Student 'ecstatic' to win yacht design award

A car design student said he was "ecstatic" after being named Young Designer of the Year by a luxury yachting guide.

BOAT International, a website specialising in superyachts, picked Coventry University student Finn Lortan, 24, after he created plans for a 60m yacht.

Lortan, who is his final year of studying Automotive and Transport Design, said it was "amazing" to see his work exhibited "with an organisation with such a massive reach within the industry".

More than 160 designers from around the world entered the competition to design plans for a yacht.

The brief was to design a 60m long vessel, named Amiche, that could entertain 20 people, with two family cabins and entertainment facilities.

Lortan, who is originally from Cape Town in South Africa, said creating a unified entertainment area, where the guests could be together instead of in separate locations around the boat, was a key part of his design.

The 24-year-old, who lives in Coventry, said he had entered the competition after he first became interested in yacht design whilst completing an internship in Cape Town prior to university.

Creating the plans for the yacht was a two-month process, he added.

Lortan said he could see himself working in a yacht studio, after he graduated.

"There's a couple of studios in the UK, a couple of great studios in Germany and in the Netherlands so I will definitely be visiting those over the coming months and sending my applications in and hopefully securing a job," he said.

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