Cruise and Ferry Review - Summer/Spring 2020

2 0 7 Cruise lines’ core brand values can vary enormously, so we must have an intimate knowledge about every client’s guests. Satisfying clients Studio DADO has always taken a holistic view of design – looking beyond the aesthetics to operational and revenue performance. We’re always exploring how we can go further and questioning what we could be doing to provide an even better service to our current and prospective clients. We’ve been very fortunate with the clients that we acquired in our formative years because they’ve believed in, and trusted, Studio DADO. Similarly, we’ve been lucky to work with clients who appreciate our design approach, perhaps because we share the same core values. We have great dialogue with our clients about different spaces, including about operational aspects of the design. It’s not just about the look and the feel, it’s about the layout too. In a restaurant, for example, we scrutinise where we position waiter stations to minimise the steps to the galley. There are countless considerations like this – where operations also impact the experience. Having frank and honest conversations between the architect and the owner at the beginning of each project means that we can quickly create something that delivers a powerful and compelling experience for their guests. Looking to the future Our growth to date has been very organic and now it’s perhaps time for us to take a little more control of our direction to take us towards our personal and professional aspirations. Design studios need variety to stimulate creativity so we’d enjoy the opportunity to work in different sectors of the market – expedition and river cruise would both provide welcome diversity. Every cruise line has the same ultimate goal: they want guests to leave their ships saying that it was the best holiday they’ve had, and they can’t wait to do it again. Our aim is to continue to do whatever we can as designers to ensure that every guest does just that. However, we’re quite humble – we know that we’re not perfect and there’s always room for improvement. The only way you know what to improve on is to ask the question and fortunately, that’s a philosophy all four partners have always followed. CFR From left: Founding partners Greg Walton, Yohandel Ruiz, Javier Calle and Jorge Mesa work closely together to create compelling designs for their clients CS IE HIGHL IGHTS: INTERV IEW “Our client relationships feel like friendships to us ”