OPACMARE S.p.A. WINS DAME – DESIGN AWARD METS 2007

Bill Dixon, Chairman of the Jury of the DAME Award, announced the winner of the prestigious prize at the start of METS November 13.

An excerpt of the Jury report on the DAME winner: The DAME Awards are given in recognition of design elegance, functional beauty, and ease of use. These desirable qualities are certainly found in this year’s overall winner, The Teaky Beach - Stern Platform Chaise Longue from Opacmare S.p.A. of Italy. The Teaky Beach is a very elegant product that can be completely hidden in the deck when not in use, allowing that part of the yacht to be employed for other purposes. But should a person want to sunbathe, or merely relax on deck, hidden hydraulics, a cushion, and a simple handheld electronic control turn the Teaky Beach into an extremely comfortable lounge chair. The hydraulic package is so carefully engineered that the Teaky Beach only requires about 75 mm (3 inches) of depth, thus enabling a normal-height cabin below it. While this product is aimed at the upper end of the market, a segment that is extremely hot right now, it can be fitted on boats as small as about 20 meters (65.6 feet).

Jury Chairman Bill Dixon commented: “I think the winner deserves their accolade, the Jury as a whole liked the simplicity and originality of the product, and it is a fun feature. Like all good design after the first spark of a new idea, it is the execution into a commercial product that counts. The finished product was easy to install, importantly took up very little volume. I believe the product could be put in a variety of locations on both power and sailing yachts.”