phrase of his.
He has a talented team, and the studio’s portfolio features jets, luxury real estate, furniture items. But the main direction is super and megayacht design. His collaboration with Amels, Azimut, Benetti, Blohm & Voss, Camper & Nicholsons, CRN, Feadship, Lürssen, Palmer Johnson has been going on for years.
The number of yachts that he’s worked on seems to be over a hundred now, and there are more of his projects in Top-100 world’s largest boats than of any other designer. Here are just a few of them: Al Salamah (139 m), Queen M (73 m), Tatoosh (92.4 m), Pelorus (115 m), Ecstasea (86 m), Montkaj (78 m), Kogo (72 m), Boadicea (76 m), Eclipse (162,5 m).
A lot of the projects were developed in creative tandem with Donald Starkey, who, as an expert in residential architecture, made their yachts and their inner space comfortable and logical, while Disdale turned their interiors into unique works of art. And the audience appreciated it. And so did the colleagues: Terence Disdale Design studio received dozens of most prestigious awards from the professional community.
At present Terence Disdale looks just as informal as he used to, keep wearing eccentric clothes, loves ocean fishing and drives around in his vintage Jaguar XK120. And it looks like he is going to keep the title of the main rock star of yacht design, as well as the title of an iconic designer, for good.
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