The design was to the requirements of a customer who had seen the Nordic Folkboat and decided that the English east coast needed a similar vessel but modified for North Sea as opposed to Baltic conditions and a competitive racer on handicap.
1 La Vie en Rose was built to win the 1959 Burnham (on Crouch) week, which she promptly did.
Clinker built of mahogany or larch on oak frames.
[1] The restoration of Amulet, an amateur built yacht similar to a Stella originally built in Fort William in 1964, is described by Bob Orrell in the book Amulet: A Charm Restored and Sailed to the Western Isles.
Twister - another Holman yacht design (latterly produced in GRP), developed from that of the 'Stella'.