Project Name: BA-e 146 Cowling Chair 

Location: UK 

Date Completed: 2020 

Designer: Plane Industries  

Created using the engine cowling of a BAe 146 jet aircraft, this unique chair spins weightlessly on its highly polished aluminium base. The high gloss shell exterior and dark Alcantara interior strikingly frame the mirror-polished aircraft cowling. 

The design brief for Plane Industries was to be able to turn the engine cowling of a BAe-146 aircraft into a luxury piece of functional furniture. An engine cowling developed by BAe Systems for their 146 aircraft that was never intended to be a chair at any point during its multi-million-dollar development lends itself so perfectly to its new, never intended use. 

The design of the chair works well as the organic shape of the aircraft cowling is so beautiful and seamless. To re-create that form on a piece of furniture would be close to impossible due to the cost restrictions. The end result is something so inviting and futuristic in aesthetic, a design that the Plane Industries team are immensely proud of. 

Specialist artisan skills have been used throughout the design of the chair, with mirror polishing aluminium, fibre glassing, upholstery, CNC machining, pattern making, mould making, aluminium spinning and paint spraying.