XSMG Marine, the British superboat manufacturer, was presented with a prestigious design and innovation award last night for the XSR48, the firm's iconic and ultra-luxury superboat.
The Conde Nast Traveller's Innovation and Design Awards, which took place at a gala ceremony at Grosvenor Square, London on Monday evening, celebrate excellence in 10 categories ranging from Sustainability to Infrastructure. The XSR48 was selected in the Transport category that included other recent design achievements such as the new Fiat 500 and Philippe Starck's concept motorcycle for Voxan.
Other winners at the award ceremony included Heston Blumenthal for excellence in the Gourmet category and Chanel in Retail.
The top award was voted for by readers of the magazine after being shortlisted by a panel of experts including Jason Barlow, editor-at-large at Top Gear Magazine, Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate Gallery and Loyd Grossman, the culture and food expert.
Commenting on the accolade, Ian Sanderson, XSMG Marine's Chief Executive and founder said: "We all thrilled and immensely proud that XSMG Marine, a small niche British design project that designed and created the XSR48 as a super-luxury icon, has been recognised to have achieved exactly that. Being nominated was already seen as a triumph for our design team, to win the award against some of the world's most extraordinary and highest profile design projects and some of the world's largest brands is overwhelming.
It takes a huge amount of creativity to create a truly 'unique' concept, our XSR48 unquestionably has unique DNA, but it takes huge amounts of courage and commitment for a small business to take a concept and turn it into a reality. We have all put so much passion and hard work in making this vision a reality, so it is absolutely fantastic to receive this recognition against such esteemed opponents."