This aviation enthusiasts make furniture made of wooden propellers and aircraft parts

An aircraft in the living room? Aviation fans will argue that Antonov is something satisfactory about drinking their coffee on a table made of 12 engine. Or perhaps, entertain the guests on a leather couch made of 18-fit long MiG 21 drop tanks-it is captured by a large part of the room.

The aircraft are beautiful things, Akshay Sharma, Founder, Woodfeder and Airborn. Earlier there are wooden propellers, while the latter has furniture made of the components of the aircraft. Here, retired commercial aircraft and fighter jets consider a new life. Feather tables are formed, windows become watches, Air India Gali vehicles turn into a luxurious trolley bar wrapped in leather of NAPA …

Pilots, Aviation Gixes, and Gauri Khan, Mahesh Babu, Ranveer Singh, Ratan Tata, Vijay Kirloskar, and Niranjan Hiranandani, with a customer among others, say Akshay, “India is a great story for us”. And now 60% of their propellers are being exported outside India.

Air India Gali vehicles turned into a luxurious trolley bar. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Interestingly, at least 75% of their customers are not associated with aviation. “Who goes to show that people want something that likes and starts talking. Customers want something Hatke (Different), “He says.

An aviation enthusiast, Akshay wanted to become a pilot, but his vision forced him to make a separate career. He joined media marketing but was always inspired by his childhood passion. He earned himself a private pilot license from the US. While establishing his house in Mumbai, he wanted to avoid aviation-inspired decorations for his living room. “I ordered a propeller from a website in the US, but the shipment was lost in transit. I was heartbroken. I tried to find something similar in this part of the world, but nothing was found. Therefore, I decided to make a log. A wooden log, and before working everyday I will sand it, use it, which comes out of the carting, which comes out of the carting.

Akshay Sharma | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Eventually, Woodfeder was born in 2017. Starting from seven to eight pieces, the brand then created an annual collection. The first was four feet. The size is now six to 10 feet large. “A customer from Riyadh ordered 10 feet, three blade propeller; it was a challenge that I enjoyed,” he says. The propellers are made with Burma teak as the base. “We use rehearsed wood; some of these logs are 60–80 years old,” informs Akshay.

The biggest fill came when we met top Gun deal. “I kept watching the trailer on the loop and wanted to make a propeller inspired by helmets, patch etc. that you see in the film,” he says. After asking a lot of passionately, Akshay found someone who was familiar with an employee at Paramount Pictures. After four months ahead and after four months, he sent them four new designs that the team liked and one day, Akshay woke up to a confirmation contract in his inbox. He said, “I cry like a child. I am not a big brand. But my logo was incredible to sit shoulder to shoulder with the top gun. I made the official top gun prophet and opened the international markets for me,” he says on a video call of Mumbai.

Boeing 737 wheel coffee table chrome version | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Soon, Akshay wanted to move beyond the propeller and use aircraft parts to make furniture. Reaching these parts was a challenge, but with his contacts in aviation and Air Force, he says he managed to source a lot of parts – “after paying a bomb for them” – and stored them in a godown five years ago. “In parts of these aircraft you cannot use normal tools, cutters, polisters, etc.. There is so much technique that goes into a simple revat in a plane, peeping into its mind. It took me years to revive. The airplanes took shape. Everything has taken shape here.

The burial collection includes fire extinguisher table lamps, oxygen bottle lamps, combustion chamber chandelier, flap desk, boing wheel coffee table, spinning compressor rotor table, aircraft skin tags, bullion … He is scoring for more parts, and says, “It is my way of bringing these icicic plants.”

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

A handmade wood propeller | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Antonov N -12 engine block table | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement