Pass the sick bag! The reason I published a book on essential aviation technology | Books

Mef, a few years ago, someone told me that I would spend a lot of time in 2026 looking at hundreds of sick bags for pilots, I would have wondered what was wrong with my life. Especially if you had told me that I would be a big fan of the beauty of their designs. But, as it turned out, creating my new book Sicko has been one of the most fun projects I’ve ever done.

It all started in 2023, when I met Trevor Cunningham. Back then I was making a film about his support group called Uncle Trev – free advice and help guide with all the people named Trevor (there are an amazing 140 of them who contribute to what they call “Trevorlution”).

While eating several ice cream cones (his favorite food) during a break, Trevor randomly showed me the things in his house. He once pulled out a large binder full of airline sick bags – a collection that took 37 years to accumulate. He didn’t seem to know how to have fun.

What was his story? Trevor described how, in 1989, his boss of 32 years, Peter, tragically died at work of a brain attack. At the time Trevor was working around the world as an engineer installing and maintaining paper mills. He was tasked with clearing out Peter’s office where, inside a cupboard, he found the suitcases from all the flights he had taken. Trevor decided to continue the donation in Peter’s honor. Now they have more than 150, including many from airlines that no longer exist, such as Dragonair, Air Berlin and Varig.

Trevor told me about his many hobbies – theater, skydiving, ukulele band – and his unusual collection of dog sculptures shaped like balloons. But what I couldn’t get out of my head were sick bags.

And so I arranged to go to his home in Torquay to make Sicko, a sort of diary through sick bags. The process was simple, I could pick up the bag and ask him when and where he got it and naturally the doors of magic and forgotten memories opened. He cheered as he remembered the stewards falling behind them during the chaos, unable to see their fellow passengers due to the amount of cigarette smoke and the first time they saw a dog on the runway in 1991 when they fled Shandong Airlines to Jinan City.

Trevor began writing these memories, which are next to each bag in the book. Some of them stayed with me. In 2016, he flew to Mumbai from Amsterdam to visit engineers and designers. He went to see a new factory under construction in Bhuj, India and saw welders on site using Coke bottles as eye shields. One of the workers was leaning on an iron next to a welder who had not properly booked his equipment. Trevor remembers the flash when the worker died of electrocution in front of him.

The flight to New Delhi from Mumbai airport is where Trevor says he passed at least 20 bags of sick people after drinking unsanitary water. When the plane took off I started vomiting, and it didn’t stop.

Sometimes I wonder how I managed to get Trevor to stay focused enough to finish the book. During this time, he became angry like a teenager when he was given homework, drank unlimited 0% alcohol and announced that he was tired every 20 minutes. He perfected the art of procrastination, giving me endless cups of tea or changing the radio as an excuse to leave the table and stop writing. At one point, he asked me if I was upset and I said no. He took this as confirmation to continue to tell me that he bought “special equipment” to burn the underarm skin. Then he asked me if we should stop our work for a while, so that I could help burn it like everyone else would. After that, the room smelled like burning meat and we had to open the window.

I decided to publish the book myself, fearing that no one would share my passion for these bags. But the 10 copies I printed – each wrapped in a neon yellow biohazard garbage bag – sold out on the first day. So I reprinted it, just a shout out to think that others also wanted to celebrate Trevor’s respect for his boss Peter. For me, this book is a celebration of beloved collections, the people behind them and an opportunity to encourage people to look at global events differently.