By Kimberley Mok, Source: Treehugger

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With 12,000 airplanes slated to retire by 2020, says the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (AFRA), the process of recycling can be quite expensive, with dismantling being a labor-intensive effort that takes up to four weeks to complete. Of course, there’s more than one way to recycle a jet, with companies like California-based furniture maker MotoArt (whom we’ve previously featured for their recycled bomb tables), focusing on creating polished, durable pieces — all made from salvaged aviation parts.

Using parts like rudders, nacelles and fuselages, MotoArt has been transforming these pieces of what they aptly call “aviation history” into works of functional art for the last 12 years. To get an idea of what it looks like, check out this CNN video offering a glimpse into their creative process — which sometimes includes over a hundred hours of sanding!

These desks are certainly attention-grabbers, thanks to their original engineering, which MotoArt often makes more obvious by showing the wings’ interior skeleton. Some of these parts came off decommissioned war planes like B-25s, C-119s that have served in the Second World War, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, while others were borrowed from old passenger planes like the DC-9.
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And who doesn’t want to hunker down in an executive desk made from the fuselage of a jumbo jet, where the windows can be “configured with lighted LED’s, changeable photographs or even iPads for visual presentations” (suggestive cleavage not included, we hope)?
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Then, for those who are in need of an impressive conference table, there’s this unique 12-seater made from a Boeing 747 engine nacelle — complete with six connection ports and internal LED lighting.
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Proving that there is no shortage of aviation enthusiasts out there, MotoArt’s pieces can be found all over the world, says managing partner Dave Hall:

We have over 100 designs and have produced thousands of pieces that you find nearly in all parts of the world, from the Dubai Burj, to the Sears Tower, and even as far away as the North Pole.

To see more of the history behind these powerful, one-of-a-kind works or to inquire about pricing, check out MotoArt.