Jon Bannenberg: 1929-2002

A look back at the rule-breaking originality of the preeminent yacht designer.

By Diane M. Byrne — August 2002

The news that Jon Banneberg, the renowned megayacht designer, had died in late May came as a shock to many people in the marine business, particularly because few outside of his immediate circle knew he had been ill for some time.

“Jon was Jon—he didn’t want people to know,” says Paula Tebbs, reflecting on her boss’ personality. Besides, she adds, even though he was battling an inoperable brain tumor, “he treated the issue as a Tyson vs. Lewis match and was absolutely dead set on winning, despite the odds.” Indeed, so powerful was his conviction that, according to Tebbs, “we all went along with it.”

This speaks to the very soul of what endeared Bannenberg to the legions of yacht owners, captains, and yards he worked with during a distinguished career that spanned four decades and saw about 200 yachts progress from imaginative concept to often-startling completion. It also characterizes his emergence as one of the most well-respected interior designers and exterior stylists in the business. Particularly during the 1970’s and 1980’s, Bannenberg was to yacht design what Beethoven was to symphonic composition: He brought his own distinct, rule-breaking style to a field that had been largely colored by tradition.

The music analogy is appropriate, as Bannenberg actually wanted to be a concert pianist as a young man. Born in Australia in 1929, the son of a Dutch father and Australian mother, he studied piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. While still a student he began playing in jazz clubs and bars and continued to do so after graduation, also developing an affinity for acting in the theater and designing some of the sets. He left for England in 1952 to pursue his musical passion, and while he continued to perform in clubs, he also continued to design sets, including ones for the famed Old Vic in London. In 1954 he and his wife Beau opened an interior design business, working mostly on houses and apartments, although Bannenberg did also form a partnership with a high-profile antiques shop and designed various antique exhibitions. While that project led to other marine contracts, notably a number of guest suites and the two-level public room aboard the QE2 in 1967, it’s remarkable to realize that Bannenberg wasn’t widely recognized until the launch of Carinthia VI at Germany’s Lurssen Shipyard in 1972, when his rule-breaking originality turned the yachting world on its ear. Commissioned by German retailing tycoon Helmut Horten, the now-famous 233-footer was adorned with radically unconventional angles and ultra-modern lines that stood in marked contrast to the virtual sea of conservative, traditional-looking profiles that were being turned out by the world’s top designers. Her sheer size was also extraordinary—Horten had to have the wall at the Cannes marina where he always kept his yachts extended to accommodate her. (Kept in immaculate condition by Horten’s widow, Carinthia VI has gone on to become an icon in the yachting world, even inspiring clothing magnate Leslie Wexner to commission Bannenberg to design his 316-foot Limitless.)

Word of Bannenberg’s talents spread, and soon other extraordinarily wealthy individuals commissioned him to create avant-garde masterpieces. Three of the best-known ground-breakers were the 282-foot Nabila, 151-foot Azteca, and same-size Paraiso. Built by Benetti for Adnan Khashoggi in 1980, Nabila became as notorious as her owner, due to her theatrical lighting and funnels that extended out from the side of the uppermost deck like embryonic wings. Paraiso and Azteca, commissioned simultaneously by Mexican media magnate Emilio Azcarraga Milmo and launched in 1983 from Feadship’s Van Lent yard and in 1984 from Feadship’s De Vries yard, respectively, caused a stir before they hit the water. If the yachting world had thought the lines Bannenberg gave to Carinthia VI were out of the ordinary, imagine their shock when they saw a design that called for the main hull form to be taken up to the top deck.

In fact, it was Azteca’s very design that inspired Malcolm Forbes to commission his 151-foot The Highlander from Feadship. At The Highlander’s launch, Bannenberg reflected on the concept behind the high hull sides. “What it is, really, what I’m trying to do, gets back to the classic superstructure look. That’s really the key to the whole thing. To somehow increase the hull and still keep it sleek and make the superstructure less. It’s kind of really all those beautiful old classic boats everyone loves. It’s just a hull with a very little deckhouse and a funnel…. This length yacht in the past would have had probably a tenth of the volume of this boat. You’re always fighting that.”

Something else Bannenberg successfully fought was the concept that a yacht is the result of three separate forces: the yard, naval architect, and interior designer, with the latter two being in-house employees of the yard. He believed that each yacht was a complete design that could be conceived by an independent designer, one in which the hull, superstructure, and interior all must complement one another, and one in which the overall motif even extended to stationery and dinnerware created exclusively for the vessel. No wonder that as the yacht projects grew, so did his office, hiring young designers who went on to become masters in their own right: Andrew Winch, Terence Disdale, Donald Starkey, Tim Heywood, and others.

Bannenberg’s life was forever changed the day a client showed him the plans for a new yacht and asked him what he thought. “I told him it was terrible,” Bannenberg revealed to us when we interviewed him in 1985. “So he said, ‘If you’re so bloody smart, do it better.’ So I did. Fortunately his original design was so bad, it wasn’t hard to improve on it!” And improve he did: The yacht became the center of attention at the 1963 London Boat Show.

he design studio Bannenberg founded is continuing operation under the direction of his son Dickie, who worked alongside his father on a few recent projects, including the just-delivered “Project B” (the owner wishes to keep the name anonymous) from Benetti. Her oval windows—seven on each side of the main deck, plus two to port and three to starboard of the bridge deck—lend her an unmistakable Bannenberg pedigree.

It’s dispiriting that Bannenberg didn’t live long enough to see the completion of Mercedes III, a 185-footer for a repeat client that’s set for delivery next summer at Oceanfast, since Bannenberg is largely credited with putting the Australian yard on the yachting map. Oceanfast and Bannenberg had collaborated on 16 previous launches, including Thunder A in 1998 and, not coincidentally, Mercedes II in 1996, both of which garnered Superyacht Society design awards. “He was always striving for better, more innovative ways of achieving that unique, understated elegance and opulence which became his trademark,” says Oceanfast chairman John Rothwell. “Jon did not follow trends, he set them.”

Mark Masciarotte, president of the Superyacht Society, which bestowed Bannenberg with its Leadership Award in 1997, agrees: “He introduced design concepts that although, at times, baffled the naval architects whose responsibility it was to find solutions, resulted in stunning, ground-breaking creations.”

In addressing Malcolm Forbes and the rest of the gathered crowd at the christening of The Highlander, Bannenberg revealed—perhaps unknowingly—why he’d gained a reputation as one of the true gentlemen of the yacht business: “If it weren’t for owners wanting to build, none of us would be here today. It’s a very important thing—never to be forgotten—that all of these wonderful things we have done start with one person’s imagination. Great honor to be involved with your imagination, Malcolm.”

No, Jon. The honor was ours.

Nearly 200 yachts came to life from the drawing table of Jon Bannenberg, many of which are listed below. Chances are you’ll recognize at least some of the names:

• ALDORA (1967) Camper & Nicholson, UK
• ARAMIS (1967) Clarke, UK
• REDSKIN (1968) Souter, UK
• CHARISMA (1968) Craggs, UK
• TIAWANA (1968) Camper & Nicholson, UK
• TAMAHINE (1968) Souter, UK
• CARINTHIA V (1969) Lurssen, Germany
• ANEMOS (1969) Botje, Holland
• BENEDIC (1970) S.O.S., UK
• LAMBRO (1970) Lambro, Greece
• PERSPEHONE (1970) Cammenga, Holland
• AMAZON (1970) CRM, Holland
• PALOMINO (1970) Royal Huisman, Holland
• TROIS AMIS (1970) Kremer, Germany
• NEORIAN (1971) Neorian, Greece
• ARJUNA (1971) Esterel, France
• AETOS (1971) Psarros, Greece
• CARINTHIA VI (1972) Lurssen, Germany
• BLUEBIRD (1972) Chiavari, Italy
• SANDPIPER (1972) Chiavari, Italy
• SILVER LEOPARD (1972) Burmeister, Germany
• AQUAMARINE (1972) G.R.A., Greece
• BLUE LADY (1972) Chiavari, Italy
• YELLOWBIRD (1972) Chiavari, Italy
• FIREBIRD (1972) Chiavari, Italy
• HERON 21 (1972) Chiavari, Italy
• STILVI 11 (1973) Camper & Nicholson, UK
• PEGASUS III (1973) Krogerwerft, Germany
• MY GAIL (1974) Feadship/De Vries Scheepsbouw, Holland
• XIPHIAS (1974) Esterel, France
• MEDITERRANEAN SKY (1974) G.R.A., Greece
• MEDITERRANEAN SEA (1974) G.R.A, Greece
• BOULE DOGUE (1975) Cantieri Lavagna, Italy
• SOUTHERN BREEZE (1975) Kremer, Germany
• SOLITAIRE (1976) Picchiotti, Italy
• ABU ALABYAD (1977) yard unknown
• MAJESTIC (1977) Cammenga, Holland (also oversaw refit as MIDNIGHT SAGA, 1988)
• DHAFIR (1978) CRN, Italy
• RODI’S ISLAND (1979) Burmeister, Germany
• NABILA (1979) Benetti, Italy (also oversaw refit as KINGDOM 5KR)
• ROSARA (1980) CRN, Italy
• CIMBA (1979) Bowman, UK
• MY GAIL II (1981) Feadship/De Vries Scheepsbouw, Holland
• NAHEMA (1981) Astellerios, Spain
• BOBBARO (1982) Poole, San Diego
• PARAISO (1983) Feadship/Royal Van Lent, Holland
• AZTECA (1984) Feadship/De Vries Scheepsbouw, Holland
• ZULU SEA (1984) CRN, Italy
• ACAJOU (1984) Esterel, France
• THREE Y’S (1984) Esterel, France
• MY GAIL III (1985) Amels, Holland
• NEVER SAY NEVER (1985) Oceanfast, Australia
• NSN (1985) Oceanfast, Australia
• CEDAR SEA II (1986) Feadship/Royal Van Lent, Holland
• THE HIGHLANDER (1986) Feadship/De Vries Scheepsbouw, Holland
• SHIRLEY B (1986) S.O.S., UK
• LADY GHISLAINE (1986) Amels, Holland
• BENGAL I (1986) Sterling Yachts, Japan
• BBC CHALLENGE (1987) Sterling Yachts, Japan
• SOUTHERN CROSS III (1987) Sterling Yachts, Japan
• PARTS VI (now MADI BLUE) (1987) Oceanfast, Australia
• GARUDA (1987) Nautor, Finland
• GALU (refit) (1987) C.U.V., Italy
• STARLIGHT (1988) S.O.S., UK
• ANTIPODEAN (1988) Oceanfast, Australia
• SUN PARADISE (1988) Oceanfast, Australia
• ACHARNE (1987) Royal Huisman, Holland
• SHEERGOLD (interior/funnel areas) (1988) Amels, Holland
• STEFAREN (1989) Brooke Yachts, UK
• MYSTIQUE (1989) Oceanfast, Australia
• MERCEDES (1989) Oceanfast, Australia
• BEAUPRE (1989) Brooke Yachts, UK
• G. WHIZ (1989) Brooke Yachts, UK
• GEEDEE (1990) Brooke Yachts, UK
• OPAL C (1990) Oceanfast, Australia
• BOLKIAH, now TRUE BLUE (1991) Oceanfast, Australia
• SIRAN (1991) Feadship/De Vries Scheepsbouw, Holland
• SOUNDS PACIFIC (1991) Oceanfast, Australia
• MOECCA (1992) Oceanfast, Australia
• TALITHA G (1994) DML, UK
• CORAL ISLAND (1994) Lurssen, Germany
• OCEANA, now LITTLE SIS (1994) Oceanfast, Australia
• CELEBRITY date and yard unknown
• MERCEDES II (1996) Oceanfast, Australia
• LIMITLESS (1997) Lurssen, Germany
• ALTAIR refit (1998) Oceanfast, Australia
• THUNDER A (1998) Oceanfast, Australia
• SAGITTA (2001) Oceanfast, Australia
• “PROJECT B” (2002) Benetti, Italy