[Press Release]

Ancona, Italy. September 22, 2009. WHY, Wally Hermès Yachts, today unveils a revolutionary
approach to cruising in motor yachts with the presentation of a full size model of its first born, an
innovative 58 metre-long 38 metre-wide yacht, in Ancona’s shipyard.

Wally Hermès Yachts: a joint-venture.
WHY is the result of the joint-venture signed in June 2008 between Hermès and Wally, to develop a new type of motor yacht redefining the art of living on the sea. The iconic Parisian house and the iconic Monaco yacht brand formed an equal partnership whereby each company is fully involved in all aspects of the conception and design of each project. Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Artistic Director of Hermès says : “When we met, in autumn 2007, Luca Bassani Antivari, President of Wally had thought about asking Hermès to accessorise the interior of one of his boats. I was impressed by the daring of his projects. My instinct was to get on board with him and go and seek out new territories in yacht design, but I had no interest in speed.”

Luca Bassani Antivari explains: “What I’ve always liked about Hermès, aside from its intrinsic quality, is its audacity and radicalism; its desire to go beyond trends, to make no compromises and to maintain the authenticity of the house. Wally shares the same values, ‘Hermès-on-Land’, ‘Wally-on-Sea’: inevitably our paths had to cross.”

WHY 58×38
The common values of the two brands have led to a first yacht that offers an unparalleled living space at sea. WHY was developed to give life to this concept assembling a team of dedicated talents in design, engineering, and naval architecture.

Then the tried and tested Norwegian Ramform hull characterised by exceptional and unprecedented stability and volume and spotted by Luca Bassani Antivari, revealed itself as the ideal choice to be adapted to the WHY 58×38 project.

Following this unique adaptation, the decks and the interiors were developed in accordance with the fundamental credo of WHY, ‘form-equals-function’. Thus were born other innovations in the world of mega yachts: patios generously flooding the interior with natural light, photovoltaic panels on the glass hull sides, as well as on the roof opening, like Venetian blinds, a 25 metre-long forward end swimming pool, and a 36-metre aft deck beach.
WHY 58×38 offers comfort, privacy, stability, space, independence and sustainability.

Sustainability
“We are very interested in creating a yacht that will have a low environmental impact”, says Pierre-Alexis Dumas. “Its relationship with the sea must be respectful and easy. WHY intends to offer a new way of moving over water by creating an innovative way of managing and recycling its sources and uses of energy.”
“If you want to go totally ecological, it’s only sailing yacht. The reality is that today, 90 % of the market is powerboats, echoes Luca Bassani Antivari. Our aim is to reduce diesel consumption per year and per yacht: 20 to 30 % for propulsion and 40 to 50 % for generation.”

Thanks to its specific hull, WHY 58×38 requires less power at cruising speed than a boat of equal size. Its diesel-electric propulsion is the most efficient motorisation today, and the surface of the photovoltaic panels, almost 900 square metres, covers most of the boat’s auxiliary system needs.

WHY Research and Development plan to optimize this project’s energy consumption by improving the isolation of the yacht and the heat recovery of its engines, and is also investigating the latest wind energy production and wind propulsion system technologies.

In comparison to a yacht of the same size, WHY 58×38 has been conceived to reduce drastically its energy consumption, saving up to 200 tons of diesel per year.
The WHY R & D program includes tank testing for hull stability in the SSPA facilities in Sweden, and the construction of a full-scale mock-up in order to allow the design team to fine tune the living areas correctly in accordance with the hull’s unique shape.

“The WHY 58X38 yacht looks very unfamiliar but it remains on a human scale. Space is the greatest luxury on the sea, but I believe the new luxury will be the time to enjoy it”, concludes Pierre-Alexis Dumas.

Designer : Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Luca Bassani Antivari, Gabriele Pezzini, and MauroSculli

Primavera Helmet, designed by Sebastian Hess, is a key product of the latest high quality helmet array for the recent scooter generation. This open face, easy and casual helmet provides 180° visor that meets classic elegance. The clearly defined design has reduced to the essential components only and the style combines the legendary past with latest appearance. Innovation and vision, tradition and future, engineering and design are the main factors of this sustainable product. The main goal of designing this product is to provide excellent safety to the new generation scooter riders with a brilliant outlook that will attract the attention of all range of bikers.

[Press Release]

The Primavera helmet revives a legendary past and represents the birth of the new brand NZI by Hess Design. In its design and performance the helmet plays with citations and references to the exceptional Vespa 50 Special, the style icon of the 70`s. The minimalistic aesthetics of the Primavera refers directly to the mystic Vespa-models of the 70`s. These style icons were the base for the new developed helmet with its innovative features and its easy and safe use. New standards in terms of urbanity and innovation are set by creating a complete Primavera edition containing helmet, gloves and scarves.

Quality is no longer enough. Today a product or a brand is perceived as new only if its functionality and its materials are innovative. Tradition and future, innovation and vision, engineering and design unify and peak in an “honest” and sustainable product without loosing the base of creating innovative, technical and protective apparel. The ambition of the cooperation between NZI and Hess Design is to develop and create new charming products. Essential elements therefor are the intensive investigation of user scenarios and the vision of creating sustainable and innovative products. NZI and Hess Design develop products for seekers of beauty, for people with consciousness looking for high quality products.

Sportiness, dynamic and elegance in all their plainness are the key features of the Primavera. Clearly defined lines that are reduced to the essence underline the character and style consciousness. Their forms and their flow give hints to some new key features. The front of the Primavera with its playful swinging lines and the decorative air-inlets refer to hairstyles and hat fashion of the 60`s. The rear section with its metallic air-outlets rather speaks an automotive language and makes sure the helmet in its appearance is well-balanced. The 180° rotatable visor marks the heart of the helmet. Different shaped and toned visors can be attached to the patented helmet fixation tool-free via magnetic system in just a second.

The fusion of traditional, classical elegance with young, fresh and easy streetwear effects an exciting and charming impression. Deep satisfaction and intimate gratification will be experienced by every Primavera user. Desire of spring, desire of style awakes in all seekers of beauty. Primavera represents the initial of a new lifestyle that can be lived. Primavera, the helmet for the high tech community of tomorrow.

Designer : Sebastian Hess
Photography: Jörg Baumann

[Press Release]

Higgins-Aubé Inc, a young Canadian company, is proud to show early images of its latest creation, the Energya, a three-wheeled vehicle. The Energya™ three-wheeled vehicle, also now know as a motomobile, is designed as a light, high performance vehicle. Similar to a sports car where the driver and the passenger are seated side-by-side, the Energya™ motomobile has a rear engine that drives the single wheel at the back. The vehicle feels, drives and behaves mostly like an open wheels racecar. The vehicle features a distinctive, cutting-edge aggressive design that reflects its level of performance.

Mechanically, the Energya™ motomobile will be powered by a motorcycle engine having a six-speed sequential manual transmission. It will feature an aluminum frame with inboard front suspension using superposed unequal A-arms. The dampers slightly protrude through the front cowling, both as a design statement and for cooling reasons. Particular attention has been given to reduce the weight of each component in order to produce a vehicle that conveys a dynamically thrilling experience. Particular attention has been given to reduce the mass of the non-suspended components and to centralizing most of the mass closer to the vehicle center of gravity for enhancing dynamic performances. The cockpit is typical of a racecar with only the essential instruments for the road. The seats are very supportive, in pure racecar fashion. Innovatively, half-doors are provided to ease access to the cockpit while providing side-impact protection. Convenience has not been neglected with a small storage space under the front cowling.

The advantage of having only three wheels is manifold. First and foremost, a three-wheeled vehicle is considered, in many jurisdictions as a motorcycle. Since the vehicle may do without many of the mandatory systems and components required on an automobile, the motomobile may consequently be made lighter, advantageously influencing its performances. As Higgins-Aubé shares the philosophy of late Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars™, reducing weight was indeed the cornerstone that led to the choice of this type of vehicle. Furthermore, a three-wheel vehicle having two wheels at the front, contrarily to having a single wheel at the front, is dynamically stable.

Performance targets are set high: achieve 0-100km/h within 4 seconds and lateral acceleration in excess of 1 G. Expect an engine in the neighborhood of 200 hp and an approximate vehicle weight of 350kg. The Energya™ motomobile is aimed at providing exotic car performance at down-to-earth prices.

Styling and design were conducted per state of the art R&D process. “We aimed at solving the main problems related to this compact architecture in sync with engineering. For example, ingress-egress ease and side impact protection were made possible by the use of a half door which also improves general styling by connecting the lower front cowling to the rear fairing with a continuous dynamic line” says Aubé.

Given appropriate financial backing, production units of the Energya™ motomobile could hit the market within 18 months.

As a future step, it is envisioned that the Energya™ motomobile will be offered as an electric vehicle. This will turn the electric-car stereotype on its head, as the same performance objectives will be maintained.

Designer : Higgins-Aubé Inc

Bionic shapes and intelligent material user – the Silbervogel demonstrates very innovative engineering competence. The load bearing carbon structure is designed exactly for the physical forces during the race and therefore extremely light and rigid. This goes for the slim rims as well.

The spirit of competition is the father of this extreme racing vehicle. Each detail has been optimized for lowest resistance. This also applies to the main body shape. Polished aerodynamics is important, especially for gravitation racecars. That’s why the Silbervogel is fully encased.

Designer : Jakob Hirzel