Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle

Like custom-tailored clothing that enfolds the wearer in a second skin, custom-built bicycles are more than just lavish objects. They represent the pinnacle of a craft practiced by a handful of remarkable artisans–machines so meticulously constructed and fitted to their users that they seem like extensions of the body. This book offers an intimate perspective on the work of six internationally renowned frame builders. Using traditional materials and tools, the builders of Bespoke are visionaries in interpreting a century-old craft for a new generation of enthusiasts. Beneficiaries of a global environmental movement and of a renewed respect in these digital times for all things handmade, the designers featured here are foremost individualists: they are moved less by politics and market forces than by the sheer beauty of process and its unique, finely honed results.

By Julie Lasky. Published on the occasion of the exhibition Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York by Lars Müller Publishers. With a foreword by Holly Hotchner. Contributors: Michael Maharam, Sacha White, D. James Dee (photographs).