On the list of places I need to visit at some point in my life is the aircraft graveyard in Nevada. Vast swathes of dry, arid desert are occupied by row upon row of mothballed aircraft. Some are complete, in storage just in case the USA needs to up their aviation lift capability. Others are in varying states of disrepair, slowly being robbed of parts that still have operational hours left on them, leaving behind the carcass of the aircraft. The arid atmosphere is perfect. Nothing corrodes, gathers moss or deteriorates in any way, the alloy simply sits in the blazing sun, day after day, paintwork bleaching out, until someone finds an additional use, such as a Moto Art desk or other cool furniture…
Enter Moto Art. Founded more than eight years ago by Dave Hall and Donovan Fell, the company specialises in creating the most stunningly artistic pieces of office furniture, beds, credenzas and sculptures from the sun bleached alloy assemblies.
The key to their art is in being able to take instantly recognisable aircraft components such as an engine nacelle or horizontal stabiliser and recycle it into a new product. Starting off with their famous DC9 desk and C130 Hercules office chair, the company has expanded into propellor sculptures, drinks trolleys made from airline galley carts and the most amazing mile high beds.
Hundreds of hours of labor goes into creating each piece, firstly by removing the original paintwork and then sanding and more sanding to achieve the stunning mirror finish of the final product. The video below shows how some of the pieces are created, it’s fine minutes long and check out the superb MD902 NOTAR helicopter towards the end. My personal favourite is still the C130 Hecules office chair and if I were ever to own one, I’d also be traveling across to the aircraft boneyard myself to take it home after spending some time amongst the rows of dying airframes, it’s just one of those places that anyone with a passion for cars or aviation should visit, at lest once on their lives….
Images – Moto Art
Words – Neill Watson
