ETIENNE SALOMÉ

b500 magazine

Yacht & Supercar Designer / Artist

After working for 12 years on the design of Bugatti Automobiles, Berlin-based Etienne Salomé decided to create his own company: ‘Salome Yachts and Design’, He officially launched with his team the ‘Atlantic Project’ in September 2019 during the Monaco Yacht Show, a 12 meter sport tender, immediately recognisable on the water, a true head-turner. He keeps one foot in the automotive industry as a consultant for various car manufacturers including the supercar/ hypercar manufacturer Koenigsegg. M y favourite project at Bugatti has to be : ‘La Voiture Noire’, a one-of-one project, for one customer only, the real ‘auto-couture’, an exact translation of pure elegance on the road. This automobile is packing the 1500 PS from its W16 quad-turbo engine, the beauty and the beast! With this engine Bugatti broke the speed record last year, for the first time over 300 mph... but where do you want to use this vehicle? Apart from a race track there are not many places allowing this kind of performance...

One of the answers would be within the maritime world, the open sea!

Navigating on water allows a complete freedom with no restrictions, the only one that decides on the speed and direction is the captain, intoxicating freedom!

The automotive industry is in a constant search of additional safety, ending up having so many creation restrictions, like pedestrian impact, crash beams, airbags... all for a safer and better product... but then all cars end up being a very similar design and much bigger in size!

In comparison, the yacht industry requires a few certifications but it feels like the 70’s in term of creation freedom!! Even though while walking through the harbour of Monaco, all yachts look similar and therefore difficult to recognise a specific brand of yacht and when they are all painted the same colour then its almost impossible to define the constructors.

Wally designed a trend with flatter surfaces, benefiting from technical evolution and making new design possible and which is now heavily copied by many manufacturers.

So what is the next step for the yachting industry?

Unique design, immediately recognisable and technology driven developments with a unique formula1 flow-through inspired hull allowing stability at high speed... The Atlantic project is my answer to these challenges. Packing three mercury engines each delivering 370PS and able to carry up to 9 people with a top speed of 49 knots, a project filled with emotion!