“Coffee, Tea or Me?”: A critique contribute to a specific type of “aerial” object

• Main Author: Gentil-Homem, Pedro
• Publication Date: 2023
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: https://doi.org/10.53681/c1514225187514391s.30.126
• topic: Design History; Design Criticism; Design Culture; Design; Aviation; História do Design; Crítica do Design; Cultura do Design; Design; Aviação

Very specific areas of design engage all efforts to give an everyday life environment to the artificial ambience on board an airplane. The choreographed reception (and farewell) by the crew at the cabin door, or the ambience that surround us during flight are examples of that humanization applied to a culturally artificial and aseptic space. The meal is one of those instances that, besides satisfying the need for food, accomplish simultaneously a comforting moment and a disciplinary function. The service choreography and the objects that surround its stages are covered with unique technical, functional and symbolic values that differentiate them from regular meals at ground level. We paid a visit to the on-board environment of Portuguese airplanes during the incipient 40’s and 50’s until a more open and mature design attitude during the 80´s.