The Faraday Porteur Electric, winner at 2011′s Oregon Manifest design competition.
The two way street that is Benevolent Venture Capitalism has perhaps never been easier to journey upon than it is now. The past few years have seen a proliferation online of various sites where somebody with a business (or recreational) idea can seek investment or financial support to get it off the drawing board.
As most of you will be aware, the 2012 Olympic Games take place this summer in the English capital. And with most of the WCR Grand Tour riders scheduled to be arriving back in London around the same time as the Olympic Torch, we felt that these two special occasions should marked by an appropriate limited edition model.
Behold the Brooks B17 Select World Traveller 2012.
Be-Brooksed display bikes at Harrods this week for Paul Smith’s Pop-Up store.
Readers of the Brooks Blog will be pleased to learn that English fashion designer and keen cyclist Sir Paul Smith has a new project on the go. Fifth floor of world renowned department store, Harrods of Knightsbridge, is the site for a two month Pop-Up displaying his new summer line of cycling jerseys and t-shirts.
Here on the Blog, we have examined more than once the different ways in which two wheels function as Muse in the creative process. Denoting a clear expression of Human Freedom from the moment of its invention, the bicycle is a deep mine of material and inspiration for artists of nearly every hue.
The Canons of Photography, Painting and Film have of course all been enriched to a degree by Artists’ use of the bike. We only need to think of Graham Watson, Frank Patterson or BMX Bandits to see this. But it is perhaps that most contemporary of Art forms, the Installation, which has seen its practitioners in recent times finding the most novel and interesting ways to engage Beholders by framing, ahem, frames and other bike parts in new contexts.
If this photo didn’t already have a caption, we’d have run a caption competition.
The former Great Western Railway Terminus, now named Brunel’s Old Station, was designed in 1841 by one of the world’s most famous architects, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This year it was chosen as the marvellous location of Bespoked Bristol – UK Handmade Bicycle Show 2012.
And such was the event’s success that almost before the doors had closed on Sunday evening, visitors were already anticipating with eagerness next year’s installment.
The outside hall of the Berlin Bike Show (photo: Dimitri Hempel)
Stateside around this time of the year, cycling fans who eschew the Conveyor Belt in favour of the Bespoke gravitate towards the annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show. And on this side of The Pond, similar-minded people are finding themselves drawn each spring to the German capital for the Berliner Fahrrad Schau.
We briefly touched last month on the MY BIKE exhibition in Paris. Hosted by the Cohens at their design emporium Merci, the show was planned with serious bicycle historians and style conscious urban commuters in mind. Fortunately, plenty of both camps made it to the opening night in January, and plenty more have continued to fetch up at the door, hopeful of a glimpse at the future of cycling and cyclewear, as well as its past.
Both Brooks and PEDALeD will be represented at the MYBIKE exhibition in Paris.
No major world city has remained untouched by the resurgence of bicycling as a means of undertaking one’s urban commute, or simply getting around. And by any scale of measurement, we can probably all agree that Paris is a major world city.
It was with this in mind that we took a look last week at one of our Parisian Brooks Supreme Dealers Of Excellence, and today take a look today at MY BIKE, an upcoming exhibition taking place in Paris. It will showcase some should-haves for the bicycliste looking to cut a smart yet practical dash both on and off two wheels.
Jordan Smith of MixTMeat putting the W New York bike through its paces. Lovely song as well from Devendra Banhart
Guests at one of London’s top hotels have been using some pretty unique bicycles to get around the British capital over the past couple of months. The bikes in question were designed by some top names from the world of fine arts, design, music and fashion: artist Benedict Radcliffe, designer Ron Arad, singer Paloma Faith, fashion label Alice by Temperley, illustrator Natasha Law and footwear designer Patrick Cox.
The six bicycles will be auctioned off in just two days to raise funds for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the auction currently found online at a favored auctioning website, with bids being accepted from now until just after World AIDS Day on the 2nd December 2011.
Nick Hand, pausing to catch a breath on his coastal cycling jaunt.
There’s something about Long Distance Touring that has an attractiveness for increasing numbers of people these days. By switching off the phone, packing up their panniers and seeing where the next road takes them, cyclists can find the time and space to follow their instincts, form their own ideas, and see the the world truly with their own eyes.
