Aircraft interior styling - by design
Design Q's Ceri Rocca is a woman with vision. Her latest interior design realisations range from small private jets to the cabins of Cathay Pacific's 111-strong fleet of long-haul aircraft
Has aviation always been an industry that you've wanted to work in?
It was a complete fluke. I'd led a design house out in Dubai for several years, where we mainly designed hotels and commercial buildings. I moved back to the UK and got involved with a company that refurbished aircraft interiors. They wanted to offer a design service and it started from there. A few years later I met up with Design Q and we're now offering a bigger service.
What types are you generally working on?
Mostly we're designing private aircraft interiors, from small jets up to private Boeing 747s. We spent two years working on Cathay Pacific's interiors and I was heavily involved in the styling and the colours.
What sort of challenges did you face working for Cathay?
It is such a massive company and there are so many levels that have to approve things. We had to stick to Cathay's corporate image, but also create a new style for them.
It is fantastic to see a design realised, especially one that you have worked on for so long.
Have you ever been surprised by a customer's requirements?
Perhaps the oddest is a request to incorporate a jacuzzi into an aircraft interior. This hasn't been installed as yet, it's still in the design process. I've also designed in a medical centre for a customer who was elderly and of ill health, but nevertheless needed the jet.
How did you become an interior designer?
Design started for me while I was in school. A teacher had asked me what I wanted to do, and I could only say something with art A friend of my teacher's was an interior designer and I started work experience there, and this evolved into working the summers.
From there I did my degree at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University), and have been involved in interior design since I was 17.
What would you suggest to someone who wants to become an interior designer in the aviation industry?
There are a lot more companies offering design services to the aviation industry now. There are the yacht and automotive design houses that have moved into aviation too.
For someone that wants to work in aviation design though, it might be best to complete a degree in automotive design, rather than interior design. This is because automotive design and aviation design are very similar.
Aspiring designers could use the web to find companies that are working in aviation design.
What sort of qualities do you think are important for a potential designer?
Even with the high use of computer-aided design these days I still think a designer needs to have natural artistic ability. When an idea pops into your head there's nothing quite like being able to draw onto the back of an envelope, or on the back of a packet of cigarettes when you're down the pub.
There is nothing more satisfying than when one of your designs comes to fruition.
design who?
Design Q has been involved in a host of other aviation projects:
The company worked with Virgin Atlantic on its Upper Class suite, as well as on the "Celebrity Jet" developed under Lufthansa Technik's new design initiative "Project U".
It was commissioned by Bombardier to develop the Global Vision flightdeck now appearing on new Global 5000 business aircraft.
Through Italy's SEI the company is developing a VVIP cabin for the private helicopter of a Gulf ruler.
Rocca: most of her work is on bespoke private aircraft interiors
Source: Flight International
