Art and aviation have always been good friends.

On the basis of this principle, Agnes Patrice-Crepin and Florence Ramioul founded Aerodesign, a company that creates original artistic objects and furniture from pieces of rejected aeronautical equipment.

Magnified by the talent of the two creators, pieces of wings, fins, engines, or portholes, among other examples, find a second life. With the advent of first orders, encouraged by word of mouth, what was initially a hobby became in less than two years a concrete business venture.

Acceptance

As one can imagine, it took Agnès, the artist, and Florence, the designer, a lot of perseverance to impose their concept on the aeronautics industry and convince management people to provide them with obsolete equipment and objects to arrive for their artistic purposes. The approach with such actors usually closed to what is not their domain, was not so simple and the bet was far from won. But in view of the quality and originality of Aerodesign’s first creations, entities such as Airbus, Air France, Dassault Aviation and the French Air Force have opened their doors to the young creative company which was then able to multiply its productions: art furniture, sculptures, trophies and other jewels,

Despite a difficult initial start, « the recognition of major aviation players has been a real springboard for our development » says Agnès Patrice-Crépin. Today, the Luxembourg-based company has succeeded in imposing its artistic vein in the highly technological environment of aeronautics.

Upcycling

Then, the recent partnership with Tarmac Aerosave, a company specializing in the dismantling and recycling of end of life aircraft, has given, according to Agnès Patrice-Crépin “a second wind at Aerodesign”.

Because each work, beyond its creative aspect, contributes to the emergence of the upcycling, also known as creative reuse, this new ecological trend which consists of recycling products for better environmental value. Aerodesign’s approach is all the stronger because it is part of an industry that is often considered as polluting. Symbols of this green transformation, the bracelets created from hardened steel rudder cables have become in less than a year a true fashion phenomenon. The Patrouille de France, the French Aerobatic Team,  as well as the Rafale Solo Display, have adopted them to make them their community object for the delight of thousands of enthusiasts.

In the same “ecologico-industrial” spirit, this bracelet, renamed Mach 2 “Moana”, was customized with the image of a sea turtle, for the “Te man o te moana” Polynesian association, which protects wildlife and flora, and preserves the sea turtle in Moorea.

From furniture to the Concorde symbol

Long before making this jewel from an aeronautical material and which represents the most visible face of Aerodesign’s know-how, Agnès Patrice-Crépin and Florence Ramioul, had made their debut by creating contemporary interior furniture as a table from a Falcon 7X winglet, an office from a Mirage III elevon or the Patrouille de France’ s bar by reusing the wing of a Fouga Magister with its wing tip tank. At the same time, inspired by their taste for the aeronautical artistic environment, the two women created prestigious objects, trophies or sculptures, for the Aéro-Club de France or Airbus in particular. They also paid tribute to the victims of the attack of 14 July 2016 on the Promenade des Anglais by offering “The heart of angels” (from an aeronautical material ???? a sculpture ??) to the city of Nice .

Aerodesign’s recognized skills are also used when it comes to commemorating big events. Thus, in 2019, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Concorde 001 prototype (March 2, 1969), the creators imagined an exclusive watch, produced in only 50 pieces. The flank of the dial of this watch contains a metal alloy coming from one of the 20 manufactured copies of the supersonic airliner.

After that of Concorde, another great anniversary will be celebrated in 2019, the 75th anniversary of the Normandy Landings. A commemorative object signed by Aerodesign will sustain this event. The two founders are working on it before unveiling new conceptual objects that are still linked to the world of aeronautics and … space.