Two Studios, One Vision

What you take from this

M2Develop and Marty Lowe Design now take on projects together, so an owner, a broker or a shipyard can engage both studios on a single project, from a studio on the New River, minutes from the yards.

• It isn't a merger. Marty Lowe Design and M2Develop stay independent, each with its own name and its own clients, and now work side by side when a project calls for both.
• The studio on the New River, minutes from the yards, holds everything you'll need to design a project: fabric, leather, wood, stone and carpet, so you can develop an entire interior without travelling to Europe.
• Together the two studios can take on projects that scale or scope might have kept either of them from pursuing alone.

For me, it's something of a full circle. I began my career alongside Marty, learning the craft of designing luxury yacht interiors. She would find something extraordinary, a piece with real presence, and trust me to find where it belonged in a space that was never built for it. On a yacht, where you can't move a wall or raise a ceiling, that's a discipline of its own. It's where I learned mine.

In time I established M2Develop as my own studio and spent seven years as the U.S. designer for Ferretti Group America, building a practice and a point of view of my own across more than fifty projects: new builds and refits across the leading yacht brands, with a particular gift for translating European design for the way American owners live aboard.

Why now

We've collaborated on projects before, and it has always worked. Formalizing it was the natural next step: two points of view, one standard, brought to every project we take on together.

Part of that is what Marty brings: more than four decades in this industry, with work spanning Sanlorenzo, Ferretti and Feadship. When the Italian yards first set out to win American owners, she was the designer they turned to, the one who understood how these yachts had to be reshaped for life on this side of the water. She brings that instinct; I bring the last decade of this market and the hands to execute it. We push each other, and the work is sharper for it.

Together, we take on work that scale or scope might have kept either of us from pursuing alone. That's the honest reason for the collaboration: it lets both studios pursue more ambitious projects, with more capability behind each one.

What it is

This isn't a merger. Marty Lowe Design and M2Develop remain two independent studios, each with its own name and its own clients. What changes is that an owner, a broker or a shipyard can now engage both studios on a single project: her eye and her history, my hands and my read of this market, brought to bear on the same work.

We work from a studio on the New River, minutes from the yards, and whatever an interior needs is already here: fabric, leather, wood, stone and carpet, with a working setup for every project we have in build right now. An owner can develop an entire interior with us rather than flying to Europe to do it. Most people are surprised it exists. We've let the work speak for itself until now, and this is us starting the conversation.

What it means for you

If you're a broker: the interior is often the part of a deal that decides how a client feels about a boat. The layout they can finally picture, the pieces that make it theirs, the accessory package that transforms a room before the next showing. That's the part we take off your plate. You know the engines, the range and the draft; the story of the interior is ours to tell, and it's often the part the client remembers. Think of us as an extension of your team, one call away, working toward your close. And if you have a client who can't quite picture what they're being sold, bring them to the studio and let them put their hands on it.

If you're an owner: we start with how you'll live aboard before we show you a single material. Who's on the boat, whether you entertain or slip away, whether the kids and the dog are coming, how you like to be looked after. Then two points of view shape it together: more than four decades of Marty's eye, and my read of how this market lives on the water. You'll have a yacht you're proud to show and genuinely at ease living on, with room for the pieces you already love and the stories that come with them, developed right here in America, minutes from the yard.

If you're a shipyard: it's your boat, and our work is fine-tuning it for the owners who'll buy it here. The layout, the materials, the details that make hull two the one that sells in this market. We design for production, work with the team you assign, and deliver on your timeline. When an owner brings in their own designer, we keep the intent intact and the build on schedule. And with two studios behind each project, we take on programs that might have stretched either of us alone.

What comes next

Between us, we hold decades of experience in a field that is rarely documented. Alongside the work, we intend to share it: how this market truly functions, why a yacht built in Europe is reconsidered before it's right for life here, and what goes into designing an interior at this level. There are clients we'll never name, and that discretion is much of why we're trusted, but the expertise underneath is ours to share.

Ryan Altman is the founder and principal designer of M2Develop, a yacht interior design studio. He and Marty Lowe collaborate on select projects across their two independent studios.

FAQ

Is M2Develop merging with Marty Lowe Design?

No. They remain two independent studios, each with its own name and its own clients. What changes is that an owner, a broker or a shipyard can now engage both studios on a single project.

Where do M2Develop and Marty Lowe Design work?

From a studio on the New River in Fort Lauderdale, minutes from the yards, with fabric, leather, wood, stone and carpet on hand and a working setup for every project in build.

What does the collaboration offer a shipyard?

Fine-tuning the boat for the owners who will buy it here: the layout, the materials and the details. The studios design for production, work with the team the yard assigns and deliver on the yard's timeline.