Design in Motion

Interior design on the water and in the air

Dawn Moffitt, the creative entrepreneur behind Dawn Moffitt Design Inc. in Wilmington, spends her days specializing in the interior design of private yachts and aircraft.

Moffitt says she was struck with the realization that she wanted to work in the yachting industry as she was finishing up her interior design degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1978.

“I walked on board one of the boats at Hatteras Yachts, and it was like a lightning bolt had struck me,” Moffitt says. “I knew that this was what I wanted to do; I wanted to be a yacht designer.”

But Moffitt says she knew that dream was seemingly out of reach, since there were only about five other yacht designers in the country at that time. But it soon became a reality.

“I was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with some of my classmates when my mom tracked me down,” she says. “We didn’t have cell phones then, so she had to call the hotel to find me. She told me that Hatteras Yachts wanted an interview with me.”

Moffitt says she had a feeling that this was her opportunity to break into yacht design.

Moffitt’s opportunity with Hatteras Yachts took her to New Bern where she would be working on one of their big yacht projects. It was there that she met her husband, Kermit.

“I left the yachting industry for a small time while having children,” Moffitt says. “The people in this industry want to work until 7 p.m. They don’t want to hear that you have to pick up your kids at daycare, which closes at five. You have to be available.” 

Moffitt says she came back into the industry when she was offered another opportunity with Hatteras, this time in south Florida, as head of the interior design department. She and her husband lived there for five years, until they returned to North Carolina and opened up Dawn Moffitt Design Inc. twenty years ago.

“A lot of my work is out of town, out of the state, out of the country. We’ve built relationships with clients all over the states and all over the world,” she says. “We chose to live in Wilmington because we’re both North Carolinians. We wanted to raise our children here.”

Moffitt says the business encompasses all aspects of interior design, including residential, commercial, yachts, and jets, with projects in the Wilmington area, the Outer Banks region, New Bern, and beyond the state and country lines.

“A lot of our work in residential has come from yachting and jetting,” she says. “This is a very small industry that we’re in so many of our clients come from referrals, which is the biggest compliment someone can give you. It means they value your integrity and your talent.”

Though Moffitt has worked on a large spectrum of different design endeavors, including commercial designs for doctors’ offices, she says yachts are probably her favorite to work on, because the creative possibilities are larger.

“I love every type of boat. Each different type of boat and each different type of client brings a new set of needs and wants,” she says. “No one has the same thought about how they want to finish out the boat. They have different priorities and ideas about how they want to spend their money.”

Moffitt has worked with many high-profile clients, including a former ambassador to Spain, Roger Penske, Johnny Carson, and former football coach Jimmy Johnson, in addition to a host of international clients.

“Internationally, I’ve worked with a Spanish count as well as royalty whom I’ve never met,” she says. “We’ve done business over the Internet, through email, and through FedEx.”

As for aircraft design, Moffitt notes her work on a Bombardier Global Express jet built in Montreal.

Moffitt also has won an international design award for a yacht called the Phoenix, which was built in Germany in 2005. She credits modern technology as the key in that project.

“The naval architect was in London, I was designing from here in the States, and the boat was being built in Germany,” she says.

But working with high-profile, quality-driven clients with eyes for the top of the line doesn’t come without the requisite amount of stress. Moffitt, however, now in her thirty-sixth year of interior design, says that since she is a high-energy type of person, she loves what she does – stress included.

“I’m very fortunate to be in this industry. I stress about it because I care,” she says.

With her husband handling the business side of things as CFO and business manager, she is free to focus on the creative aspect of the business.

“We can talk business 24/7 if we want, and I trust him, obviously,” she says with a laugh. “He has a vested interested in the company, too.”

As for retirement, Moffitt says she already has some projects in mind.

“I’ve been approached by vendors to work in furniture and fabric design,” she says, noting her collaboration with a textile designer in Los Angeles. “When I’m older and don’t want to travel, that’s something I can do creatively, from a different aspect. That’s in the future.”

Moffitt says she thrives in her business because it is ever-changing, fast-paced, and challenging.

“When you’re a creative person, you need something every day,” she says. “When things are quiet around here, I know it’s the calm before the storm – the wave is cresting.”

(Contributed photos of the 205’ yacht Phoenix, the 2005 winner of the prestigious Showboats Award for best motor yacht interior.)

Photo of Dawn Moffit by Mark Steelman. To view more of photographer Mark Steelman's work, go to www.marksteelmanphoto.com.