james straffon for paul smith

to celebrate this year’s tour de france cycling race in july, british fashion designer paul smith will reveal his ‘art wall’ at the paul smith globe store at london heathrow airport terminal 5. the art wall is by london artist and curator of the online NÖ gallery, james straffon who is also a cyclist.

influenced by bicycle artist taliah lempert, straffon’s canvases go beyond geometric shapes and abstract negative spaces enclosed by the bicycle frame and delve into the rich history and visual heritage of the sport of cycling: ‘create and display works which embrace the broad, visually appealing cyclorama that the bicycle affords. our compositions celebrate the bicycle, in all it’s many forms – with its beauty of speed, its dancing flames, its dynamism, and its simple honest appeal – as something one might enjoy looking at.‘ – james straffon

the art wall will be exhibited from july 4th to 21st, 2010.

— seoul cycle design competition 2010

currently, seoul design foundation together with designboom are hosting the seoul cycle design competition 2010. once considered a ‘hard’ city, seoul is making strides toward becoming a ‘soft’ city by embracing design concepts that will redefine its urban environment with an emphasis on themes centering on green, blue, history and human. the seoul cycle design competition will be held under the theme, ‘cycling with design: seoul style,’ and is part of seoul’s city-wide effort at improving its design brand and image. the primary goal of the competition is to help build a design oriented city that focuses on its people. the competition is divided into three categories: cycle design, cycle fashion & accessories design, and cycling infrastructure. all three categories emphasize environment-friendly ideas, with the hope that the contest will contribute to establishing a healthier cycling culture.

registration is currently open. to learn more about the competition and to enroll, see here.

also see our recent designboom interview with paul smith here.

via grafik