Interview w/ Antonio Luxardo
Have you ever imagined yachts as a symbiosis of modern design, luxury, and sustainability? Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design, is transforming the future of sailing through such a vision
Optima Design, a La Spezia-based studio, was founded in 2004 by Michele Zignego and his partner, Antonio Luxardo. Their mission was to push the boundaries of nautical design and offer innovative solutions that combine aesthetics, functionality, and sustainability. Today, this company represents a reference point for shipyards across Italy. A harmonious team of numerous talented individuals, including architects, designers and engineers, offers comprehensive projects, from naval architecture to to exteriors, interiors, and complete engineering foundations.
In this exclusive interview, we will explore the vision of Optima Design, learn about Antonio Luxardo and his indelible impact on the world of design. We will discover innovative concepts, focus on sustainability, and some of the company’s most impressive characteristics. Get ready for a journey into the world of luxury yachts and meet the visionary who transformed them.

How would you describe the philosophy of Optima Design?
The philosophy of Optima Design is based on the control and supervision of the whole project, starting from the idea: we try to make the product appear feasible already from the first sketches. We are not illustrators, we are designers, and therefore when we come up with an idea it has to be translatable into reality.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design

What new technologies and trends are you embracing to create yachts for the 21st century?
Nowadays what matters is being environmentally sustainable. I believe that yacht design has always tried to be environmentally friendly, since it is strongly linked to love for nature and the sea. However, the aim is that of creating products that adapt more and more to this need.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design
Moreover, the demand for boats that let customers have a direct relationship with the sea is increasing. Yacht designers are giving importance to boats with a stern which is always nearer to the sea surface.
How does Optima Design define “luxury” in the yacht context? What do you start from when intertwining aesthetics, functionality and sustainability?
In the yacht context “luxury” is taking advantage of spaces: it is creating elegant yachts that are more streamlined and have lower volumes. Technologies are helping to create more and more “wow-effect” yachts.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design
To create such boats, Optima Design first starts from understanding and interpreting the always changing clients’ needs and the regulations that are adapting to the new demands.

Take us through your creative process. What are the key stages you go through in cooperation with clients from the first sketch to the finished yacht?
Optima Design pays attention to the client background: their nationality and culture plays an extremely relevant role in understanding how to use creativity in order to create the most suitable product for them. Another essential stage is understanding the environment: how the shipyard and the area where construction takes place is, what the budget is, what the technologies and manpower are like.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design
The more the constraints, the more the creativity has to be trained to bring innovative solutions.
What are the key milestones and inspirations in your professional path?
What initially brought you to yachts?
I was born in a small town located between the hills and the sea. The sea has always given me the sense of freedom and I’ve always had a strong connection with it. Moreover, my family has always worked in this field, so my passion for boats was born when I was very young. That’s the reason why I’ve always privileged the relationships between clients and the sea in my professional path.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design

Choose one project from each field you are involved in (yacht design, industrial design, automotive industry) that particularly inspired you.
First of all I want to highlight that working in different sectors has helped to develop a wider view, freedom of thoughts and creativity, and prevented me from setting boundaries.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design
On one hand, the projects that inspired me the most are those that involved urban development related to tourist harbors and the sea.
On the other hand, working both in the cruise field and in projects for small boats has helped me to understand how the dimension of a boat can vary.
Facing different projects in different fields has strongly increased my creative freedom.
What are the key features that Optima Design brings to yacht design process, especially when it comes to luxury vessels?
When it comes to luxury vessels it is necessary not to care about space: luxury means creating yachts characterized by huge space that convey the sense of freedom. Spatial dimension doesn’t have to set boundaries to creativity and design.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design
How do you see the role of technology, innovation and sustainability in the future of yacht design, and how is Optima Design adapting to these trends?
Technology and sustainability are inevitably linked with each other and they are both the starting point for innovation. The main goal for the future is that of reducing energy wastes by decreasing energy dispersion. In addition to lowering wastes, technological innovation is fundamental in finding and creating new materials that will support sustainable boats’ production.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design

Can you describe some of the biggest challenges you have faced in your career, and how do you overcome them?
Designing boats has always been a great challenge. One challenge that I had to overcome more than twenty years ago, when I started working in China, was creating products that could adapt to Chinese culture. Nowadays I would say that one of the greatest challenges that Optima Design has to face is controlling and supervising the whole process, from idea to delivery. Indeed it is always difficult to create a “perfect” product. .
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design
Which designers or artists have had the biggest influence on you?
I’ve always been inspired by every artist and architect, starting from the Romans and passing through Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo and up to people who in the twentieth century have worked in the yacht sector and in other fields too. Also Italy itself is a source of inspiration, since it allows you to be in contact with art every day, in every place you go.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design
Eventually, I’ve also been inspired by seeing what hadn’t been made correctly or could be improved: it inspires you to find a way to make it better.

If you could own any yacht you designed, what would it be and why?
I would definitely choose a “gozzo”. This Ligurian boat is the best expression of functionality. It requires little power to work: it just needs someone who rows. Moreover, it lets you explore places that can’t be reached with bigger boats and have a closer contact with nature. The “gozzo” was also one of the first boats that I designed when I was young, and that’s another reason why it is so special to me.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design
What are your tips for young talents who want to get into designing yachts and similar luxury products?
First of all, a young designer needs to be curious and able to imagine and draw, they have to be good at communicating and sharing their ideas, they need to know both technical design and artisanal secrets, and, last but not least, they have to be able to interpret clients’ wants and desires, in order to translate them into reality.
Antonio Luxardo, architect and chief designer of Optima Design
