The bike project has been a revealing window on the realities of the product development process. The last few month's prototyping has been a constant push and pull between the imagineable and the feasible: what we want to do isn't always physically possible. Or, more accurately, it's either not economically viable or there are no suppliers willing or capable of delivering it.
So even when planning we're constantly thinking about how things will physically be fabricated. Inevitably, and quite rightly, executional considerations inform the planning process.
To force a parallel with the world of communication, this may be an argument for allowing greater creative involvement in strategy development, or greater planning involvement in the creative process. Or even that these silos are increasingly irrelevant.
But really it's just a good excuse to share this great little video from Parker Steel. It shows their computer-controlled laser cutting machine making lace of a couple bits of steel tubing. Call me a geek, but a part of me could watch this all day.
(Please forgive my gonzo coding. Parkers didn't stick the video on YouTube/Vimeo so I've had to cut and paste as best I could. As you can see, I don't really know what I'm doing. But right-clicking will give you some control over the video.)






