80s Scooter Adaptations By Bel & Bel
When you think of Italy and Design, we would probably guess that some kind of transport mode comes into your head, and more than likely it would be one of Sergio Pininfarina's legendary Ferrari cars or Enrico Piaggio's equally audacious Vespa motor scooters. Barcelona-based Bel & Bel is a studio workshop founded by duo Carles Bel and Jesus Bel (both artists and designers), and they have taken it upon themselves to continue the legendary lines of Piaggio's Vespa designs. Using only original chassis's, Bel & Bel design, hand-manufacture and market their wonderfully original swivel chairs, and the design looks so natural that its a wonder they weren't invented some fifty years earlier. With the office swivel chair somewhat of a design classic itself, these Bel & Bel chairs are equally equipped with all the similar ergonomical features, be it a strong reinforced structure to allow reclining, an hydraulic piston to alternate heights or swivel wheels, and the wonderful juxtaposition of the two designs is really quite compelling.
Customisable in various ways, every chair is numbered as limited edition and each has a certificate of authenticity. Traditional in character and of only the highest quality of materials and components, the product is very unique and contemporary, whereby SATORI & SCOUT predicts that these will satisfy any emotional motor lover as much as those with a keen eye for contemporary design.
The Bel & Bel studio works by the foundations of the well known premise Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. With the "3 R's" underlying all designs, Creative Recycling is the new common term for when these are coalesced with either renewable energy and the latest technology. As contemporary artists and designers alike, the studio have strived to ensure that the chairs are equally as original and authentic as they are modern and high-tech. With everyone today surrounded by inventions with planned obsolescence (when products are designed to have a set life cycle, with iterative release purchases and upgrades the commonplace practice), the studio work to that contrary, and wish to add new life to older inventions, specifically Vespa bikes and other motor related machines.
Striking colourways that are available include black (upholstered imitation leather) and royal blue (gloss metallic frontplate), red and silky silver, black and white, tan brown and white, dark brown and black, black and musty grey, creme and red, creme and baby blue, and white and silky grey. Other limited edition and vinyl decorated colourwars are also available.
Perhaps it was destiny for Bel & Bel to work on such a great coalesce of designs, with neither Carles Bel and Jesus Bel related to each other and their collaboration having far more in common than just their surname. With their works widely published in mass media, Bel & Bel's recent expansions have made them a well known worldwide firm; a brand associated with the high supra-recycling standards. All Bel & Bel chairs are available in selected stores and online at Belybel.com.
Photography credit : Belybel.com