Redman Whiteley Dixon handles all aspects of interior and exterior yacht design, from 10 meter tenders to 150 meter Superyachts. RWD may be asked to focus exclusively on either the interior or the exterior, but are equally at home with both – refining and balancing every element until the two become one. Launched in 1993, RWD initially designed sailing yacht interiors before adding motor yachts and exteriors. The partners are Justin Redman, Mark Whiteley and Tony Dixon.
Justin’s background is in product design, having graduated with a BA hons in Industrial Design from the Central School of Art and Design – where he met Mark Whiteley. Working in Australia as a yacht designer in the late 80s, Justin cites seeing a newly finished Jon Bannenberg yacht, OPAL C, bathed in the evening sun in Freemantle, as his pivotal, inspirational moment. Returning to Britain he was fortunate to work for his design hero, John Munford. As designer and project manager, Justin was responsible for the interior design of 100’ – 200’ motor and sail yachts.
Justin has always enjoyed sailing as a hobby and his passion for detail is as intense today as it was when he set up Redman Whiteley Design in 1993.
Justin described his work on S/Y Twizzle:
For me to stand on the deck of the finished S/Y TWIZZLE is to feel very humble.
It is to quietly reflect on the journey of the last four years. It is to recognise the heritage and experience of the Royal Huisman craftspeople whose great efforts have fashioned every single element we have designed over that time. It is to appreciate old friends from that journey, Ed Dubois whose Naval Architectural brilliance is on a level I will never understand and Emily Todhunter whose wonderful sense of style can never be matched. It is to look down the vast expanse of flush foredeck to where it meets the sweeping curves of the superstructure and to feel part of the exceptional team that has been given the opportunity to bring such forms together and to create a lifestyle within.
It is also to thank her truly extraordinary owners for their trust in allowing us to create the fabulous TWIZZLE with them and finally, it is to realise that her journey, the real journey we have all been working towards, is only just starting…………
As designers rather than Naval Architects, the opportunity to design a sailing yacht, both inside and out, from concept through to final detail is not only an enormous privilege, but a great rarity. Not since the days of the great Jon Bannenberg/ Ron Holland partnerships of Beaupre, Acharne and Garuda has the visual lead been biased perhaps toward the designer.
In this instance, before engaging with a naval architect, Redman Whiteley Dixon were asked by their clients to rethink the concept of the pilot house ketch from an overall design and layout standpoint in order to give a freedom and creativity to the design process with them, before integrating the essential work Ed Dubois and his very experienced team are so good at.
The challenge was to evolve a concept which laid out beautifully balanced internal spaces around the central core of a pilot house, engine room and stair and which included two saloons, one which merged effortlessly with the main aft cockpit .
There was also to be a large flying bridge laid out to accommodate either cruising or racing in safety, an aft cockpit to provide an external owners area and personal access to their suite of internal spaces, extensive crew accommodations and covered tenders and finally and importantly this envelope of spaces was to be clothed in an elegant and smooth flowing form with a minimum of interruption and an integration of every single custom detail.
The interior was to benefit from the same partnership with Todhunter Earle as the clients earlier M/Y Twizzle and eventually the project itself was to benefit from the selection of the only yard in the word who could achieve such absolute custom perfection, Royal Huisman shipyard.
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