Edmund de Waal
Concorde Memorabilia #0100
Monday, March 26, 2012 
The collector: Nathan Shedroff, San Francisco, CA, USA. Program Chair and Founder of the MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts.
The collection: Concorde inflight service items, gifts and memorabilia.
The story behind the collection...
The Concorde was a symbol of the future - of progress and human ingenuity. Now that it's decommissioned (and nothing has taken it's place), it's taken on a new meaning and is something worth preserving. For the most part, I focus on the last fit of the British Airways Concorde but I do have some items from pervious fits as well as a few items from Air France.
Most of the items in the collection are beautiful - some exquisitely so, some simple and understated. Some are just fun (like the tray of small cotton clothes that can be moistened and warmed to hand out to passengers. In particular, the silverware, glasses and the Air France letter opener are gorgeous and are inspired by the form of the plane - itself a beautiful form.
Having a collection of the in-flight service items and gifts allows me to share the experience of flying on the plane (other than the feeling of speed, of course). I like to be able to share part of the physical experience since no one is ever going to fly on one again and there are no plans in the foreseeable future to fly commercially in something similar to a Concorde. It's also a way to experience a vision of the future that is now long past. It's both retro and futuristic at the same time.
I started in 2004 and amassed the bulk of my collection between 2004 and 2006. However, I still continue to purchase items today.
I think that there are certain pieces of the dishes from the last fit that feel more 'Concorde' than others, particularly, the knife, the small oblong canapé dish, and the champagne glass. These represent both beautiful speedforms (reminiscent of the plane itself) as well as a particular function focused on service and luxury. There are a few of the gift items that stand-out as well: the aluminum luggage tag, the alarm clock with two watch faces (for two time zones), and the cufflinks. My favorite item, however, is actually from the Air France Concorde: the simple bottle opener with the flared base and the angle, transforming a standard bottle opener into something incredibly special and even lyrical.
Concorde was about the future. It was an iconic symbol. It was certainly an expensive flight but I don't think that people looked to a flight just as a show of wealth. I'm sure some felt proud that they could afford it but many scrimped and saved in order to make the flight and, for them, they weren't trying to show their wealth (or lack thereof) to anyone else. Instead, they were motivated by something deeper than 'being able' to afford it or being part of an elite club. I believe that the Concorde, for them and the many people who never even flew it, their interest was about something else. To me, this deeper connection was based on the core meaning of Wonder - of what humans could accomplish, much like the pride non-USA citizens feel at the space program.
What do you think the new Boeing 787 represents about our current era of air travel. Is it about the democratisation of flight rather than exclusivity?
The 787 is about efficiency and a better flying experience. I'm not sure it's about democractisation other than lower prices help more people fly. However, it's not really seen as a revolution in human achievement, at least on the civilian side, and not even so much of an evolution. It's an incremental innovation but it doesn't carry the excitement nor promise that the Concorde held. Unfortunately, there aren't any serious projects to push the technological boundaries in terms of supersonic flight, currently.
What about Marc Newson's design for Virgin Galactic? Does this represent our current idea of the future?
Potentially. It's a nice update of the 1970s view of the future. It feels very 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, it's not a revolutionary design nor experience. It's barely a trip to space and it's only a short experience of weightlessness, though it can still be profound, for some. However, as societies, we've been terrible about imagining the future over the last couple decades. I haven't seen much that points to a realistic or compelling future that many would like to be a part of.
The aesthetic of the objects is very masculine and industrial - for example, gadgets such as hip flasks and key fobs. To what extent do you think this originates from the product designers themselves (and design styles current at the time) and to what extent does it reflect the passengers the objects were designed to appeal to and the experience Concorde facilitated?
I don't agree with the opinion that these are masculine designs. At least, I don't see them as such. In general, I think that masculine and feminine are problematic adjectives for design. It's just as easy to see them as feminine as it is to characterize them as masculine. To me, these designs are clearly inspired by the form of the plane itself and that's the most appropriate design response of all. You can make the case that the categories of objects edge more toward things that men use (cufflinks, flasks, and money clips) but most are actually unisex and, if anything, this is also likely appropriate given that there were probably more men flying the Concorde than women. We should also note that all of the dishes and service items are traditionally considered items that women focus on (rightly or wrongly).
Why do you think the tableware is so simple and minimal, even though it was designed during an era when excessive branding was widespread?
Really, you'd have to ask Terence Conran. My opinion is that it was based on the desire to focus the experience on the elegance that used to be a part of flying, before most flights lost all elements of service quality and specialness. By focusing the service on the food and drinks (as opposed to what they're served on), it helps the focus people experience on this unique flight itself. Concorde didn't need embellishment to make it special. It was already the most special flight experience you could have, commercially. The design only needed to make that unquestionably clear by not drawing attention away from it.
Where do you keep your collection?
Most of it lives in two custom-built rolling files that resemble post-modern airline aisle serving carts. This is so that I can use them easily whenever I want to through a special dinner party. Almost all of the service ware is efficiently packed into these, which can be wheeled around my house, if necessary, and can serve as service bars. They're a bit extravagant but they do the collection justice. I'm embarrassed to say that almost all of the gift items and non-service memorabilia live in boxes, packed away in a closet. I don't have any display cases for them and probably wouldn't put them out for display if I had the room over, say, other art in my home. Of course, they're most accessible online at my website.
Daily, I use one of the pens so I always have a reminder of the Concorde with me.
Do you have any favourite items?
I find new pieces once in a while but there isn't anything on my watch list I must have. I've often been asked if I coveted the seat pairs that become available every now and then but, to tell the truth, they're small and not what you would choose to sit in otherwise. If there's anything in my mind that I would be interested in, it would be one of those large wooden models that travel agents would put in their windows. I'm not sure where I would put it, but it would fun to have somewhere at home.
The COLORS magazine article on his collection.
Images © Nathan Shedroff and used with kind permission.
Portrait of Nathan Shedroff by Michael Winokur for Colors magazine.
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