There was once a time when bicycles were associated with blissful country escapes, adventures with friends and lovers, or enjoyable journeys in the city. In the mid 1900’s there was an increased use of bicycles, due to wartime austerity, and the lack of motorized vehicles. Because of this, there was a boom in bicycle manufacturing, which was accompanied by an abundance of choice when it came to the selection of a bicycle.
Head badges were once essential parts of the design of these bicycles, setting manufacturers and individuals apart and capturing imaginations. They were first used to identify models but, eventually, these badges grew into something different and evolved into art. Like the illustrations created for the covers of the bicycle catalogues of the time, head badges took on their own personality. They inspired and helped display local pride.
In this collection, I selected a number of head badges to study and reproduced as a series of unique prints, in a variety of mediums. These prints were then assembled into a book, and presented alongside one another in an exhibition celebrating the once-mighty companies that adorned the badges on their machines.
Left to right:
RUDGE WHITWORTH LTD: Laser Cut wood block print, digitally designed, manually printed.
ROYAL ENFIELD: Photographed and digitally arranged, digital print.
PENNINE CYCLES: Screen-printed photograph.
MERICIAN CYCLES: Digital photograph and illustration, CMYK screen print.
NEW HUDSON CYCLES: Hand illustration with digitally repeating pattern, three colour screen print with metallic finish.
MAJOR NICHOLS: Digital design, four colour screen print.
HERCULES CYCLE & MOTOR CO: Hand illustration, two colour screen print with satin glaze.
DAVID RATTRAY & CO: Letterpress printing with a poem from Robert Burns.
BOB JACKSON: Hand inked linocut printing.
The book, along with copies of the original prints, were then presented together in a leather bound and embossed box. Three copies were made, one was sold, one lives with me, and one is present in the library of Leeds Arts University.
