DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: Private jet transportation is in many ways underlined by individualism. It has a lot in common with sail or motor yachting, where the spirit of travelling in style, on a global scale is present. This romantic way of travelling the globe for recreation or business is carried on in modern private jet transportation, but with the advantages of speed and long range.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
: Premium luxury is the standard for the whole interior of the Gulfstream G550 Visions Edition. The G550 is a multi-million dollar air plane, where not at last the pilots operating this aircraft should also feel sitting in and operating an exclusive private jet. Gulfstream´s “PlaneView” cockpit standards are being developed further, where the avionics are integrated into a seamless overall light layout. Thinking about sustainability in the area of the aeroplane transportation is something rare to come by, but a step forward was set here by using bamboo wood elements and common consumer electronics to control the inner environment. These common electronics like iPad, iPhone, iPod are also a substitute of the paper documents, charts and maps in the cockpit area.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
: I hope to have been able to point the attention in this design field a bit more to sustainability if even this is not a typical sustainability area.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
: In the course of 4 months I designed the whole interior having keeping an eye on the details and the interior as a whole.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
: The interior design of an aeroplane is among my target projects I always wanted to work on. This way employing past design experience and widening my horizon.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
: Currently it exists as a conceptual project but of course I am open to collaborate with those who are willing to realize it.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
: I worked on this design project as an individual. No one else was involved in the design process.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
: The target customer are personal aviation service providers. Aviation companies that offer businesses and private person individual aviation services.
This is why the layout of the interior cabin is thought to be compatible for business or leisure travelling.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
: Embodying a design language in a throughout premium experience, from the cockpit to the passenger area. The whole interior consists of design elements that make it feel like it is all one, there is no stylistic brake between cockpit and passenger area.
Further, adding a sustainable aspect to the project by using bamboo wood and common consumer electronics (like iPad, iPhone & iPod), is essential as this is almost not present in aeroplane interior design. For example in the cockpit area the iPad is replacing the paper documents, maps and charts, also controls some of the electronic equipment. The same iPad is used meanwhile in the cabin by the passengers for entertainment and to control the inner environment (like light, air conditioning).
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
: I worked on this design project as an individual. No one else was involved in the design process.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
: All aspects of this interior design are based on existing technology and methods of production. For example the iPad mounts are existing products, produced by “Flight Display Systems”.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
: The challenge in this design concept lies in translating Gulfstream´s updated design philosophy into the G550 airplane model.
Oval shaped windows are one of the symbols of a Gulfstream aircraft and are there to allow more natural light into the cabin. It is this “signature element” that is taken here as main theme and translated into the cockpit, through to the executive passenger area and the exterior graphics.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
: The project was published in February 2011 in international design Forums/Blogs. Like YANKO Design, TUVIE etc.
After receiving a lot of positive feedback around the design field in the world wide web it was a logical step to compete with the design concept for an international design award like A`Design Award.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
: As a product designer I have a years long multidisciplinary design experience in different fields of product design, like consumer and industrial goods.
It is my nature to search for new challenges where I feel the opportunity to bring my previous knowledge and experience and expand it through experimenting in this specific concept design project.