Eva Mechler : "The Master Furniture Maker has turned her hand to the superyacht industry, building sustainable pieces using wood offcuts. Here, she tells her story."
By Dominique Afacan | Superyacht Life | 4 July 2024
“My grandfather was a cabinetmaker and I used to be in his workshop a lot as a little girl, so wood is in my blood. I was too young to make things by myself but I had a little workbench and he would make things for me. It was always clear that I would follow in his footsteps and my family totally supported that path.
After school, I did an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker while all my friends went off to university – and then after the three and a half years it took to complete the apprenticeship, I did more training and graduated with a Master’s degree. I always knew I wanted my own company, but of course I had to get experience before that. I worked in a carpentry in Germany and then moved to Zurich in Switzerland to be operations manager at another company. Over the years, I also took on project management roles and even worked for my parents’ company doing galvanisation.
A passion project that pays off
Alongside my paid work, I was busy designing my own furniture. One of the pieces I made was a solid wood washbasin. I took it to various exhibitions, even Salone del Mobile in Milan, and that’s where our superyacht story began. Someone passed the stand, pointed at my washbasin and said it would be good on a superyacht. To be honest, I didn’t even know what a superyacht was back then, but we learnt a bit more and then through a contact, ended up at the Monaco Yacht Show that same year. In retrospect, it is a good industry for us; my products are expensive – so we needed to find people who could appreciate the workmanship and be able to spend the money.
After that, we always went to the Monaco Yacht Show and kept networking – it’s a very small and tight world and it took some time, but eventually we got interest from various businesses. In fact, my first commission for a superyacht was a bespoke solid wood bathtub for the owner’s quarters.
Going it alone full-time
Now I have my own workshop and this is what I do full-time. We had to find a place where I could afford to start a business and do prototyping at low cost, so we moved to North Germany and found a suitable workshop. We did look in Switzerland but it was too expensive. Anyhow, my grandfather had his workshop in North Germany and my parents moved there after retirement so there are family ties. I have two little girls so it is good to be closer to the grandparents, too. My children have grown up alongside the business. They quite like to be in the workshop – they have their little drawer in my bench where they have their little tools. Without me pushing them, they often ask if they can help.
A return to Switzerland
I am not someone who would ever push myself in front of people, so I am proud that this community from the superyacht industry has shown interest in my work. I’ve done projects for Royal Huisman, Alia Yachts and Vitters. And design studios often come to me with their own concepts for me to make. I am currently collaborating with Studio Liaigre, Winch Design and Vripack.
One of my collaborators is the decking specialist Wolz Nautic. They work with a material called Tesumo – a natural wood alternative to teak developed in partnership with Lürssen. We talked together about the fact that if you had a sustainable deck, you should also have sustainable furniture on that deck – it would be strange to have one and not the other. They told me about the wood they always have left over and we got the idea of doing something with it. Today, I make chairs, stools and tables from their Tesumo offcuts. In fact, I delivered a Tesumo chair for Pendennis recently – it was a present from Wolz Nautic to the yacht owner after they’d completed the deck.
I now have more work than I can handle with my current operation, so we are moving back to Switzerland this summer. I got the opportunity to take over a company I was working at before – they have eight skilled workers including apprentices, so I’ll have access to them when I need them.
The ethos of ‘less is more’ guides my designs. I believe you should let the wood talk. I appreciate simplicity. One of the people I am most inspired by is Guillaume Rolland from Studio Liaigre. His drawings blow me away – they are just wonderful.”
Dominique Afacan, editor-in-chief of Superyacht Life
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