Eight Bells: Jörg Beiderbeck

Jörg Beiderbeck, considered as one of the great designers in the megayacht world, passed away on the evening of August 2 at his home in Bremen-Vegesack (Germany) after a long illness. As a founder of beiderbeck designs, he was 69 years old.

Born in the post-war period on 6th October 1946 in Wolfenbüttel, Jörg Beiderbeck studied in Kiel. After learning his trade in a shipyard in Carthage, in Tunisia, he returned to Schleswig and coined the saying “A man cannot become more than a Holsteiner!”.

In 1986, however, he ended up in Bremen and worked for ten years as chief designer for the Lürssen shipyard. There, in 1989, he made an impression with the 40-metre-long motor yacht “Be Mine”, the shipyard’s entry onto the megayacht scene, which, 20 years later, landed once more on the table of beiderbeck designs for a refit. The even longer “Xenia” also bore his signature.

In the mid-90s, whilst working as a lecturer at Bremen’s Technical College and in his own office as a naval architect, he met Immo Lüdeling and Tim Ulrich, who later succeeded him and took over the destiny of the company. In fact, Immo Lüdeling started working for the Beiderbeck offices back in 1997 and became a partner in beiderbeck designs in 2001.

“It’s not only beiderbeck designs that is grieving. We will all miss his advice and his expertise. We will honour Jörg Beiderbeck’s memory and continue along the same road, so that his aspirations in design and ideas will follow on behind him,” declared the three remaining partners, Immo Lüdeling, Tim Ulrich and Marcus Lowinski in unison. Back in 2010, Jörg Beiderbeck had relinquished the leadership of the renowned design studios in Bremen.

Jörg Beiderbeck leaves behind his long-term partner as well as a son and a daughter.