Last November, Rizzoli published a beautiful book called “Cinelli: The Art and Design of the Bicycle”, an illustrated retrospective of more than sixty-five years of one of the most pioneering and influential names in bicycle design. Since Cino Cinelli began making frames in Italy in the 1940s, Cinelli has set the standards for bicycle and component design, and continues to be one of the most prominent names in the fixed gear or “Fixie” culture of custom bikes and components.
Those with no interest in cycling, it’s culture, or history, might enjoy the conversation with Cinelli president Antonio Colombo and fashion designer Sir Paul Smith, which opens the book. As it turns out Smith began competitive cycling as a boy, and it was his early love of the beauty of the bicycle that was the beginning of his appreciation for design. Surprisingly Columbo, as an industrial designer, as always been inspired by fashion and design, and consisitently sought to transform the bicycle into rideable art.
The current popularity of the very hip fixed gear bike, the very chic European city bike, and very fast racing bike is as much inspired by the desire to own a bicycle as to own a beautiful thing. “Cinelli: The Art and Design of the Bicycle” takes a look at how form and function meet to create beauty in this everyday object. Read More
