Company Description
De Basto Designs, founded in 1995, is a progressive, multi-disciplinary yacht design firm based in Miami, an emerging city for international design and art. President and chief designer Luiz de Basto has been involved in yacht design for three decades, designing more than 250 boats and yachts for over 40 yards and a number of clients in 15 countries.
We specialise exclusively in creative and innovative design solutions for luxury yachts and superyachts, both custom and production. Over the years we have been commissioned to design a wide variety of vessels in terms of size, styling and type, and we are honored to have received important industry awards and obtained some patents to our original ideas.
Our in-house computer capabilities provide clients and yards with a comprehensive understanding of the development of the project. We serve a global clientele, including individual yacht owners as well as leading boat yards and manufactures.
In practice, the degree of our involvement and responsibility varies depending on the project, yard and country. One thing that doesn’ change, however, is our desire to achieve excellence: that instinctive search for the best solution, for the ideal form, for the small detail that will take the anonymous out of the yacht, giving it its own life and presence. We strive to provide the very best to our clients.
“ a bow and a stern, no matter how far apart, there’ always a beautiful boat to be designed.”
— de Basto
List of core services:
• Exterior design and space planning
• Interior design, de´ and material selection
• 2D & 3D CAD drawings and computer renderings
• 3D walk-through and animations, computer models for moulds and/or CNC
• On-site supervision
Personality
Q: How did you become a superyacht designer and what or who inspired you into the industry?
I started designing yachts soon after gaining a degree in architecture in the early 1970s. Recreational power boating was in its infancy, both in Brazil and worldwide, and I became involved in designing 60 to 80-foot fibreglass boats. These were large boats for the time. My true schooling in yacht design came from working on refits, more than 30 in a 10 year period, and I learned how different manufacturers put together different boats. What led me to it was my passion for cars and architecture — my first design was probably a car. I’ always been divided between cars and architecture, that’ why I believe that yacht design is the perfect balance between them. A yacht is a living space that moves and is a vehicle on the water.
Q: Of the projects you’ worked on, which was your most challenging and why?
Each project is challenging its own way, but one project that was challenging recently was working on the interiors of Saluzi. A 70m former mini-cruiser built by Austal and originally named Tia Moana, she went through an extensive refit, which included work on all the social areas, 16 guest cabins with two owner’ staterooms, a dining room that transforms to a karaoke space, two main salons, plus the gym, beauty salon, and sauna. The interior was designed to be fun and celebrate life. Each one of the 16 guest cabins is different, and they are all built to SOLAS passenger ship’ very severe restrictions regarding weight and fire. I think the result speaks for itself. Saluzi is a large luxury charter yacht permanently based in Asia, and she has been booked solid.
Q: How do you go about understanding a client and their wishes for a project?
We treat each project we are commissioned with as a custom design, regardless of whether it is a one-off design for a private owner or for a production yard. This may be one of the reasons that each of our designs is different, because we do not impose one style or solution. We listen to our clients and ask a lot of questions, and each project is a response to a very specific set of requirements. This is also the reason that, in my opinion, there’ no such thing as an ideal yacht. Each client is different the more demanding they are the more creative we need to be. We like to not only find solutions but to surpass even the highest expectations.
