David Byrne: Urban biker extraordinaire (video)
Submitted by GlimmerGuy on 09/16/2009 – 9:44 amAdd comment
One of our favorite celeb designers in Glimmer, David Byrne, is currently doing high-profile book signings for his new book, Bicycle Diaries. Twenty years ago Byrne started taking folding bikes on his music tours. He found that riding around various cities in the U.S., Europe, and South America gave him unique insights into those cultures and postmodern life. Byrne’s diaries, written in his inimitable ironic voice, share his thinking on urban planning, architecture, world music, cultural dislocation, fashion, and integration. Filling his book with post card-like B&W photos from his travels, Byrne has designed a fun, thought-provoking reading experience.
David Byrne is featured in Glimmer in Chapter 10: “Begin Anywhere.” In an interview I asked him about his chair and bike rack designs. About designing chairs, Byrne noted that “chairs are anthropomorphic by nature—they have legs, arms, and are in some ways mirror images of people. I realized when I began drawing endless sketches of chairs that they were portraits, possibly self portraits.”
Byrne told me that he got into bike rack design because he was asked to help out New York City’s Dept. of Transportation in judging a contest for new racks. He ended up sending the DOT his own neighborhood-specific bike rack sketches to encourage some “out of the box thinking.” He later agreed to fabricate his own designs and you can now see them around Manhattan. His "Olde Times Square" rack sketch is below.
Byrne remains a passionate bike-riding advocate. “I’m not interested in this because of global warming or because it’s good for me or for the cities I pass through, though those might be side effects,” says Byrne. "My first instinct when I began riding in NYC is that riding is liberating and exhilarating. Sitting in a car in traffic is neither of those things.”
Below, go on a video bike ride with Byrne to the factory that made his NYC bike racks.
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