We empower remarkable teams to achieve extraordinary results.
Ethos
Innovation with purpose
We’re proud specialists, rooted in innovation and design but with ever expanding capabilities. A global team drawing from industry, consultancy and academia, and bringing these potent perspectives to every project.
We love the transformative potential of aviation, almost as much as we love challenging the conventions that hold it back.
We’re analytical. We’ll take data over industry convention every time thanks, embracing the clarity, efficiency and measurable progress that it offers.
Design. Aviation. Sustainability.
These are the passions that shape us, and the forward thinking organisations that we work alongside.
Design
Aviation
Sustainability
Academic partnerships
Since our inception, partnerships with leading UK academic institutions, both creative and technical, have been pivotal in shaping our developing capabilities and direction through access to cutting edge thinking and technology.
During these dynamic engagements, we have contributed to each others project work, research and occasionally our teams, enriching our practice and our offers to those we serve.
Awards
Across user experience, technical development, sustainability and research, our team’s work with our partners has been recognised by some of the world’s most respected awards organisations.
2024 ATI Awards – UK Aerospace’s most impactful small R&D projects, short-listed – Air Canada Cabin Sustainability Audit
2022 Royal Aeronautical Society – Silver medal for major contributions to the advancement of aerospace art, science and engineering – FlyZero
2016 Good Design Japan – Mobility – Safran Aries for Japan Airlines
2015 Airline Ratings – Best Business Class – Cathay Pacific*
2014 Airline Ratings – Best Business Class – Cathay Pacific*
2014 The DesignAir – Best Business Class – Singapore Airlines*
2013 The DesignAir – Best Business Class – Cathay Pacific*
2012 Crystal Cabin – Premium Class Products – Cathay Pacific Business Class*
2012 Skytrax – Best Business Class – Cathay Pacific*
2011 Skytrax – Best Business Class – Singapore Airlines*
2010 Crystal Cabin – Passenger Comfort – US Airways*
2010 Red Dot – Business Class Seat – Zodiac Cirrus*
2010 Skytrax – Best Business Class – Singapore Airlines*
2008 Red Dot – Singapore Airlines – Business Class Seat*
2008 Skytrax – Best Business Class – Singapore Airlines*
2007 Skytrax – Best Business Class – Singapore Airlines*
*JPA Design projects led by Orson Associates team
Founder
Designer of some of the most influential and award-winning aircraft cabins of the past two decades, Ben Orson has created industry-leading spaces and products for airlines including Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines and American. Inspired by flight from a young age, Ben’s work blends creativity, empathy, curiosity and a dedication to progress, to continuously redefine the experience and meaning of air travel.
He has led international creative teams in the UK and USA, developing products that have become benchmarks for comfort, elegance and operational performance. An innovator, named on multiple patents, Ben led the creation of the original reverse-herringbone business class seat, a groundbreaking design that transformed premium air travel and remains the unsurpassed global standard to this day.
In 2020, Ben founded Orson Associates, a multi-disciplinary studio dedicated to shaping the future of travel. The practice specialises in strategy and brand, industrial design and engineering, and has become a leading advocate for the data-driven pursuit of meaningful sustainability advancement in the cabins sector.
An Associate Lecturer at the University of the Arts London, qualified Carbon Literate professional, and a regular speaker at international conferences, Ben is recognised worldwide as a leading voice in aviation design and innovation.
Ben (right) In conversation with Henry Harteveldt, Skift Global Forum, New York
Join us
We’re always keen to hear from talented and passionate individuals who share our mission to make the world a better place through design. If our work inspires you and you’d like to contribute to what we do at Orson Associates, we welcome speculative applications and CV submissions at any time. We are particularly interested in hearing from industrial designers, visualisers, CMF designers, and LCA practitioners.