A Quiet Tradition

JS Heritage Yacht Posters is a small drafting studio working in the manner of the great mid-century maritime illustrators — the Pilot Press draughtsmen, the Profile Publications artists, and the unsigned hands who produced proposal sheets for Auckland's boatyards through the 1950s and 1960s.

Each plate begins with primary reference: photographs supplied by owners, builder's drawings from archives, and survey records held by the J&S Heritage Yacht Register. From these we draft a three-view orthographic illustration — port profile, deck plan and bow elevation — rendered in fine ink linework with restrained gouache and watercolour wash.

We make no creative additions. The hull is the hull. The sheer is the sheer. The brief, observed strictly: "Zero creative license regarding hull geometry, cabin geometry, deckhouse proportions, windows, sheerline, bow profile, transom shape, mast placement, railings, cockpit layout, or appendages."

Plates are printed to order on 310gsm archival cartridge stock using pigment inks, packaged in heavy tube and shipped worldwide from Auckland.