Cycle Design in Japan

[fortyfour]

Very interesting short article over on the Kinoko Blog (heads up and tip via the Radavist - thanks for posting this up John!)

Having studied Jewelry and Light Metals, and having been a Goldsmith/Silversmith for a stretch in my past, the correlations between Bicycles and Jewelry (to me) are very similar and the juxtaposition of a bicycles utility vs jewelry's pure adornment are very apparent, but the flip of those two apply. Hope all enjoy this short article.

Interesting process shot via Kinoko's Flickr :



Really cool to see Japan taking a lead here. They've chosen bicycles, shoes and jewelry in this instance, but I really like that they are mixing design, engineering and practical application with a hands on approach. Would love to visit this school in the future.

[Rayburn Shaun]

Too cool!

[Burnette]

Good story, beautiful frames

[Mark Kelly]

Japanese Moulton.jpg

They're reinvented the Moulton, but uglier.

[Honus]

Thanks for posting the article- it's really cool. There is definitely a lot of similarity in jewelry manufacturing and frame building. When I left the world of bicycle component manufacturing in the late 90's I had already built several frames but I felt at the time it would be very difficult to make a living as a frame builder so I became a jeweler. While I don't regret making that choice I certainly do get the urge every now and again to build a frame or two. I also think there are a lot of builders here that would be phenomenal jewelers if they ever decided to stop building bikes.