Girard inspired designs

Inspired by mid-century textile and folk art designer Alexander Girard? If so, you are not alone.

Electra Bikes displayed two Girard designs at Interbike. Fresh designers at Dear Creatures cite Girard as influencing their design concept for Fall 2008 Collection along with Mary Blair and Scandinavian Folk Art.

Alexander Girard was chief textile designer for the Herman Miller Furniture Company, in the 1960's heydey that also included George Nelson and Charles Eames.

A modernist, Girard used color reflecting his affection for artifacts, toys and dolls of the southwest and Mexico. His collection was eventually one of the largest collections of Central and South American folk artifacts in the US and now resides in the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe.

Where have you spotted the Girard influenced designs?

Interbike 08: a non-techy recap

Let me be clear, I'm not totally bike fluent. I enjoy riding most any kind of bike but do not have a mechanic's appreciation of their inner workings.

The truth is, I enjoy an outsiders love.

Last week, I was fortunate to tag along for interbike, an annual event that takes place in the least bike-friendly city in the galaxy, Las Vegas. Below is a recap of what I saw:


the goods:

1. Chris King goes brown. Everyone else can continue their King bottom bracket discussion but brown (the 10th color) will be adding some flair to the bikes in your hood soon.

2. Commuters all over the place. I liked the Civia with bamboo racks.

3. Baggage: Chrome bags have held hipster appeal for some time but they seemed to catch fire with the show crowd. Everyone was rocking the buckle. Honorable mention: Rickshaw has a cool zero waste bag and a saweet beerdalero strap.

the peeps

1. There was another show going on in the bike storage area. It was interesting to see how the crowd spend their dollars and pimp their personal rides. From the ganders I took there was many a fixie in the keep, we're talking 50% or more (thanks to Rich at Interbike for suggesting a look-see).

2. What's up with the mustachioed? Was there a subtle HammerSchmidt guerilla campaign going on? There were a lot of stashes circulating and most appeared un-ironic.

3. Shimano's $100 shoe sale (was $350). A constant line and hundreds of blue boxes spotted in the crowd.

the events

1. Cross Vegas was WOW! Trebon controlled the race but Kabush's flyer with 4 laps to go kept things interesting as well as the chase group that included Johnson, Page, Wells and Craig. Loved that the suspense kept rolling till the finish.

2. Dirt Demo at Bootleg Canyon: cool breezes and good rides on a hot day. Spot SS belt drive 29er, dahon foldables and FS bikes with more travel than my Maverick offers. Favorite ride of the day was the YETI 575.

3. Social Media Panel Thursday: Nielsen stats, bike hugger and swobo-itude. Really good stuff.

4. Urban Legend. Bikes, Art, Fashion. Say no more. It was short and sweet on Thursday evening. Thanks to the Momentum folks for a job well done.

An insider's look

How you live is who you are.
The Sartorialist documents what the stylish are wearing, Cobra Snake documents how the cool kids party and The Selby documents the inspirational spaces of interesting peeps. Photos of Cheri Messerli and David Rager from the Selby site.

Mapping Stories

City of Memory is a mashup charting collective stories on a city map of NY. Open participation is encouraged at the site where contributions of stories, old and new, may uploaded to the interactive map.


According to PSFK, this is a Local Projects effort, the same group responsible for StoryCorps.