A steel bicycle, an artist and the stories of the person who will ride it. This is how Francesco’s Borea Gravel came to life.
A bicycle can begin with measurements, geometry and technical requirements. But it can also begin with an idea, an image or a story belonging to the person who will ride it.
That is how Francesco’s Borea Gravel came to life: through the meeting of our work as bicycle builders and that of artist Irene Campinoti, known on social media as La Ragazza nell’Armadio.
It begins with a Columbus steel gravel frame, handmade in our workshop in Tuscany. Across that frame, Irene painted a story that unfolds along the entire bicycle, following the tubes and turning them into an unusually shaped canvas.
A project born from conversation
Before picking up her brushes, Irene spent a long time talking with Francesco. They exchanged ideas, impressions, images and stories in an ongoing conversation.
Those discussions gave rise to notes and sketches collected in the artist’s notebooks. Looking through them feels like following a stream of thoughts: one story leads to another, an image changes shape and opens the way to a new interpretation.
Irene then brought it all onto the frame. Every brushstroke was made by hand, and every figure is part of a larger story. Nature and the four seasons follow one another and change shape; a tree takes on human features and becomes a winged creature. The wind connects images and myths from distant cultures.
Borea, the wind and the kites
One of the stories painted on the frame is connected to the bicycle’s own name.
As they worked, moving from one mythological tale to another, Irene and Francesco came across Boreas, the god of the wind. In the myth, Boreas falls in love with the young Oreithyia and carries her away in a cloud.
Irene chose to give the story her own interpretation: on the frame, Oreithyia holds on to a kite string. The kites become part of the story and create a connection with San Miniato, the town where our workshop is located and where the kite festival is an important tradition.
It is one of our favourite details, partly because it leaves room for imagination. Everyone who looks at it can find their own interpretation.
At the front of the bike, a female figure becomes the figurehead of an imaginary ship, looking towards the journey ahead. We like to imagine her there, ready to accompany Francesco along the roads he will travel.
A bicycle made to be lived with
Once Irene had finished her work, the frame returned to our workshop. We applied a clear coat to protect the artwork and assembled the bicycle.
The result is a steel gravel bike built to be ridden, with a personal story painted across every tube. Irene’s images will accompany Francesco on his rides, through sunshine and rain, on the roads and gravel tracks he chooses to explore.
There will only ever be one Borea like this. There is no graphic to apply to another frame, no design to reproduce in series: it is the result of the meeting between Francesco, Irene and our workshop.
We have been building bicycles one at a time since 1937. Every project begins by listening to the person in front of us and understanding how they ride and what they want from their bike. In this case, that process took on another form: the artist’s hands joined those of the craftspeople, bringing thoughts, stories and images onto the frame.
Now the Borea is ready for its next story: the one Francesco will write as he rides.
