DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: My family’s business is in the timber processing and trading and as such wood has been a part of my life since the day I was born. I lives in a small town called Tripolis and I ride my bicycle to work every day. I always wanted to make something new with wood as the main material so I combined those two.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
: I would like to design even more custom wooden bikes. We have almost finished the making of a second wooden bike which design is more futuristic.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
: I started with sketches in February 2014 and the bike itself was finished and ready for a ride in August 2014.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
: As I said before I always wanted to make something with wood as the main material and I also like cycling, so I designed and made a unique wooden bike.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
: I made the original design of the bike's frame and chose the peripherals for it. A friend of mine -Dimitrios Thanogiannis- who is a professional carpenter built the main construction. We are planning to design and produce more custom bikes together.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
: Some day in December 2013 we were out for a ride with Dimitrios Thanogiannis and when we came back we had a conversation about buying new bikes. After a long chat we decided to make them ourselves.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
: Since I had no previous experience in industrial design, I was influenced by other bike designs which I found in stores or online but since I am an experienced biker I knew how a bike must fill. So I tried to make it unique.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
: Anyone who likes cycling, nature, design and wants something unique and custom.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
: The entirely handmade construction, based on the character and style of the customer.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
: FRB Custom are the initials for Free Ride Bike Custom. We like to ride free on our custom bikes.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
: Pencils, erasers, rulers, papers for the original sketches. Adobe Illustrator for the digitized version and the 3d design for the ergonomics was made in 3d Studio Max.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
: The way we used the wood to stabilize and harden the frame. Wood is a flexible material and Dimitrios came up with an idea to make many small slices of wood that were glued together. This made the frame rigid and stable enough to support an adult rider.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
: I collaborated with Dimitrios Thanogiannis, who is a professional carpenter.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
: When we designed the 3d model we run some tests about the frame's stability, hardness and overall construction. It helped us fix some mistakes οn the original design, that we could not have known before the final product was tested live.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
: After some tests with the 3d model we had to make adjustments to the original design because it was not quite stable.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
: I had no previous experience in industrial design and the challenge I had was how to make it strong and stable enough to support an adult rider. During 3d modeling and the construction we made some tests and we found a way to make the wooden frame more stable.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
: Since I had the bike finished and tested I decided to submit it to a local competition for young designers and it was awarded. I decided to submit it at A' Design Award & Competition too because it is a recognized world-class competition.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
: I learned a lot about cooperation and through research and development I improved the way I think and design.