Aircraft design, in the antiques and decorative arts sense, refers to the collecting of objects connected with the history of flight and to the influence of aviation on furniture, lighting and interior design. It includes propellers, instruments, models, posters, photographs, components and furniture made from or inspired by aircraft parts.
From the early twentieth century, the excitement surrounding powered flight inspired designers across Europe and America. Streamlined forms, polished aluminium and riveted construction associated with aircraft fed into Art Deco and Modernist design, influencing everything from lamps and clocks to cocktail cabinets and chairs. Wooden propellers from early aircraft, often laminated in mahogany or walnut, are popular decorative pieces, while cockpit instruments, desk models produced by manufacturers and airlines, and travel posters form specialist collecting fields. After the Second World War, surplus aluminium and aircraft components were sometimes reused in furniture production. Collectors look for clear provenance, maker's marks and serial numbers, original finishes and pieces associated with notable aircraft or makers. Aviation material suits studies, offices and industrial-style interiors, where it adds a sense of engineering precision, adventure and twentieth-century history.
