Mayfair
'I felt like I was cloaked in feathers, about to take flight'
This story came from our experience riding through London’s Mayfair district. This was the source of inspiration that led to our Mayfair Fur bicycle cover collection and winner of the Design & Innovation Award 2023.
Act 1
I enjoyed the ride through Mayfair on a crisp winter afternoon, a notoriously wealthy area of central London. We took the fixed gear for a smooth ride through the flat but noodling streets. As the sun was low, it flickered from the boutique windows like paparazzi, suddenly filling us with the feeling of decadence and star quality. The local dress code exhumed wealth, luxury vehicles lined the streets, parked outside grand architecture that framed our route.
We felt the pure opulence that seemed out of our reach. As the night drew in and cold began to rosy our cheeks, the lights shone from the window displays eager to wrap us in [faux] furs.
Act 2
We felt in a maze with the consumers of Regent Street as they encroached onto the wide roads, already filled with red double decker buses that gave us no option but to weave in between them.
Ducking with dexterity at the odd protruding wing mirror - luckily we have narrow handlebars that came to our aid and allowed us to reach the cycle box. [Designed to keep cyclists safer at the front of traffic but often taken over by other vehicles]
Now at the front of the queue, we felt like heroes as we cycled down the flag-lined street, lights shining from concept stores and in the distance, reflected in the buildings, we saw the lights of the landmark Piccadilly Circus screens. As I pedalled, I felt like I was being covered in feathers, about to take flight.
Act 3
The spectator crowd surrounds the pedestrian crossing waiting for their green light, as if watching the fashion show. We glide through the centre, our fixies in cadence, our pedal rhythm doesn't falter, we’re one with the road as we hit the catwalk to the peering crowd.
We’re soon awoken from the magic as a lonely shopper steps out onto the zebra crossing, the emergency break suddenly pulls the rear wheel towards my neck
