This aviation enthusiast creates wooden propellers and furniture made of aircraft parts

An aircraft in the lounge? Fans of aviation would argue that there’s something satisfying about consuming their espresso at a desk made of an Antonov 12 engine. Or maybe, entertaining friends on a leather-based couch made of an 18-feet lengthy MIG 21 Drop Tank — even when it occupies a big chunk of the room.

Aircraft are lovely issues, says Akshay Sharma, founder, Woodfeather and Airborn. The former affords handcrafted wooden propellers, whereas the latter has furniture made of aircraft elements. Here, retired business planes and fighter jets assume a brand new life. Wings turn out to be tables, home windows turn out to be clocks, Air India galley carts are remodeled into plush trolley bars wrapped in Napa leather-based…

With a clientele together with pilots, aviation geeks, and celebrities like Gauri Khan, Mahesh Babu, Ranveer Singh, Ratan Tata, Vijay Kirloskar, and Niranjan Hiranandani amongst others, Akshay says, “India has been a great story for us”. And now 60% of his propellers are being exported exterior India.

Air India galley carts remodeled into plush trolley bars
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Interestingly, atleast 75% of his shoppers should not linked to aviation. “Which goes to show that people want something that looks good and starts a conversation. Clients want something hatke (different),” he says.

An aviation enthusiast, Akshay needed to turn out to be a pilot however his eyesight compelled him to take up a unique profession. He received into media advertising and marketing however was all the time pushed by his childhood ardour. He earned himself a Private Pilot License from the US. While organising his residence in Mumbai, he needed aviation-inspired decor for his lounge. “I ordered a propeller off a website in the US but the shipment got lost in transit. I was heartbroken. I tried to find something similar in this part of the world but could not find anything. So, I decided to make one. Got a log of wood, and everyday before going to work I would sand it, polish it and experiment with it,” says Akshay, including that he reached out to craftsmen and learnt the nitty gritty of woodwork.

Akshay Sharma
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Eventually, Woodfeather was born in 2017. Starting with seven to eight items, the model then created annual collections. The first one was 4 toes. The sizes are larger now starting from six to 10 toes. “A client from Riyadh ordered a 10 feet, three blade propeller; that was a challenge I enjoyed,” he provides. The propellers are made with Burma teak as the bottom. “We use reclaimed wood; some of these logs are 60-80 years old,” informs Akshay, .

The greatest fillip got here after we received the Top Gun deal. “I kept watching the trailer on loop and wanted to make propellers inspired by the helmet, patches etc that you see in the movie,” he says. After quite a bit of obsessively asking round, Akshay discovered somebody who was acquaintances with an worker at Paramount Pictures. After 4 months of again and forth, he despatched them 4 recent designs which the group favored and sooner or later, Akshay woke as much as a affirmation contract in his inbox. “I wept like a child. I am not a big brand. But to have my logo sit side by side with Top Gun was unbelievable. I made the official Top Gun propellers and it opened up international markets for me,” he says over a video name from Mumbai.

Boeing 737 wheel espresso desk chrome version
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Soon, Akshay needed to maneuver past propellers and use aircraft parts to make furniture. Accessing these parts have been a problem however together with his contacts in aviation and the air power, he says he managed to supply quite a bit of parts — “after paying a bomb for them” — and saved them in a godown 5 years in the past. “On these aircraft parts you cannot use the usual tools, cutters, polishers etc. There’s so much tech that goes into even a simple rivet in an aircraft, its mind boggling. It took me years to refurbish. That’s how Airborn took shape. Everything here, is something that has flown, spent its lifetime in the sky, done 20-30 years of service,” he provides.

The burgeoning assortment consists of fireplace extinguisher desk lamps, oxygen bottle flooring lamps, combustion chamber chandelier, flap desk, Boeing wheel espresso tables, spinning compressor rotor tables, aircraft pores and skin tags, bullions… He is consistently scouring for extra parts, and says, “This is my way of bringing these iconic planes to life again.”

Prices begin at ₹2.5 lakh. Available on woodfeather.com

A hand-crafted wooden propeller
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Antonov AN-12 engine block desk
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