december 07, 2022 - Festka

FESTKA presents a Frank Kafka-themed bycicle

Festka is a boutique manufacturer of carbon bicycle frames based in Prague, Czech Republic. The company is renowned for its unique production technology and original designs. It offers a top-level package of design and customer service called You By Festka. Capable of producing only twelve frames per year due to the highly demanding nature of individual projects, the company builds truly unique bikes. No two projects are the same and no two clients either. They range from #people who come with a bunch of ideas or a single piece of inspiration on to those who have an exact idea of what they want their #bike to look like and who are keen on participating in the process.

When approached by a client from New York who wanted a Franz Kafka-themed #bike, everyone’s ears at #Festka immediately perked up. “For a company so intrinsically linked with Prague as was Kafka, it made perfect sense,” says #tomhnida, the company’s art director.

When it turned out that Lyndon, the client, adored Kafka’s work, knew it front to back, and had a very serious interest in a new #bike, excitement began to build in the #Festka team. Lyndon had a list of scenes and ideas from Kafka’s books that he wanted to have depicted on the #bike frame. The two stories he liked most were those of the Hunger Artist and The Emperor’s Message. For further inspiration, he selected a number of quotes from Kafka’s notebooks, and he provided some hints on how he imagined the visuals.

After some consideration, Festka’s art director #tomhnida approached the immensely talented illustrator Michal Bačák who worked with #Festka in 2019 and 2020 on two hugely successful projects - the Porcelain #bike and the Samurai. Michal absolutely loved Lyndon’s ideas and accepted the commission immediately. As the kind of person who doesn’t do things half-way, Michal read all of Kafka’s works and suggested three additional scenes from the author’s short stories. He put together an impressive proposal which convinced Lyndon straight away that he, Mr. Bačák, was the right man for the job. Michal’s ability to tell stories through drawings is nothing short of amazing and the fact that his unmistakable style is so pleasing to the eye is an added bonus.

“Everything flows and no man ever enters the same river twice. This #bike, the third one I have illustrated for #Festka, was the biggest challenge of them all. From the moment Tom came to my studio and told me what the customer wanted, the river swelled to a flood of biblical proportions. It wasn't so much the technique or colour scheme but the content. Me transferring bits from Kafka's unique universe onto a bicycle! I don't think I could say I came to understand fully this literary genius, but I believe I got closer to him through reinterpreting, in my own way, several truly Kafkaesque scenes from his work,” says Michal Bačák.

The model Lyndon chose for this amazing project is a custom geometry #Festka Scalatore built with a wireless Sram Red eTap groupset, an ENVE cockpit, and ENVE SES wheels.

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- Documents (1)

Press release

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