From Mushrooms to Luxury: Reimagining Superyachts With Verge Yacht Design

The beauty of yacht interiors often steals the spotlight, but what happens when we approach design from a completely different angle? Anita Rivera-Turcotte, founder of Verge Yacht Design, brings a novel perspective to yacht interiors that places engineering and function squarely before style.

From their studio in Savannah, Georgia, Anita and her team blend interior design expertise with naval architecture to create spaces that work flawlessly while looking stunning. "Anybody can make something pretty," she explains, "but let's make it work for that specific owner and that crew." This philosophy stems from understanding that beautiful design must always respect a vessel's operational needs first.

What truly sets Verge Yacht Design apart is the studio's groundbreaking work with sustainable materials. Forget the notion that sustainability means compromise – Anita's team develops fabrics from mushrooms, crushed stones, and corn husks that rival traditional luxury materials in both aesthetics and performance. "I feel like sometimes people look at sustainability and automatically think a dollar sign," she notes, "and that is not the case at all." Through biomimicry and innovative processes, Verge Yacht Design is proving that yacht interiors can be responsible without sacrificing an ounce of luxury.

Beyond their design work, the studio team is actively shaping yachting's future through mentorship programs with the Savannah College of Art and Design, introducing bright young minds to the industry. And when asked what yacht owners ultimately want? Anita doesn't hesitate: "Experience." It's the perfect word to encapsulate Verge's holistic approach – creating vessels that function beautifully, respect both people and planet, and deliver unforgettable moments on the water.

Ready to discover how function, sustainability, and beauty can harmoniously coexist in yacht design? Visit vergeyachtdesign.com to explore their progressive approach to creating extraordinary yacht experiences.

Chapters

• 1:38 Introduction to Verge Yacht Design
• 2:59 Function Before Beauty Approach
• 5:23 Prioritizing Crew Spaces and Flow
• 7:33 Innovative Sustainable Materials Development
• 12:22 Mentoring the Next Generation
• 16:50 The Yacht Owner Experience

Transcript

Diane M. Byrne: [00:00:00] Welcome everybody. My guest today is Anita Rivera Turcotte, the founder of Verge Yacht Design. Now, if you haven't heard of this design studio, I think you're really going to enjoy the conversation. Anita and her team blended the beauty of interior design with the engineering of Naval architecture and the mindfulness of people and planet, all from the stunning southern city of Savannah, Georgia, which holds a very special place in Anita's heart as you are about to learn as well. So Anita, welcome to Mega Yacht News Radio. I'm glad to see you.

Anita Turcotte: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Diane. It's what a pleasure.

Diane M. Byrne: I think a lot of people, when they think about interior design, they're thinking about the The beauty, right? The things that we see, the wall paneling, the fabrics, et cetera. And obviously that is part of it, but it goes a lot deeper. and your team [00:01:00] go even deeper than most design studios would. You follow what some people might consider 'purpose needs to come before prettiness.' So, and that's where the naval architecture and, and your other specialties come together, which really set you apart. So a little bit about that.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah, yeah. So just giving you a little background about us, we are an interior design and naval architecture firm. We're based outta Savannah, Georgia. And to your point, we really focus on structural functional design first and then aesthetic second. Obviously we want the most beautiful cohesive plan and

Anita Turcotte: we are extremely excited about giving that to our clients. But I feel that if we don't have a functional space and if it doesn't work well then it sets the holding off. And I always say that anybody can make something pretty, but let's make it work for that specific owner and that crew. So, yeah, we.

Anita Turcotte: Offer engineering naval architecture, [00:02:00] obviously interior design. So, but we look at it as a holistic approach where it all has to work together versus just picking some pillows and fabrics and things of that sort.

Diane M. Byrne: So could you give an example or two of how this comes together? I know oftentimes when owners change their mind or

Diane M. Byrne: a new idea for a layout comes to mind on your end. might realize, okay, well if we just move this wall a little bit here, we move these things around over there, everything will work better.

Diane M. Byrne: But it's never a simple matter of just moving a wall.

Anita Turcotte: Of course. A lot of times designers come in and we see a vision. And even, you know, sometimes myself, I'll see a vision, this is great, but then, you know, we can't just move a bulkhead. There might be something there, it might be structural, there might be, you know, engine room in, in the way, , that we might have to have some serious functional spaces there.

Anita Turcotte: So , having the naval architecture and engineering side of it helps us to get our ducks in a row before we present to an owner or, a manufacturer, just understanding exactly [00:03:00] what we're doing and, and how to approach the situation versus just going off in left field. So, , from day one we've always said that we wanted to be a functional design firm and have a credible source of engineering and naval architecture which is what we do.

Anita Turcotte: And it makes the interior design portion extremely easy from that point.

Diane M. Byrne: Right.

Diane M. Byrne: And a lot of that also I would imagine extends to the crew areas.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: of the fact that there's, say, an electrical system behind a wall, or it could be an engine room wall, like as you were just saying,

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: in a lot of ways related to crew spaces, because crew spaces are work areas as well as rest areas. know you spend a lot of time considering how their spaces are laid out and function.

Anita Turcotte: No, 100%. I I'm a firm believer just in the hospitality industry and the fact that you're, you know, you're working for an owner. That if you, if you have a happy crew, you're gonna have a happy experience with the guests. So just really [00:04:00] focusing on, storage for them, spatial awareness, , , they need to have a holistic environment that's gonna be it's crucial for them to be successful.

Anita Turcotte: Also, when we look at, you know, within the space, even in the guest areas, , understanding that specific boat, you know, whether it's a charter, private if the owner wants to see crew or does not. Really interested in seeing them. So we just have to, to work with the space planning as a whole. Essentially you've got two

Anita Turcotte: living spaces working together front of the house and back of the house. So just understanding from the design perspective first of how that flow works and that way finding that space planning and then of course, aesthetics afterwards. But again, you know, making sure crew is, is really.

Anita Turcotte: Something that I try to focus on first, and it's just making sure that like I said before, if, if the crew is happy and the, and it makes sense for them , then, then the rest of it seems to flow very well.

Diane M. Byrne: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. Now, in the, in the intro, [00:05:00] I, I've mentioned how you and your team are mindful of people on planet, and I wanted to, in a sense, I wanted to steer clear of the word sustain. Sustainable

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: the term sustainability, because those two words get tossed around a lot. And unfortunately, they're not

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: truly being used properly, That said, there is a, a real meaning behind sustainability. Sustainability is not just being green, it's being aware that there are better ways to do things. There are more responsible ways to do things. And one of the things that you and your team do in that respect really caught my attention. You're actually developing materials.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: in from mat, from items that most people wouldn't even consider, could be used for a fabric, a wall covering, et cetera. Talk about that. How did you figure out how to even

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: [00:06:00] with that?

Anita Turcotte: No, I appreciate you saying that. You know back to your point, sustainability is one of those words that kind of gets thrown around a lot and I think, yeah. When you go to the heart of it all, it's our responsibility to try to take care of the planet as much as possible. And if that means it's a little bit more time from us or reinventing the wheel, then that's what we have to do.

Anita Turcotte: And so, our entire team is very passionate about doing everything that we can to, extend the life of this planet. And , developing fabrics, developing processes new wood alternatives to te you know, there's, there's a, a bunch of different ways that we can work together to help with the sustainable aspect even down to the logistics portion of it, but.

Anita Turcotte: Going back to your point of developing products. So a little background about me. I went to school for interior architecture at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and I did focus a lot on sustainability there. So this has been a passion of mine since even before I started verge. I.

Anita Turcotte: . From there, I, I kind of got into furniture design for the marine industry and learned a lot about what it takes [00:07:00] to make something physical, whether it's a, a nightstand or a coffee table or a seti, things of that sort. So really understand the process of, of what it takes to put something together.

Anita Turcotte: And then started building relationships since I started Verge with other companies where I would reach out to them and say, Hey, listen, is there an alternative to this specific fabric that we have? You know, there's mushroom alternatives, there's corn husk alternatives. There is certain processes that you can develop alternatives to te that are popular that help with CO2 emissions even down to, you know, the logistics portion of it.

Anita Turcotte: If we're, if we're shipping things around the world, sometimes it's easier to go in a cargo versus air freight, sometimes it's easier to consolidate items. You know, planning, pre-planning also helps us in terms of moving things around. So looking at it as a complete hole .

Anita Turcotte: . and then I. Also, I feel like sometimes people look at sustainability and automatically think a dollar sign it's gonna be way more expensive and where it's gonna take longer. And that is not the case at all. It's problem solving. [00:08:00] I mean, our job is to make a better mouse trap each time, right?

Anita Turcotte: So it's not it, it, it can be actually sometimes less it expensive and easier to go around it. It's just reinventing that idea and, and working through the, nuts and bolts of it and trying to build better. And it's, it's actually pretty neat too. It's surprising that once you develop that fabric or , that process of a wood alternative, once it catches on, people see that at the quality's there, this durability is still there.

Anita Turcotte: It's just not impacting the environment the way it was before. And you'd be surprised how easy and fast then everybody wants to jump on it too. So I think it is our responsibility to really push that. And if no one else is developing, that's fine. We can do it and we'll just share it, share it with everybody else.

Anita Turcotte: So I, I, again we're extremely passionate about sustainability and, and bettering the planet.

Anita Turcotte: So that's my spiel on it.

Diane M. Byrne: It's a good spiel for sure.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: too, that when you are presenting some of these options to the owners and their [00:09:00] teams let's just use mushroom as an example. Since you mentioned that, would imagine that there's probably some surprise and even shock. Like really a mushroom would be a fill in the blank item.

Anita Turcotte: It's really neat. It's, you'd be surprised too. I mean, I feel like it's something that's innovative. You get excited about it. It catches on like wildfire once you're excited about something, an alternative, and you can present it to a client and educate them on something, it really does.

Anita Turcotte: It's, it's an exciting alternative. So yeah, mushrooms, aloe for leather replacements. There, there's, there's a bunch of different options for new and innovative fabrics. I mean, even, , we work with, f Yachting. They're a great partner of ours.

Anita Turcotte: They, they build all of our, I. Refits and New Builds interiors and they have F Lab. And so we work together to develop some, some new and fun products. One of the newest fabrics is crushed stones that were repurposed and then you can put 'em [00:10:00] into fabrics and it, it's really neat some of the stuff that we can do

Anita Turcotte: these days. We've got the technology for it. You just have to do it.

Diane M. Byrne: Yeah. That's amazing. I would never in a thousand years think that a stone could end up being something that you would obviously consider a soft material, a

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: you would want to lie against, cozy up against. You think of a stone as being something that would need to be polished or you would like it to, to remain in its rough form as artwork.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah. No, it's.

Diane M. Byrne: two and two together to think that it could possibly be cozy.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah, it's so neat. It really is. And it's just a reflective properties of it too, right? So you're not, you're not feeling something that's hard. You're taking the reflective portions of it and you're milling its down and then making a fabric out of it. But I mean, it's an alternative to a stingray hide that you would get.

Anita Turcotte: I mean, we don't need to go out and kill stingrays. Let's go ahead and make something that looks just like it, or an ostrich or there's, there's plenty of different things that you can do so that you're not impacting the environment in a negative way. You're just mimicking and biomimicry is a, you know, going [00:11:00] kind of off topic a little bit, but bio biomimicry is really what all this is.

Anita Turcotte: Let's, let's figure out the process of what nature is doing and let's replicate that with our technology and do better.

Diane M. Byrne: Yeah. Yeah, sure. It makes a lot of sense. Mother

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: pretty smart, so we can, we can learn a couple lessons from her,

Anita Turcotte: Right. Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: Well along those same lines of learning lessons, education, et cetera. ties into what I also wanted to ask you about, which is mentoring. I know you are really, really passionate about bringing up the next generation of craftspeople and designers and other professionals in yachting, and it's a matter of really opening people's eyes to the possibilities and educating them of about what the opportunities are.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: it sounds like a pretty obvious question, but I think I still need to ask it.

Diane M. Byrne: Why is it so important to you?

Anita Turcotte: I feel that there's been so many great people and [00:12:00] mentors that have pushed me to where I am today. And I can see our success and I can see us growing and I feel that it's, again, my responsibility to do that to somebody else. The yachting industry is amazing. It's been nothing but a, it just great.

Anita Turcotte: It's grand. I mean, it's, it's fun. It's. It's innovative, it's problem solving. It's everything I could ever imagine and more. And I really truly enjoy it. And if we can get another generation of people excited about it, I feel like we could really push the bar and do some, some neat things. And, you know these kids are gonna go somewhere anyway and do something else.

Anita Turcotte: Why not bring 'em into our industry? I feel like there is a gap of my generation and even younger. But yeah, we're a professional. Nick and I, Nick ick, he's our naval architect, and myself, we're professional mentors of the Marine design department at SCAD Savannah College of Art and Design, which is here.

Anita Turcotte: And, you know, we, we help them move forward the same way somebody's helping us. But yeah, I mean, these, these kids, they wanna have, they, they see that there is something out there in the marine and street. If we can help them get from point A to point B, I [00:13:00] mean, that's, that's a, that's a goal of mine.

Anita Turcotte: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: et cetera. And it's not Savannah.

Diane M. Byrne: And yet Savannah College of Art and Design is such an amazing school. The talent when I first learned about the school, it had to be probably 20 years ago,

Anita Turcotte: Mm-hmm.

Diane M. Byrne: the talent that I saw coming out of that school blew my mind and I thought, oh my gosh, if we could just figure out how to. Create a stronger tie between schools like SCAD

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: and other schools around the nation that might be similar, mi, similarly minded in terms of teaching design, teaching architecture, teaching engineering. What could we [00:14:00] do? It would just the, the sky would be limitless really.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah. No, that's, that's so true. And even when you look at, SCAD is as the design aspect and pushing the, the bar for that portion engineering, you also have, you know, your trade schools here, like Savannah State and the technical college. There's welding, there's furniture design, there's, you name it.

Anita Turcotte: And so I, I feel that Savannah, and even, you know, outside of Savannah, I feel like there's a lot of students out there that just need somebody to direct them to say, oh, by the way, here is a profession that you can have , where you can make a great living. You can have fun, you can, you know, start a business if you want to.

Anita Turcotte: Just staying within the marine industry versus going off into some other field. It's worth a try and there's been a lot of growth in it from my perspective of kids just interested in doing it. I mean, one of our interns right now, we're hiring her, she graduates in two weeks, Maryanne.

Anita Turcotte: She's gonna be a junior designer with us, and, , we're constantly taking the kids to field trips and yards and manufacturing and, and things of that sort. So it's pretty, it's pretty [00:15:00] exciting.

Diane M. Byrne: Yeah, well, you've got some terrific yards right in your backyard between Safe Harbor, Savannah Yacht Center and Thunderbolt Mar. And then now that IGY Marinas is opening it's marina, the first of a kind in a really,

Anita Turcotte: Yeah,

Diane M. Byrne: time in Savannah. There'll be even more opportunity to open people's eyes.

Anita Turcotte: it's great. It's great. There's a lot of development in the next, I mean, we see it in the next five, 10 years. That's gonna happen here. This is the, this is the location to be in yachting. I know Florida is at the moment, but I, I'm a firm believer that Savannah is up next. Do some fun stuff.

Diane M. Byrne: Yeah. I look forward to seeing that growth continue. It's, it's

Anita Turcotte: It's tremendous.

Diane M. Byrne: a fabulous city on top of it all, which makes it even better.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah, no, it's fun. I, I always enjoy it when the boats come and they're like, oh, Savannah, we've never heard of it. And then the crew gets to go out and they see the city and they're, oh, this is actually a pretty fun place. We like it. So it's it, then everybody's happy, right?

Diane M. Byrne: Right, right. At the end of the day, everybody should be happy when they're working and when they're playing

Anita Turcotte: Yes.

Diane M. Byrne: So one last question. I

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: [00:16:00] ask people on this podcast, you could use just one word to sum up what a yacht owner wants, what would it be? I.

Anita Turcotte: That's an easy one. I'm a firm believer in an experience. Our owners , they don't have to be in yachting, they wanna be in yachting. They could just go buy another hotel or, well, who knows? This should be a pleasant experience for them from start to finish. And the design process is, is fun.

Anita Turcotte: I mean, this is, if I'm excited about it, you should be excited about it. We're creating something specifically for you. And the whole process itself should be enjoyable. Because it does sometimes take some time. So I, I think just getting the crew and captain and owners excited about what's next and showing them that, you know, with the space planning and the functional design and then the aesthetics, just showing them and having them be part of that process is really fun for us. Yeah. And experience.

Diane M. Byrne: Experience is a great word. A hundred percent.

Anita Turcotte: Yeah.

Diane M. Byrne: I really have [00:17:00] enjoyed this conversation. I really like your way of thinking and the creativity that you and your team wholeheartedly embrace, and that extends to the mechanical and more engineering aspect too. It's important for people to understand that

Diane M. Byrne: your studio takes that holistic view, as you say, of interior design and I'm, I'm sure a lot of people are going to have learned a lot during this conversation today.

Anita Turcotte: Well, listen, Diane, I really appreciate the opportunity. 

Diane M. Byrne: .

Diane M. Byrne: . Everybody, to learn more about what Anita and the VIR Yacht Design team can do for you. You can visit their website, which is vir yacht design.com. next time, I'm Diane Byrne.