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Ride+Design one-day conference celebrates the relationship between bikes and design

Rapha's James Fairbank and Will Butler-Adams from Brompton are the keynote speakers...

If you're into design and at a loose end this Saturday (and near Bristol) then there's a one-day event happening at the Arnolfini centre for contemporary arts. Ride+Design is a day dedicated to celebrating the close relationship between bikes and design, and there's a great line-up of speakers confirmed.

The morning's keynote speaker is James Fairbank, head of Brand and Central Marketing at Rapha. Whatever side of the fence you fall with regards to Rapha – and we know it divides opinion – there's no argument that in terms of branding it's been one of the success stories of the last few years. James will be talking about the creative vision that has underpinned the company from its inception.

The afternoon keynote is Will Butler-Adams, managing director of Brompton. Under his leadership the iconic folder has flourished, with turnover increasing eight-fold from 2008. The Brompton bicycle is a study in both form and function, and Will is superbly placed to offer insights into its development into a household name.

As well as James and Will there's a wealth of other industry names taking part. Nick Larsen (Charge bikes), Dom Thomas (Genesis), Anna Glowinski (Ana Nichoola), Ben Spurrier (Condor), James Greig (Vulpine), Andrew Denham (The Bicycle Academy), Chris Verbick (Artcrank) and Merlin Crossingham (Aardman Animations) will all be speaking on a range of subjects centred around two themes: bike and design culture, and design for bicycles.

It promises to be a thought-provoking day. Tickets are priced at £25 for the day (£22 concessions); for more info head to www.ridedesign.org

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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