Ad agency founder tells of his passion for collecting airline memorabilia

Every time Richard Christiansen flies into Hong Kong, his first stop is a little shop in Central. Once inside, he inevitably buys a small, hard-to-find model plane to add to his growing collection back home in the United States.

Christiansen is the founder of Chandelier Creative, one of New York's most vibrant boutique advertising agencies. It has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Milan catering to Lane Crawford, The Peninsula and Shanghai Tang in Asia, as well as Nars, Target and Old Navy stateside.

All the jetting around has fuelled his love of airlines, a love engendered while growing up in Australia, where he and his twin brother shared "this amazing idea of getting on a plane and going far away to another country".

This "obsession", as he calls it, has morphed into a staggering collection of airline-related memorabilia that now forms part of Christiansen's calling card. Walk into one of his offices, or his New York home, and his affinity with airlines is everywhere.

There are large-scale metal models, which are exceedingly difficult to source in the US, and even a drinks cart that has been converted into a bar.

He has cocktail shakers and stirrers, napkins and plates all emblazoned with an airline's logo, and graphic artwork made out of the safety cards that nobody ever reads.