From jewelry to solid wood furniture, quality handmade items can last generations and use choice materials that you often can’t find with machine-manufactured products. Since such crafts aren’t mass-produced, it will be difficult to find someone else who owns the same handmade item as you. Whether you’re making a purchase for your private jet or need a gift, never pass up the chance to support an artisan’s creativity.
The following is a look at some of the world’s most exquisite handmade items:
Bespoke Writing Instruments and Accessories
Take a private jet to Buenos Aires and visit silversmith Juan Carlos Pallarols. He is helping keep the art of writing by hand alive and trendy with his handmade silver and gold pens and inkwells. Pallarols uses 200-year-old tools to chisel and hand-craft the barrel, cap, section and tassie to create unique, inimitable pens that use S.T. Dupont Olimpio points, sacs and feeds. A commissioned inkwell starts at about $25,000 and can take two months or more to complete because of the attention to detail that Pallarols put into the hand-forging, filigree details and other embellishments. Individuals who commissioned at least one piece of the silversmith’s elegant, timeless masterpieces include the Dutch Princess Máxima, Pope John Paul II and King Juan Carlos I of Spain. (http://pallarols.com.ar/el-maestro/)
IWC Schaffhausen Watches
Since 1868, the Swiss watch-making company International Watch Company (IWC) Schaffhausen has specialized in the crafting of innovative mechanical watches that promise precision, advanced technological features, functional design and a long service life. From the power reserve to the perpetual calendar to the minute repeater, employees (“construction specialists”) hand-craft the parts of each timepiece. Each construction specialist is a master of his or her trade and uses nimble fingers and trained eyes to meticulously make a watch from a compilation of single parts. A watch tourbillion, for example, has 81 individual, tiny parts. The limited edition timepieces made by IWC are highly sought-after and are sometimes only available as special-order items. (http://www.iwc.com/en-us/)
Handmade Furniture
In this day of fiberglass, plastics and synthetic materials, Matthias Pliessnig hails wood as a hero. The curves of his handcrafted benches and chairs give his pieces a contemporary energy, making them surprisingly comfortable pieces of art. Pliessnig’s furniture design inspirations came to him after he built a boat for a design school project. Boat-making techniques seen in his furniture include steam-bent and heated lengths of oak or mahogany that Pliessnig sometimes wraps around molds, a process that allows him to essentially draw with wood.
Made-to-Measure Italian Shoes
For a shoe that fits comfortably the first time you wear it, you have to seek one that’s made-to-order—a service that Italian designer Cinzia Celentano offers. Celentano’s “Florentine soul” gathers design inspirations from the soft lines of the Renaissance and his childhood home to shape materials like Italian tanned leather, exotic skins and velvet for his collections of formal shoes and sneakers. When you want a custom creation, Cinzia Celentano’s design staff will come to you. The custom-fitting process involves obtaining measurements of your feet and helping you choose the colors and materials that best fit your needs, style, wardrobe and personality. To further personalize your foot ware, your custom creation is adorned with your name. Your feet will feel so comfortable that you won’t need to kick them off when you get on your private jet. (http://www.cinziacelentano.com/)
What are your favorite types of hand-crafted items? What qualities do you look for?
About Solairus Aviation:
Solairus is a full-service aviation asset management company that provides clients with expertise in acquiring and operating a wide range of private aircraft.
Solairus Aviation is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and has over twenty-five base locations across the United States and Europe. Solairus is an Aviation Research Group/US Platinum-rated charter operator with a fleet of over 50 managed aircraft. After completion of an intense operations and safety systems audit, the ARG/US Platinum rating has only been awarded to 5% of the world’s charter operators that have demonstrated that their procedures meet or exceed industry “Best Practices” in all phases. Solairus has also received the NBAA Commercial Business Flying Safety Award and is an IS-BAO certified company. Solairus offers a full range of services in addition to aircraft management, which includes aircraft charter sales, aviation support services, and consulting. For more information about Solairus Aviation, visit www.solairusaviation.com or call 800-359-7861.