This month’s showcase puts a spotlight on amazing Industrial Design projects, including a portable light that folds just like a book, a carbon fibre electric bike and a beautiful wooden knife set. French bicycle company Coleen is bringing Jean Prouvé's 1941 bike into the 21st-century, updating the vintage design with a new structure, sustainable materials and electric technology.
Electric and equipped with real-time riding data, the new Coleen e-bike is designed to "reinvent the pleasure of urban travel", and is developed specifically for city-dwellers.
The bicycle boasts a T-shaped carbon-fibre frame that differs from the usual triangular bike form, and is constructed from 75 specially designed components to create a structure that offers no visible reinforcement. The design is modelled after the bent steel and aluminium bicycle that French architect and designer Jean Prouvé created during world war two. "The frame geometry takes its inspiration from that of the first 'dandy-horses' invented near the Avenue de Montaigne in Paris in 1861," explained founders Audrey Lefort and Thibault Halm. "It was the same geometry that in 1941 would inspire Jean Prouvé to create a bike designed for the workers of France," they continued. Combining "timeless" design with modern technologies, the Coleen bike was exhibited at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which took place from 8 to 11 January in Las Vegas.
A transflective liquid-crystal display colour screen integrated into the bike frame provides riders with real-time information such as mileage covered, battery level and travel speed. The user can control the information visible on this display to avoid too many distractions, and any extra data collected is sent by bluetooth and stored in the user's smartphone via the Coleen app.
The transflective screen reflects light to provide optimum visuals, enabling it to be seen well in both full sunlight and at night. The bike is also fitted with a keyless ignition system that works via bluetooth to allow riders to unlock and start their bike remotely using their smartphone.
