Hitting the Mark When it Comes to Taste with Schnaase

Birgit Schnaase has been setting interior design standards for 20 years.

She does not sell any standard designs and does not attempt to bluff her way through by using imposing decorations. The mainstream wants to be hip, and the maritime interior designer is very familiar with current design trends. Yet Birgit Schnaase hits the target when it comes to her customers' personal tastes by using her own ideas. The 52-year old and her five-woman team create worlds of well-being beneath the decks. She specialises in sailing and motor yachts from ten metres in length all the way up to those spanning over a hundred metres. She has now been doing this for almost 20 years, operating from her Hamburg office "Schnaase Interior Design", as well as within the DEUTSCHE YACHTEN working group, to create modern, extravagant and luxury designs, while remaining conscious of price and with an extraordinarily deep love for detail.

The view over the water from the fifth floor of the Hafentor building in the metropolis on the Elbe River reflects the portfolio of the concept designer. Mega-motor yachts and cruise liners bear the hand of Schnaase Interior Design, as do production sailing yachts, freighters and genuine one-offs. The company has even furnished Learjets, villas and dental practices. Not all projects are superlatives, but she unites that special something that makes for a particularly tasteful design and tailors the furnishings to the respective client.

Her success story started on 1 September 1995 "at the kitchen table". After a course in interior design, earning her diploma in Detmold, which gave the water-loving daughter of a coppersmith from Bremerhaven the necessary recognition in a male-dominated profession, and three years of experience at the Lürssen shipyard in Bremen, Schnaase Interior Design was founded. Her international breakthrough came just one and half years later with "best buddies".

The old Swan 441R was called "best buddies" and her age was catching up with her after several years of top-level racing. The yacht’s new owners from Hamburg had snapped her up for just DM 100,000 and wanted to restore her quickly to make her more comfortable. The focal point of Schnaase's hand-drawn sketches was a half-height Dickinson diesel stove with a rolled stainless steel sleeve and a window. This formed the head of a bar unit which had two chairs that could be dismantled and stored, and which enclosed the mast foot below deck.

Most of the ship was gutted; the bunks were thrown out, along with the non-load bearing structural wooden bulkheads. The engineer disguised the necessary bracing and bulkheads as room dividers, creating separate WCs, a shower and plenty of storage space for oilskins on both sides. The fore and aft sections were separated by sliding doors. Despite being a hollowed out racing yacht, the Swan lost a further few hundred kilograms in the course of its modern interior design due to the use of sandwich composite parts, but this in no way diminished its extraordinarily good sailing qualities.

Such a refit ends up being more expensive than a new boat. That's the most frequently mentioned reservation confronting Schnaase Interior Design. Yet it is not true, as clear and sometimes even limited budgets can also be a part of redesigns. The complete restoration of the Swan, once worth DM 1.1 million, to a supposedly far more luxurious yacht cost just DM 400,000. Schnaase explains: "Often, we discuss two or three different variations with the owners, who can then decide how much they want to spend."

That was the case, for example, with the 50-metre yacht "Polarsyssel", built in 1976, which was previously a Norwegian research icebreaker ship with a huge storage space and a helipad. Due to a lack of time, the proud owner only had the low-budget version implemented at the Peterswerft shipyard in Wewelsfleth. The large antenna deck was cleared and a used jacuzzi was fitted. Almost all of the walls remained in place and the dark wood panels were simply painted white instead of being fully replaced.

And even the most zany furniture shop in the world is not off limits when in doubt. Not only the bedside tables and sideboards came from IKEA, but also the wash basins and taps in the bath. By incorporating a red colour from the outer shell, a new chic design inside was achieved, even through to the red and white Hermes crockery, which was more expensive than renovating the dining table.

At the first briefing, Birgit Schnaase and her employees are able to sense the direction in which their client wants to move. To better understand their client's wishes, they first prepare hand-drawn sketches and/or AutoCAD drawings of the floor plans, views, cross-sections and then renderings and detailed drawings. Once the materials and colours have been chosen, along with the accessories and fixtures, the tender process is started and the work contracts are awarded, with the process monitored through all stages.

Sometimes a refit will even take place in several interrupted steps. That was the case with the 32-metre-long Sunseeker "Smooth Operator", whose interior design at some time had failed to match up to its the sleek outer appearance. Initially, only the lounge was whipped into shape with a black and silver baseline. The decks were repaired, the upholstery was replaced, and new parquet flooring was laid, with the door to the bar given a fresh lick of paint. A lit alabaster top for the existing bar top and a mirrored back wall, which gives the impression of a larger space, all helped create a very different ambiance.

The owner's area didn’t follow until a year later. A large bathtub fell victim due to its inconvenient access but a glazed shower soon helped the owners come to terms with it. Gray and white Corian complemented the cherry veneer, which was preserved. A further two years passed before the guest cabins were renewed following the same concept. In the end, they even switched to LED lights from Yachtlite, also a member of the DEUTSCHE YACHTEN working group (AG DY).

In general, this refit was a prime example of the synergy effects possible within the DEUTSCHE YACHTEN working group. Zucker & Partner acted as a consultant for the project, coordinating closely with Schnaase Interior Design to bring about the success of the three-tiered refit.

Several newbuild designs have also been devised by Schnaase Interior Design. For Hanse Yachts in Greifswald, the office worked to create the minimalistic loft style, following an idea of the shipyard's founder and erstwhile owner Michael Schmidt. The team worked with him to develop the Hanse Signature Style 401, 461, 531 and 630e. This also includes the typically rounded edges in the timeless interior design which ensure safety in big seas.
The overhaul of the Contest CS yachts and the new flagship 60 CS were run from the company's Hafentor 2 building in Hamburg. Almost purist white with bright red upholstery, the 53-foot performance cruiser "Auliana II" was built as a one-off construction by the Kieler Knierim shipyard (also an AG DY member), and was similar to the "Rut VIII" created at Polar Shipyard in Estonia in 2014, but with warmer wooden elements in between.

The interior designers even travel to far-away lands for their clients. Sultans, Russian oligarchs and wealthy men and women from the western world all the way to Australia generally want something of luxury. There is mother of pearl, Porta Romana lights, golden Sicis glass mosaics and exclusive Welter wallpaper and design classics, such as the famous lounge chair from Charles and Ray Eames or tables from design prodigy Sebastian Herkner. For it is unique items like these that highlight a truly individual style.

Then Birgit Schnaase gushes so splendidly about the finest cloths and materials, be that silky upholstery, polished high-grade wood or marbled surfaces and glittering stones. Listening to Birgit as she takes a virtual journey through the saloons and owner's cabins of her clientèle is a fabulous adventure through purely subjective perceptions of objectively successful compositions. She lives to experience customer-oriented taste and meets their high expectations with a great understanding of the technology and expert technical competence.

Those looking for the latest trends will likely be met with polite reservation. White colours, from arctic to ivory and from snow white to beige, occur frequently. Colours such as the Louboutin red, now famous as the colour of the soles of the designer's shoes, are also popular. Or a vintage mix, sometimes including bits from the flea market.

The key to timeless beauty would be primarily moving parts, which can simply be replaced after a short while. Trendy accessories and easy to remove fixtures from table linens to wall-mounted candelabras create new nuances in the blink of an eye and update the basic equipment at a comparatively low cost.

Naturally, a designer would follow haute couture, reading the prevailing magazines from around the world and looking at just what is right. For female customers in particular are extremely fashion-conscious and are really in the know as regards lifestyle. That is also evident in their special requests. However, the basis of the interior of the yacht follows slightly different aspects. "There is a great temptation to only ever do what we would like or what is ‘in’ at the time," said Schnaase, but if this was the case, she would not get paid.

And a creative mind can be as silent as a grave, particularly when it comes to ongoing projects from the superyacht sector. Those looking to peer through the keyhole into the world of the beautiful and rich are at the wrong address if they come to Schnaase. She bluntly rejects voyeurism, even if the inhabitants in question are no longer alive. This is not just due to the contractual duty of confidentiality, but also in the interest of respect for her clients, who are often famous faces. "They give us an in-depth look into their intimate private life so that we can design their bed and bath just as they want it," said Birgit Schnaase, "and who wants to put that out in the open?"