POCKET-SIZED AVIATION HISTORY

The company bordbar design GmbH takes apart old aircraft and gives their outer skin a new life as key or luggage tags. Aviationtags are strictly limited-edition, sport their own serial number and aircraft information – and are always unique.

Every Aviationtag has performed thousands of take-offs and landings as part of an aircraft’s fuse-lage before it adopts its final format and embarks on new journeys as a key or luggage tag. To se-cure the material for Aviationtags, large sections are cut from retired aircraft at aircraft graveyards around the world - including Tucson, Arizona, the Mojave Desert in Death Valley, California, and Rosswell, New Mexico - and shipped to the company's production workshop in Cologne. Here, the old aircraft parts are dismantled by hand, cut, punched out, polished and laser engraved with all the relevant data: Each Aviationtag bears the aircraft type, registration number of the aircraft, edition number, edition size and, where applicable, the airline for which the aircraft once took to the skies. This upcycling process transforms aircraft aluminium into aviation history.

The raw material for these unique collector's items is sourced from airplane models that once served a vast range of different purposes. The more than 85 editions to date feature numer-ous aircraft with a glorious history: Airbus, Boeing, Douglas or Cessna models that have flown the whole world over, seen the most secret corners of the globe and experienced the greatest adven-tures. The "Classic Edition" even boasts a Vickers VC10 from the British Royal Air Force, which Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip actually flew in back in the day. More and more moments in aviation history are thus finding their way onto the key chains and suitcases of this world. And whilst people who automatically have a passion for flying - pilots, cabin crew and ground personnel and, of course, aviation enthusiasts - tend to buy entire collections, Aviationtags are also an attractive gadget for people without any special connection to aviation. Quite simply because they tell stories from far off lands, invite you to dream and always remind you that the next adventure is just a plane ticket away. The fact that a one-of-a-kind and beautifully crafted Aviationtag can also help you spot your suitcase on the baggage carousel is a convenient bonus.

Since the first Aviationtag crafted from the skin of a Piper PA28 was launched on the mar-ket in 2016, more than 100,000 of these unique pieces steeped in history have been sent to more than 120 countries worldwide. Around two new aircraft land at the production workshop in Cologne per month and, dismantled and remade into limited-edition individual pieces, take off from there into a new life. 2019 is no exception, with new airlines and aircraft types continuing to expand the Aviationtag portfolio.

Tobias Richter
Aviationtag Vice President

press@aviationtag.com
+49 (0) 221 709050-0
Mathias-Brüggen-Straße 132
50829 Köln
Germany

BORDBAR® & AVIATIONTAG®

When they founded bordbar design GmbH more than ten years ago, the two friends and passionate aviation geeks Stephan Boltz and Valentin Hartmann fulfilled their dream of turning discarded air-craft trolleys into functional design furniture. Over the years they built up a global network within the aviation industry and their passion for aviation grew unabated. Finally, in 2016 they had the idea of giving decommissioned aircraft a new lease on life as well as aircraft trolleys: Aviationtag was born - a pocket-sized piece of aircraft history. Once the project reached cruising altitude in 2018, it was time to bring Tobias Richter, another experienced airliner, into the company cockpit. He now navi-gates the Aviationtag division as Vice President.

This release was published on openPR.