When passengers board an aircraft, they experience an airline through hundreds of carefully considered details.
The cabin interior, service style, and onboard dining experience all shape how passengers perceive the brand. Together, these moments create an impression that extends far beyond transportation.
Yet some of the most powerful touchpoints are also among the smallest, from a welcome-drink glass to a bread basket or a signature service piece.
After decades of designing onboard products for airlines around the world, we’ve learned that great airline tableware design is never just about the products themselves. The most successful collections begin with understanding what makes an airline unique and how that identity can be expressed consistently throughout the cabin experience.
That challenge sat at the heart of our recent collaboration with Riyadh Air.
As Saudi Arabia’s new world-class national carrier, Riyadh Air was created with a bold, modern vision that combines digital innovation with warm Saudi hospitality. Every touchpoint was designed to support that ambition and create a seamless, guest-centric travel experience. For an airline built from the ground up, every detail matters, and every onboard element becomes an opportunity to express the brand in a meaningful way.
Understanding the airline before designing the collection
One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned from working with airlines is that successful onboard products begin with understanding the airline itself.
What makes the brand distinctive, and how should the dining experience support that vision?
While aircraft and cabin interiors often receive the most attention, onboard products are among the few elements guests physically interact with throughout the flight. Unlike many brand elements, tableware is experienced repeatedly during the journey, making it one of the most tangible expressions of an airline’s hospitality philosophy.
In Riyadh Air’s case, the ambition was clear: to create an airline that feels premium, contemporary, and authentically Saudi. That vision became the foundation for every design decision that followed.
Where ideas become reality
Bringing those ideas to life is the role of deStudio, deSter’s in-house innovation center.
deStudio transforms customer ambitions into scalable onboard solutions by combining concept development, trend translation, industrial design, innovation research, product development, engineering, pre-production expertise, and implementation support.
Every project begins with understanding the airline’s vision and operational requirements.
From there, ideas move through concept development, technical drawings, supplier collaboration, prototyping, sampling, and refinement before reaching production.
The challenge is often balancing competing priorities. Products must support an airline’s brand positioning, work within cabin layout, support sustainability priorities, remain practical for cabin crew, and deliver a premium guest experience.
Turning brand identity into the onboard experience
For Riyadh Air, the goal was not simply to create a collection of products. It was to create a dining experience that reflected the airline’s vision of modern Hafawa, authentic Saudi hospitality.
In Business Elite and Business Class, deSter co-created a collection that blends elegance, cultural storytelling, and functionality. The signature Canopy Twist motif, inspired by the flowing forms of Bedouin tents, appears throughout the range alongside accents of Riyadh Air’s iconic lavender brand color.
Several pieces were developed as signature elements of the premium dining experience. A dedicated caviar bowl with cloche elevates one of the most exclusive service moments onboard. A bespoke bread basket combines practicality with refined presentation.
The collection was designed as a cohesive system, with each piece supporting different service requirements throughout the aircraft.
That same approach extends into Premium Economy, where the collection retains key design elements, including the Canopy Twist motif and lavender accents, creating continuity between cabins while adapting to a different service model.
Economy Class introduced a different challenge: bringing sustainability and brand expression together. The result includes one of the industry’s first fully reusable tumblers made from closed-loop recyclable materials, proving that operational efficiency, environmental responsibility, and strong design do not have to compete with one another.
Another important consideration was simplification. Rather than creating entirely separate product worlds for each cabin, selected design elements and service pieces could work across multiple environments, helping maintain consistency while supporting efficient operations.
Where creativity meets operational reality
Every onboard product needs to meet airline requirements around durability, sourcing, handling, storage, and service execution. A beautifully designed piece must also function within the realities of a cabin environment.
Throughout the Riyadh Air project, deSter partnered closely with the airline to ensure that every design decision supported both the airline’s ambitions and the practical realities of onboard service.
The result demonstrates what can happen when design, hospitality, sourcing expertise, and operational requirements are considered together from the beginning rather than treated as separate workstreams.
More than tableware
The Riyadh Air collection illustrates something we often see across the aviation industry: onboard products deliver the greatest value when they are viewed as part of the overall guest experience rather than simply a procurement exercise.
From a reusable tumbler in Economy Class to a signature caviar presentation in Business Elite, every element contributes to a cohesive onboard experience that reflects Riyadh Air’s identity.
At deSter, this is what airline tableware design is ultimately about.
Not simply creating products, but helping airlines translate their ambitions into meaningful onboard experiences through thoughtful design, operational expertise, and close collaboration.
Looking to strengthen your onboard dining experience through products that reflect your brand story? deSter partners with airlines worldwide to turn ambitious ideas into scalable onboard realities, combining outstanding design with operational excellence for complete peace of mind.