29/08/2026
MUST SEE | THE STORY BEHIND PUFFIN
For those who appreciate yacht design, craftsmanship and the story behind a yacht, this film is worth taking the time for.
We made it some five years ago. The Puffins you see in the film belong to an earlier generation, but the story Olivier tells has not changed.
It starts in 1990, not with a client brief, but with an idea of his own. Inspired by years of sailing his schooner through European waters, the coasts of Britain and Scandinavia, and by his fascination with the traditional sailing craft of the American Northeast, Olivier started drawing. Evening after evening at the chart table, he searched for the right lines, bringing together everything he had learned at sea. Those first sketches eventually became Puffin.
From the beginning, the idea was clear: a yacht combining elegance, seaworthiness and personality. Strong, simple and independent, without unnecessary complexity and designed to feel equally at home on Dutch waters or along a remote coastline.
Much has happened since those first drawings. Olivier van Meer Design has grown into a complete design office, with a team of naval architects, designers and engineers working on yachts of every size and character. What started with Olivier himself is now shared by the entire team, but the enthusiasm for creating yachts that are genuinely made for their owners remains exactly the same.
Every new Puffin is developed, questioned and improved by the whole team. Every owner brings new wishes and every yacht adds new experience. More than 30 years after the first idea, a new Puffin still creates the same enthusiasm in our office.
This is a longer film than most things you will find on social media, but if you the yacht and the real story behind its design, it is well worth taking the time to watch.
