Practical as bikes unquestionably are for getting around, the complexity of transporting goods by bike can occasionally limit their overall usefulness.
Especially in context of free-time activities where several objects may be required to be transported simultaneously.
And this “optimisation potential” of course makes bikes an especially seductive playground for designers.
Over the years we’ve seen numerous interesting and innovative approaches to improving the transportation capabilities of the humble bicycle, approaches that generally involve developing innovative methods by which to secure objects to a bicycle.
Gap by Kolja Vennewald is without question one of the better projects of this type we’ve seen.
Presented during the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee Rundgang 2013, Gap is a collapsible chair specifically designed for that large triangular space in your bike frame
As a “low chair” Gap is little more than seat and backrest. But then it doesn’t have to be much more, its form allows it to do just what it has to: provide seating support.
And that in a product that is easily transportable, yet doesn’t take up any other potential transportation spaces.
You can carry Gap in your frame and then use, for example, Tragl by Philip Arhelger and Simon Stanislawski to secure your beer crate to your rear pannier rack.
Just a lovely piece of problem analysis and problem solving.
In addition, and assuming the video that was shown at the KHB Rundgang is to be believed, one can open and close Gap with one hand. In itself not necessarily helpful, but always an indication of a robust and well-thought through design.
And of course Gap is an object that can just as easily be used at home as extra seating or as seating on a balcony where space is at a premium or as a camping chair that doesn’t take up much room in your car, or…, or…, or.
At the moment Gap is just a student project, we would hope, nay implore, that before too long Kolja receives all the the help and assistance he requires to move it on to a purchasable commodity.
Gap by Kolja Vennewald
Gap by Kolja Vennewald (Detail from the project presentation poster showing how delightfully it assists the sitter)
