2017 DAME Design Awards Jury Changes

The METSTRADE team at RAI Amsterdam has announced that yacht interior designer and engineer, Birgit Schnaase, has been appointed Chair of the DAME Design Awards Jury. Having demonstrated strong leadership skills on the DAME Jury since 2012, Birgit Schnaase succeeds Bill Dixon, who steps down after a successful decade chairing the Jury. 

Birgit Schnaase is the owner of Hamburg-based Schnaase Interior Design, having prevously worked as an interior designer for the Lürssen Shipyard and since taken on numerous commissions across a wide range of yachts, aircraft and private estates. 

Birgit Schnaase comments on the significance of becoming the first female Chair,

“I was very honoured to be asked to take this role. METSTRADE is the most important show worldwide for marine products and the DAME Awards is the only competition I know that does not just look at whether a product is beautiful. It assesses every aspect of its design, such as durability, innovation, functionality and whether it is likely to work well for the end user. This is important in a challenging world of changing customer expectation.

“I did take some time to consider the role before agreeing but in truth I could not say no. I have long stated that there should be more females working in the field of yacht and superyacht building, because women massively influence buying decisions across the marine market. We need more people involved who understand female preferences, so that they can appropriately shape our products and designs. This is my mantra and I hope that the organisers' decision to invite me to become Jury Chair for the world’s highest profile marine design competition will encourage many more women to join the sector.”

Broadening insight with experts in their field

Further new appointments to the DAME Awards Jury include Olivier Racopeau of Berret-Racopeau Yacht Design, Davide Cipriani of Centrostiledesign, and Yachting World editor Elaine Bunting. 

They will join current Jury members – Bénéteau Group Brand Manager Jean François Premorel, Arjen Jansen from TU Delft University, ICOMIA’s Technical Manager Patrick Hemp, independent marine technical journalist Nigel Calder and IBI Associate Editor Dennis O’Neill.

Kim Hollamby, the non-voting DAME Secretary appointed to support the Jury and organisers, explains,

“We review the DAME Awards annually, to ensure it continues to brilliantly promote the benefits of great design in all of its aspects among the more than 15,000 companies that exhibit and visit in Amsterdam each year. It was outgoing Chair Bill Dixon’s suggestion, and motivation for his retirement from the Chair, that we should look to refresh the Jury members more frequently.

"His vision was to ensure that the DAME Awards always benefits from new insight and the broadest possible knowledge available. We took his advice and our proposals for shorter Jury terms, plus the resulting changes to three Jury members this year, were approved by the METSTRADE Exhibition Committee.”

The importance of the Jury's contribution

Group Director Maritime for RAI Amsterdam, Irene Dros, said,

“It’s a strong indicator of the high value of the DAME Awards in the eyes of the industry, that so many of the sector’s leading names in their field have voluntarily served on the Jury throughout its history.

"We want to acknowledge the incredible contribution made to the DAME Awards by Bill Dixon, as well as by our valued outgoing Jury members Torsten Conradi of Judel/Vrolijk & co Engineering GmbH, Andrea Frabetti of Diesel Center SPA and Japec Jakopin of J&J Design. We’re very much looking forward to welcoming our new Jury members and working with our new Chair, Birgit Schnaase, as she brings her proven skills and perspective to the DAME Awards this year."

More about the members of the METSTRADE DAME Awards Jury

About METSTRADE

METSTRADE is the world’s leading event and community for leisure marine professionals, a global business platform focusing on innovation, market developments and knowledge sharing. METSTRADE Show & IBEX are the leading global trade events in the marine sector worldwide.