Designing bespoke private jet interiors for high-end clients is all in a day’s work for the (fabulously named) Aurora Saboir.
The creative is in the niche – and often highly demanding – world of curating luxurious spaces at 30,000ft.
Saboir, 35, who graduated as an industrial design engineer, entered the aviation design industry by accident after being given a tour of a private jet while working in Mallorca.
She’d been a furniture designer previously but explains: ‘The jet owner wanted some style advice and I went and visited the plane and it just immediately clicked.’
Saboir, from Austria, now runs her own company – Aurora Aero Design, which offers boutique services for both cabin interiors and exterior paint.
Private jet interior designer Aurora Saboir (pictured) specialises in curating bespoke and luxurious plane fittings – for super rich clients
A private jet interior designed by Aurora, boasting elegant seats, sleek tables and stylish lamps
Her big spending clients are mostly from the US and the Middle East, and range from solo owners to large families looking for planes that suit their personal travel needs.
The price of a jet makeover ‘depends on the model, the size and the age of the plane,’ she tells the Daily Mail.
‘For off-market jets in the mid-size range, refurbishment can be somewhere between €1million to €2.5million.
‘For brand new planes, the interiors usually account for around 30 per cent of the purchasing price,’ the designer explains.
‘So if a new jet costs €80million, then we are really around €15million to €20million for customisation, because these are ultra-customised planes.’
The bigger the plane, the higher the costs too. Outfitting Boeing Business Jets, for example, typically used by clients in the Middle East can cost ‘anywhere from €40million to €50–€60million, depending on how extra it needs to be in the end.’
Last year, the talented designer tried her hand at plane exteriors for Qatar Airways
She has worked on a range of aircraft, and has clients from around the world that are willing to pay millions for her services
Another design by Aurora, this time featuring brown seating and luxurious polished wood touches on the ceiling
With such limited space onboard, how comfortable and luxurious can the inside of a jet really be?
‘Maybe the only limit is the size of the plane, the geometry of it – but inside of that we can go pretty far,’ she says.
It’s a bespoke affair, depending on what’s important for each customer.
If a client really values ‘technology and innovation’, then Saboir says she would ‘go beyond’ to ‘research the newest screens’ and how they could be integrated.
For another client, sleeping in the skies might be ‘super important’: ‘So, we are going to have custom produced, fitted mattresses, full blackout options, advanced noise cancelation – everything that is related to the end goal’.
And when a client requests extra attention on the ‘finishes and tactileness of the cabin,’ Saboir makes sure to work with ‘high end luxury brands for fabrics and raw materials’.
The finer details, such as finishes and surfaces are highly considered, with the designer seeking out businesses who create ‘custom designed and made mother of pearl or precious stone inserts or inlays’.
Saboir says ‘the sky is the limit’ for how comfortable and elegant she can make a small jet feel
The designer steers away from certain materials – especially ones that are made from plastic and polymers
To create a truly opulent finish across the plane’s interior, Saboir steers clear of certain fabrics.
‘What we are avoiding is usually materials with a lot of plastic and polymers inside, or anything that is is artificial,’ the designer reveals.
There are several reasons why Aurora doesn’t use such textiles, and safety is a major one.
‘They usually don’t pass the burn test, they are super flammable compared to natural materials like cashmere, cotton, wool, silk, real leather, real wood, stone,’ she says.
But the way the fabric feels matters too, especially when clients are paying millions for Aurora’s finest work.
‘The other thing is the feeling itself, the tactileness of the interior,’ she adds.
‘Imagine when all the walls are super close to you, you really see the fibres of the fabric because it’s next to your face.
‘Everything is the highest quality,’ she says, explaining that owners are increasingly wanting to ‘avoid artificial materials whenever it’s possible.
‘We can have cashmere on the walls, on the seats, you can have a 100 per cent silk carpet’.
Just last year, Aurora helped create a custom-designed Boeing 777-300ER for Qatar Airways, a partner of Formula 1.
It was her first ever exterior project on a commercial plane. But her most luxurious design is a ‘multi-year project’ that, at the time of the interview, she hadn’t signed off on yet.
‘I started four years ago, it’s not even finished,’ she says, explaining the bespoke jet is for a client in the Middle East.
How easy are such wealthy clients to please?
She says expectations are as high as the plane’s altitude for the most part…adding her clients are used to getting exactly what they want – and it’s no different when they’re looking for a luxury cabin interior.
