By Mady Dahlstrom, Porch.com Content Editor
You’re sitting on a lush, sophisticated sofa with patterned pillows made of linen and cashmere, sipping champagne from a Swarovski champagne flute. You look out your window to a view of blue skies and mountaintops, but you’re not in the living room of your home, you’re 38,000 feet in the air.
For Swedish-American interior designer Sofia Joelsson of Sojo Design in Miami Beach, this is the case for many of her clients. With no background or training in aviation, Joelsson has engineered her way into the, “incredibly challenging, but interesting and rewarding way of design,” that is private jets.
Now on her ninth private jet interior design project, Sofia explains how working with aviation is remarkably different than working on a residence, but just as important. Joelsson was approached by one of her residential clients to take on the design of their Dassault Falcon 2000LX private jet. Accepting the challenge, Joelsson made sure to reflect the owners’ style into the design so that, “it’s the same in their home and their private jet.”
Because the owners of the private jet travel frequently for work and leisure, they wanted something comfortable with warm colors, luxurious materials and fabrics, along with closed quarters for conferences and sleeping. All of these elements are combined with a refined palette of colors that are neutral in style, but layered in regards to texture. “Although it’s a confined area, you’d be surprised how many different design details you can bring to the space,” Joelsson says. From pillows layered in linen, mohair, cashmere, and alpaca, to leather lounge seats with contrasting stitching and hand selected veneers of ebony wood, every piece of this plane was planned down to the last detail.
The design possibilities sound endless, but just as there are design constraints when it comes to residential projects, such as pulling a permit and having the city manage what you can and can’t do, there are many criteria to be aware of when it comes to designing the interior of a plane. When you compare the design of a home versus a plane, Joelsson points out, “aviation is the same, but more stringent and restricted to what you can do.” From specialized compartments and storage units, to weight limits and flame resistant fabric, everything that goes into an airplane has a certain weight and measurement standardized by the FAA to calculate how the plane can fly.
To make it a little easier, aviation companies usually have pre-approved materials, fabrics, and leathers that have gone through the flame resistant testing, “but of course it was none that I like,” Joelsson says laughing as she describes her selection process. Because she specializes in custom interiors, picking the right materials was more difficult than the typical residential project. “Once I selected my materials, I had to go through a testing process, and when they came out with coating on the textiles, it turned the fabric a completely different color.” Luckily, there are some benefits to having these resistant materials.
Because of the intense process that all of the materials go through beforehand, everything is stain resistant and flame protected. With such high durability of fabric and textiles, Joelsson’s wine connoisseur clients don’t have to worry about spilling on the carpet or couch. Every stain or spill can be easily removed. While the materials are a huge aspect of the style, function, and comfort of the interior, there’s one part of the design that the plane would not be complete without. Entertainment.
Technological and entertainment system aspects in a plane are a “separate animal,” says Joelsson. In this Falcon jet, an IPad manages all technology, such as satellite TV, Wi-Fi, call buttons to the pilot or flight attendant, lighting, electronic windows, and temperature. “You have everything in there that you can possibly imagine,” says Joelsson. These lavish amenities are highly desirable, resulting in a certain elite status that must be attained to own a private jet. Making the budget priceless.
Designing a luxurious plane comes with expensive taste, the diverse ability to take advantage of every inch of the confined space, and commitment to delivering a design that represents the clients’ style. While most of us associate an airplane to a cramped and stuffy way of transportation, for the rich and famous this elevated luxury makes a home, anywhere.
