Private aviation may serve practical purposes, but Embraer’s
designers want to ensure that flying on a business jet remains a singular
experience.
“We want to give people a reason to get dressed up to get on the
plane,” says Jay Beever, the company’s vice president of interior design. To
that end, the company has created two new Art Deco–inspired interiors for its
flagship Lineage 1000E business jet: the Manhattan Airship and the Hollywood
Airship. Embraer collaborated on the projects with designer Eddie Sotto, as it
did on the Skyacht One and Skyranch One cabins.
The Manhattan Airship features dark wood flooring and
paneling, a metallic mural of the circa-1930s New York City skyline, and the
Cloud Club—a lounge area that includes a bar with retractable bar stools,
vintage sconces, and a mohair-and-lambskin divan under a city-loft-style
window.
The Hollywood Airship interior features lighter and warmer
colors than the Manhattan Airship, and chrome and marble accents throughout.
Leather reliefs on the walls and headliners depict Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose,
the Sunset Tower, and vintage cars. Each design features large, stylistic
windows that allow plenty of light into the cabin and offer wide views of
what’s outside the aircraft.
Months before the official unveiling, Beever spoke with Robb
Report about the new interiors and the inspirations behind them.
Business-jet interior design has long been dominated by
simplicity and functionality. These two designs seem to go in another direction.
What was the thinking behind this?
We wanted to move away from the casual. With both these
designs we are bringing back a mindset of sophistication. And I think the world
is ready to get back to this. You can say that they’re offering people an experience
that surprises them, something they weren’t expecting.
What inspired the Manhattan Airship?
The idea was to capture the Art Deco designs of the Chrysler
Building and the Empire State Building with a mosaic of the Manhattan skyline.
The first three cabin zones contain a mosaic and mural of the industrial
revolution worldwide. The second cabin has a bar area. Across that is a divan,
and above that is a penthouse view of what’s outside. It’s like something that
Jean-Michel Frank would have designed when he lived in New York.
Is there any evidence that people want more of this kind of
high-concept design?
My observation is that the pace has picked up in interior
design. In a way, we have been victims of our own success. We put out the
Skyacht One and then the Kyoto Airship, which had oversized windows and
skylights instead of larger flat screens. I’m a firm believer that LCD screens
have their place, but instead of bringing bigger screens, why don’t we have
bigger windows?
Why not see what you can do with that? We have brought back
bigger windows, and it’s taken the industry by storm. Both these designs play
up our ability to use larger windows. If you chartered either of these
aircraft, it wouldn’t feel like a charter plane. It would feel like a lounge
and dining area that happens to be flying across the country. If you are in
this aircraft, you have to take a selfie.
What are the technical considerations for having large
windows in an aircraft?
You need a special type of glass that allows pressurization
through such a large window. It’s a complex engineering issue, and the
structural elements have to come together to make these elements work. We also
use tinting technology on the inside of the windows so that we don’t need large
shades, which would add more weight. (embraerexecutivejets.com)
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