The airplane galley

A galley is originally a thin war ship powered by rowers (think Ben Hur in chains) It also means a tight kitchenspace on a train, ship, submarine or airplane. The words seem somehow very connected. I often feel like a centurion walking through or staring down the aisle.

Every self respecting country wants an airline. Every airline makes their service look like a stylish nap in the garden. It is not, transporting people in a tight space for hours, is a dirty business.

Design thinking and reality checks

One thing I love about waiting for the toilet onboard an airplane, is staring at the stewardesses galley. Its design is very concise and studied; monochrome and ordered, storm proof and symmetric. It doesnt take much time to fill up with half eaten lunches, trash bags, name, date and memo stickers, leaking coffee machines and melting icecreams. What surprises me is that this looks natural. The design thinking embedded in the galley makes it look ready and able to hold all sorts of human debris. I enjoy looking at this mix very much. I think airplane galleys are a perfect example of Dirty Zen; design that takes life, and being used, into account.

Tragic and poetic, an isolated airfrance galley floating in the middle of the Atlantic.