Early last year upcycleDZINE featured a post about old KLM uniforms being upcycled. Until today that was one of the top five most popular posts. In the aircraft business there’s lots of stuff being upcycled. Mostly airplane parts that are turned into furniture. But what about an old interior of an airplane, are there possibilities for upcycling too? There have been several upcycle initiatives from airlines, with carriers such as KLM (uniforms), Finnair (seat covers, seat belts, curtains), Delta (seat covers), Air France (life jackets) and Southwest giving discarded airline interior materials a second life as stylish bags.
KLM interior upcycled into new travel items
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines asked themselves the same question after they introduced its new World Business Class (WBC) interior in 2013. They turned to Design Academy Eindhoven for the ‘Plane to Product‘ project and asked them to take a look at the different materials and items to see what could be upcycled.
Fourteen students of the ‘Man and Identity‘ faculty at the Design Academy Eindhoven designed prototypes for travel items. Each prototype uses at least 70% upcycled materials. The amazing travel items that were created are made out of old seats, carpeting, seatbelts, TV screens.
Together with the students did a great job in showing what upcycle design is all about and what it can do. In this case they created new Dutch design out of old airline interior design.
The new World Business Class cabin interior uses several sustainable materials and is designed by Hella Jongerius, also a former student of the Design Academy Eindhoven.
Photos © KLM
KLM: “Sustainability is a key principle of all new developments at KLM. The new interior design therefore also had to be innovative and sustainable. This is fully in line with the corporate social responsibility policy that KLM has pursued for many years. AIR FRANCE KLM has for the past 10 years been ranked as most sustainable airline on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI)*, which is the world’s
leading index for gauging the performance of corporations in the field of sustainable development.”
Video © KLM
It’s so great to see that finally more and more companies have noticed upcycling and are taking upcycle design seriously.
Design by Design Academy Eindhoven | KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
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