Flying start and finish for furniture

The project, called Piece of Sky, is the brainchild of two engineers who met on an Airbus leadership course where they were told to come up with an innovative project.

While talking about the beauty and functionality they saw in aircraft parts, Jérémy Brousseau and Anaïs Mazaleyrat wondered if – and how – they could be used in other ways.

It did not take them long to come up with the idea of turning them into furniture and fittings.

Mr Brousseau said: “Many of these parts cannot be used again when an aircraft is taken out of service. “They might have design limits on their use, or be so embedded in the plane structure that they are damaged when they are taken out.”

After persuading course leaders that parts could be made into furniture, they were encouraged to take part in an Airbus-sponsored nursery project to encourage start-up businesses.

This allows them to spend time both on their main Airbus jobs and developing the business, which will become an Airbus subsidiary.

Showpiece items from their limited collection include armchairs made from aircraft nose-cones and a table made from an A380 engine titanium exhaust.

The price? From €380 for lights made from aluminium pipes to tens of thousands of euros for one-off designer pieces.