Carpets for FBOs
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Photo by: Julie Jantzer-WardA couple weeks ago, we noticed a CNN.com post about Carpets for Airports, a Web site that waxes critical on the artistic and design merits of carpets in airport terminals around the world.
Like many of the best Web sites and Internet memes, it is a bemusing way to waste some time.
So knowing that many of the pilots who use AC-U-KWIK have down time between flights, we invite all to send us photos of carpets at FBOs. Like the contributors who place the airport carpet on a pedestal, anyone submitting photos of FBO carpets should include the airport and FBO name and an analysis of the carpet design.
To show that nothing is sacred, we at AC-U-KWIK will add the first carpet photos to the gallery ...
Photo by: Brandy FergusonAt the end of 2010, the AC-U-KWIK office received a carpet upgrade. Out with the old, worn, trampled blue-gray carpet tiles with contrasting colored specs. In with the new, 21st Century, mind-teasing puzzle blocks of carpet fibers.
The new design does a lot and can be read many different ways. In that respect, the carpet honors the diverse holdings and broad product mix of our parent company.
To wit, AC-U-KWIK provides pre-flight planning tools for corporate pilots. Another Penton Media publication, BEEF magazine, on the other hand, covers the livestock production industry.
Even though the two different publications focus on two narrow parts of the world, the staffs of each might see the world presented by the carpet design in the same way.
The rows of contrasting colors and the square fields of different tones call to mind a bird's-eye view of the patchwork of corn and wheat and soy that covers the heartland surrounding our Kansas headquarters. An AC-U-KWIK staffer might look at the carpet through aviator's shades. A BEEF magazine editor might see the pastures grazed by cattle and the amber waves of grain and crops that feed the livestock.
In spite of the dizzying differences among publications, everyone here is united by and rooted to the carpet. We walk on the same corporate office carpet tiles. We feel the same textures. We absorb the same colors.
Photo by: Julie Jantzer-WardAnd we are all puzzled. Although the carpet was installed tile by tile, the design tends to straddle the edges in places. Where does each end? Where does each begin? Within each tile, we find a two-dimensional Rubik's Cube, a screen filled with interlocking Tetris pieces running from wall to wall.
The carpet pattern tends to drive us. It moves us forward as we walk down the halls. Trying to follow the pattern propels us like a turboprop or a jet engine. The carpet drives us to be more productive, to succeed, to do the best.