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Staplehurst firm dVine Designs creates world's first bar from Boeing 747 plane engine

You don’t have to be travelling at 40,000ft to enjoy the luxuries of an aeroplane bar, thanks to a high-flying Staplehurst firm.

dVine Designs, which specialises in using machine parts to create striking designs, has come up with the world’s first fully functioning drinks station out of a Boeing 747 jet engine –with a £20,000 price tag.

While bars made from aeroplane engines may have been done before, the company says its version is the first to have a complete in-built coolant system with beer and cider taps incorporated into the cowling.

Dvine Design upcycle furniture from aviation parts including engines and wings
Dvine Design upcycle furniture from aviation parts including engines and wings

The venture had humble beginnings, starting out in Bertie Meeks’ garage.

The 32-year-old former recruitment company owner, from West Farleigh, made himself a table from a Range Rover engine after seeing similar things on the internet. But after being bitten by the upcycling bug, he began to sell his creations.

Now business has truly taken off, with dVine Designs fulfilling orders coming in from across the world from its Lodge Road office since it launched in December.

Mr Meeks said: “We buy aircraft that are destined to be cut up and turned into tin cans and make something new out of them. I just think it is such a shame to waste them.

“Some of these engines have seen the world and done five million miles and we save them from the scrapheap.”

Bertie Meeks from Dvine Design
Bertie Meeks from Dvine Design

Among their creations are desks made from jet engines, side tables created from propellers and cockpit seats turned into office chairs.

The wacky designs also include a giant lava lamp made from a fighter jet fuel tank and a floor installation using infinity mirrors and 12 rotating plane propellers. They also work with salvaged boat, bike and car parts.

Mr Meeks added: “The business is growing rapidly with the design team creating more amazing things by the week.

“Most of our work is in London and Dubai but we also get orders from places like Hong Kong and America. It’s safe to say that for us the sky’s the limit.”

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