Future Factories Light Bikes
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.11.05
Tooling around London during the upcoming London Design Festival: Light Bikes, designed by Lionel Theodore Dean of Future Factories. "Taking to the streets after dusk, Light Bikes will accompany visitors to and from the major activities, linking major evening events and promoting a city-wide carnival atmosphere"
Future Factories uses rapid protyping techniques to create unique digitally designed lighting products- "it costs the same to produce similar parts as identical ones, so why produce two products the same?" Each bike installation is digitally manufactured and produced directly from onscreen models, a "unique blend of supture and technology"
And, for once, drivers might pay attention to bicyclists! ::Future Factories
=v= Some of my friends in San Francisco used "Cool Neon" electroluminescent wire to light up their bikes. It's very lightweight and you can wrap it around bikes, clothes, etc. They would build lightweight displays and attach them above their rear racks with two pieces of bamboo. A bunch of them went riding as a school of salmon swimming upstream.
Putting lights on a one-wheeled trailer is a nice innovation, perhaps especially if there's a kid riding it!