will team with Core77 on
‘Creative Collaborations’.
What if you paired a small, custom bike builder with a world-class product design firm? That’s the experiment that organizers of the Oregon Manifest event plan to carry out during their event next year. Details of the 2011 Oregon Manifest were unveiled yesterday and if all goes according to plan, transportation bike design will go to places it’s never been before.
As part of their effort to push the boundaries of design and create the “ultimate utility bike for modern living”, Manifest organizers will link builders up with teams from three of the worlds’ top product design firms (not yet public). These ‘Creative Collaborations’ will be chronicled step-by-step by the widely read and respected design magazine Core77 (which has been named as the official media partner).
According to Manifest organizers, “These three teams will be tasked with re-framing the conversation about bikes as tools for modern living, pursuing design solutions that are effective, practical and truly innovative.”
The aim of teaming up bike builders with big design firms is to “break out of the bike ghetto” says Shannon Holt, one of the Manifest’s organizers.
“Our inspiration is to foster some design innovation around the bike as a tool for living, not just as a recreational vehicle. Something you use all the time that integrates seamlessly into your life.”
— Shannon Holt, Oregon Manifest
Holt says custom bike builders need to break into new markets, and the design community would be a perfect match because it’s larger than the bike scene and full of people who appreciate (and will pay for) good design. Holt says one of their goals is to push the design of city and transportation bikes up to the same level of rigor and innovation that the bike industry gives high-end racing bikes. About the state of transportation bike design today, Holt says, “They’re just making the same old thing and throwing some racks on it. There hasn’t been much innovation in that realm.”
“Our inspiration is to foster some design innovation around the bike as a tool for living, not just as a recreational vehicle. Something you use all the time that integrates seamlessly into your life.”
Manifest design challenge with
this smartly integrated U-lock.
(Photo © J. Maus)
The auto industry has worked closely with the design community for decades (many design schools in California have entire programs dedicated car design), so it makes sense to put velomobiles on the same design track as automobiles. And, as Holt points out, something great could come out of it; “What happens when you mix someone who’s used to working with a file and a flame with resources like 3-D printers and CNC machines?”
In addition to the Creative Collaborations, the Oregon Manifest will bring back their Constructor’s Design Challenge (set for September 23-24) where builders compete to make the ultimate transportation bike. Each entry will have to go through the Oregon Manifest Field Test, which is described in the excerpt below:
“This rigorous road trial [that] will assess the real function of every bike in the challenge, in real world environments including hills, highways and off-road sections. It will include several on-road check points where judges will evaluate specific features of each bike. The Field Test requires riders to keep a brisk pace that will stress their bikes to the limit, and demands a well-crafted, expertly assembled entry in order to complete the route in good time. Final evaluation and point tabulation will occur after all bikes have completed the Field Test.”
New for the 2011 Design Challenge will be five student teams from design schools who will compete alongside veteran bike makers.
Stay tuned for the full launch of the event in January when we’ll learn about which design firms, builders, and schools will be participating. Check out OregonManifest.com for more info and see our comprehensive coverage of the 2009 event.