White space…

Ric Hjertberg of Wheelsmith fame is a pretty smart fellow. I enjoyed the bit he wrote on his Wheel Fanatyk blog about the over-the-top bikes that make the biggest waves at the handbuilt bike shows. It’s what’s not there that is the most beautiful.

It’s no coincidence that the two pieces of art that I own are Chinese watercolor paintings of a flowering plant that include copious amounts of white space. Clutter and filling space for the sake of filling spaces robs the energy. It’s too bad the current state of the bike industry dictates that bikes are over designed with every tube being formed and manipulated into various shapes beyond simple round and graphics plastered on every surface. When a company has industrial design, engineering, art/graphics, and product development departments, that’s a lot of people who want to put their stamp on the end product that gets spat out the end of the production line.

Simple, clean, white space.

(What’s playing: KWMR All Day Music Show)