This entire trip my sketchbook has been torn between my love of bicycles, and interest in the variety of appliances (aka toilet handles). The toilet handles have hit a little bit of a plateau and are starting to look the same, which does of course mean I can now start researching the brands and functions. Yet this week, while adding a few new sketches to the flushers (including one very obnoxious one found on the way home from Rome that flushed without warning) I was entirely enamored with a bike exhibit within one of the Triennales we visited.
I figured I’d go ahead and post about my secret obsession (bike handles) because it has been consuming a lot of pages within my book. These bike-handle sketches have also made me realized how unique the craftsmanship and variety is in Milan. I will look more carefully when I return home to Texas, but I swear I haven’t noticed such extravagant bikes in such common areas as I do here. The Triennale show also introduced me to Paolo Manfredi and his talk about about craft-built bicycles in Italy, another venue to look down.
