Italy

Luca Bassani Design

There’s a certain magic to those who find their passion very early on in life and who then get to pursue it too. One of those people is Fernando de Almeida, Brazilian yacht designer. Features Editor Leona Caanen sits down with Fernando to discuss his career, his hitch-hiking across the Atlantic and how he learned from the very best in the industry.From a very young age, Fernando de Almeida knew exactly what it was he wanted to do: “I was around 14 years old, I decided I wanted to design boats. I have never changed my mind since,” Fernando shares. His passion for design and the sea didn’t come from nowhere. Growing up on the Brazilian coast, “I had this passion for the sea,” Fernando recalls, “my father was an architect… and I was always thinking about designing boats.”&nbsp;Upon completing his university studies in engineering, Fernando decided it was time to pursue his dream, starting with a grand voyage. At 24 years old, he left his motherland with nothing but a little backpack and hitchhiked his way towards the Caribbean onboard a boat. From there, Fernando wanted to go through the Panama Canal and head for the Pacific, before eventually making his way to Europe. Yet with a drug-smuggling pandemic happening along the Northern South-American Coast, “sailors were nervous, and young designers with backpacks even more so,” Fernando remembers. With plenty of yachts traversing the Atlantic, Fernando decided to go the other way. “I just crossed the Atlantic,” he says very nonchalantly, yet it was a decision that would change the course of his entire future.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/381551/image/large-0da61825eff16a5977e59a25dbf8fa21.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/381551">Arriving in Italy“One month after arriving in Italy, I was working in a design office close to Milan,” he recalls. It was 1989 and Fernando stepped straight into the heart of European design; “It was at a time when Italy was defining much of the industry’s creative language.”&nbsp;Fernando ended up staying in Italy for five years, with most of it being spent designing sailing yachts of all sizes. “As part of the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/153" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Nauta Yachts S.r.l. (Company)">Nauta Yachts</a> team, we designed many boats for <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/151" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Southern Wind (Company)">Southern Wind</a>, the South African shipyard,” Fernando notes, “we designed different sailing boats. It was a “fantastic school,” as the Brazilian designer calls it: being able to experiment with different materials for different climates and various designs.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/284386/image/large-d1ad1d64b7da1c38eb84b4f59e553741.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/284386">In Italy, Fernando got to work with some of the most influential design voices at the time. “I collaborated with <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/153" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Nauta Yachts S.r.l. (Company)">Nauta Yachts</a>, who were still at the beginning of their now-renowned trajectory, we were experimenting together. It was so good.”Fernando’s years in Italy were interrupted by a five-year return to Brazil between 1993 and 1998, where he worked on an explorer vessel set to sail to Antarctica: a 29-metre sailing yacht named <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/16320" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Paratii 228.8m (94'6&quot;)Equipe Thierry Stump2001">Paratii 2</a>, designed and built in Brazil. In 1998, Fernando returned to Italy once again to work with the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/153" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Nauta Yachts S.r.l. (Company)">Nauta Yachts</a> team.&nbsp;Perhaps the most formative chapter came later, when Fernando moved to Nice at the turn of the century and joined <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/8561" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Luca Bassani Design (Company)">Luca Bassani</a>’s team at <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/166" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Wally (Company)">Wally</a>. “He was a visionary,” Fernando says with a hint of admiration. Fernando became part of a small group working directly on what he calls “the new <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/166" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Wally (Company)">Wally</a> revolutions.” These were the years when <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/166" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Wally (Company)">Wally</a> was redefining minimalism at sea: clean lines, purposeful geometry, featuring the brand’s now-signature open deck layout. A three-year experience that left a permanent impact on Fernando.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/333459/image/large-b2778f15f57da6e02f2a7c0df17565fe.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/333459">Returning to his Brazilian RootsAfter spending a total of ten years in Italy, with a quick hiatus in Florida, it was time for Fernando and his family to return to Brazil. While there aren’t too many shipyards in the country, the motive to move stemmed from different priorities: starting his own family. With a baby on the way, it was important for Fernando and his wife to be close to their families.To say that family life was the only trigger for the move would be untrue; rather, Fernando’s return to his motherland coincided with a feeling of ‘readiness’. Having had the pleasure of learning from some of the industry’s best builders and designers, “I was starting to feel I was mature enough to design by myself,” Fernando shares. Leaping across the ocean, without having to hitchhike, Fernando decided to open his own design studio.“It was a big step, very challenging,” Fernando admits. While previously designing mainly sailing yachts, Brazil’s sailing market was limited. “I couldn’t live on designing sailing boats.” Instead, Fernando began designing powerboats. In hindsight, it was the shift that would carve out his distinctive place in the Brazilian yachtbuilding landscape. “Probably good,” he now reflects.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/380719/image/large-e8e392662a73ee42d6836aaadc5d7682.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/380719">Over time, Fernando’s work expanded steadily across Brazilian yards. From producing sportfishing vessels and unique small-series designs, to building a reputation for consistency, clarity, and clean lines. Fernando’s design language, shaped by a decade of Italian influence, took on a new robustness. It became distinctly his own: functional, honest, and purpose-driven. “I try to be as clean as possible,” Fernando says, “as few lines as possible.”“I like fishing very much,” Fernando shares about the sportfishing boats he’s designed. “I am especially interested in boats that have a purpose,” he explains. “Long-range cruising boats… boats to go to remote places.” It is explorers, world-travellers, and his very own sailing voyages that have been a major influence on the yachts Fernando has designed.Clean lines, commercial DNA, and a Brazilian sparkleTo build yachts with purpose is precisely the philosophy that led Fernando to find the perfect yacht-building partner in 2018, when he began working with <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/513" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="INACE Yachts (Company)">INACE</a>. A long-established Brazilian builder originally known for their military, oil and gas vessels, as well as shrimp boats, trawlers and rugged commercial hulls. “We started this partnership… and since then we made two <a data-gid="gid://syiq/YachtModel/9112" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Inace FHI 9027.4m (89'11&quot;)">90-footers</a> (27.4 metres), the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/15621" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="INACE Yachts 10632.3m (105'12&quot;)INACE Yachts2026">106</a> (32.3 metres) presented at this year’s <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Event/273" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show - 2025">Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show</a>, and done a refit of a 37-metre superyacht.” he says. <img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/380721/image/large-3640fb4753a8fbbce97aac52f5763d9f.png" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/380721">There are numerous superyacht projects in the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/513" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="INACE Yachts (Company)">INACE</a> pipeline, including a <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/15621" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="INACE Yachts 10632.3m (105'12&quot;)INACE Yachts2026">46-metre</a> new-build, another 37-metre refit and a 46-metre conversion refit, as well as various concepts the likes of INACE80, INACE115, and the INACE131. Fernando keeps himself plenty busy with designing new yachts: not only those he creates with <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/513" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="INACE Yachts (Company)">INACE</a>, but also a few yachts in-build across the Atlantic, including a still-confidential 50-metre superyacht in-build in Europe. Besides superyachts, Fernando also works with ProBoat, a yard in Angra dos Reis (Brazil) that builds highly innovative sportfishing boats, including numerous catamarans designed by <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/1506" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Fernando De Almeida Yacht Design (Company)">Fernando’s studio</a>: two 70-foot and an 80-foot catamaran and a 72-foot power cruiser.Currently <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/513" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="INACE Yachts (Company)">INACE</a> is in the middle of a renaissance, producing a new generation of explorer yachts that carry both the yard’s commercial DNA and Fernando’s clean-lined clarity. “We are trying to raise the bar as much as we can,” he says. The shipyard currently has multiple yachts under construction, including complex refits and new explorers: emphasising a growing demand for Brazilian-built long-range vessels.Working with INACE also gave Fernando something few designers experience: true influence inside a yard’s DNA. He is, in many ways, both designer and cultural translator, shaping the vision while respecting the shipyard’s heritage. The result is a unique mix of Brazilian DNA with Italian influence, executed via serious, capable hulls paired with contemporary minimalism and clever spatial solutions.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/380720/image/large-95d9893f1d328873e8cc0f797ef21740.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/380720">Yet for all the progress, Fernando still speaks of the work with a grounded honesty. “People think about the glamour,” he says, “but there is no glamour. It’s hard work.” Long hours, endless drawings, delivery deadlines; “sometimes people say, what inspires you? Sometimes it’s the delivery date,” he laughs. Yet Fernando loves a challenge, hence why his favourite yacht is always the one is working on at the moment: “Because we are so much involved with it,” he explains. “I love designing… creating something from nothing.”Creative blocks happen too. “Sometimes it’s tough and frustrating because you don’t find the solution,” he admits. “You can stay designing a boat forever.” The trick, he says, is learning to step away. “Sometimes you have to leave it… go do something else… come back tomorrow. Normally it works.”From hitchhiking across the Atlantic to owning his own <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/1506" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Fernando De Almeida Yacht Design (Company)">design studio</a> in his home country, Fernando embodies a true explorer within not just design, but life. Mixing his creative vision of sleek and simple lines with the practicality that is long hours and deadlines, the result are superyachts designed with clean lines, purpose, and built to go the distance. Just as Fernando’s designs take people anywhere, his own story is proof that sometimes, if you trust the wind and step onboard, the ocean delivers you exactly where you’re meant to be.This article was first published in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.superyachttimes.com/newspaper/newspaper-issue-56" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">issue 56</a>&nbsp;of the SuperYacht Times newspaper, available for download&nbsp;<a href="https://www.superyachttimes.com/newspaper/newspaper-issue-56" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">here</a>.

Fernando de Almeida: From Hitchhiking the Atlantic to Shaping Brazilian Yachting

Brazilian yacht designer, Fernando de Almeida shares his journey of yacht design, bringing him from Brazil to Italy and back