Plane sailing

A sketch of a luxurious private aircraft interior.
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Ceri Rocca, a leading designer of aircraft interiors, talks to CID about working in what is still a niche segment of the industry.

As one of the UK’s foremost designers and stylists of aircraft interiors, Ceri Rocca is well versed in the language of luxury. She recalls one of her most lavish designs, for the Middle Eastern owner of a private Boeing 747, who requested an extensive bathroom come vanity area, complete with gold basins.

More recently, Rocca has been working on concepts for a client who wants to be transported on and off his plane via a private elevator.

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Founder of the UK-based design consultancy, Style House, Rocca has spent the last six years focusing on transport interiors, after teaming up with specialist transport sector design consultancy, Design Q.

In this time, she has worked on both private and commercial carriers, and was involved in a redesign of the Cathay Pacific fleet.

Rocca has also designed for a range of other commercial segments, from Middle Eastern palaces and quintessential English country homes to hotels, offices and retail outlets.

Her retail portfolio includes brands such as Reebok and Nestle, and her career path even brought her to Dubai in the early 1990s. Commercial Interior Design sat down with Rocca to find out more.

What drew you to design as a career?
It was actually interested in interior design from a very young age. I was still at school when one of my teachers suggested that I went into interior design. He arranged for me to do some work experience with a friend of his that was an interior designer and it really just went from there.

How did you become involved with aircraft interiors?
That was more recently. I had moved back from Dubai and opened my business here, and I met someone who was involved in refurbishing private aircraft.

He knew about my Middle East work and asked me about that and whether I would be interested in designing new aircraft because they were trying to expand their business so that they weren’t just doing refurbishments, but were doing new builds as well.

What kind of aircraft projects have you worked on?
It’s mostly private aircraft, ranging from 747s to small Globals. We have also worked with Cathay Pacific on their new image and fleet.