YOU BY FESTKA - DRAGONS FOR HAROLD

You by Festka is the best you can get in terms of graphic design and customer service. The level of personalisation we're able to offer here is unparalleled in the industry. It is a service that knows no boundaries and as such it's limited to only twelve slots a year. The nature of the projects is as wide as the clients' ideas. Some know exactly what they want, some just give us a rough idea of where they would like to go and some leave it totally up to us to come up with something original.

Although we have been featuring our You By Festka projects on our website and social media in the past, we decided to devote a dedicated blog post to each and everyone from now on.

The Dragons for Harold project came to us through our dealer The Brick Multi Sport Store based in Manilla, the Philippines. Run by Leroy, this bike store has been a dedicated reseller and promoter of our brand for six years. The brief from his client Harold was simple but fairly clear. Being of Chinese extraction, he wanted a pair of red and gold dragons on the head tube and the fork. He was also particular about the colours used elsewhere on the otherwise naked carbon frame. He was impressed by an earlier You By Festka project with a similar theme done by the illustrator Michal Bačák, although he didn't want anything quite as intricate as that.

All You By Festka projects are born from a close collaboration between the client and an artist or designer. In this case it was our Art Director Tom Hnida who took the task upon himself because he loved the client’s story and motives. Although Harold lives in the Philippines, he hails from China, the nation whose people believe they're descended from dragons. To them, the dragon symbolises power and brings good luck. We all have our roots and we become more aware of them if we've had to uproot ourselves to go and live away from where we feel we belong. The dragon motifs on the frame were not only to create a bond between the bicycle and the rider but also between the rider and his ancient roots.

The frame was made to measure to provide Harold with all the riding comfort he needs. No photo can capture the emotion that stems from the close bond between a rider and his steed. But it doesn't matter because our bikes are made for people, not for photographing.

Once Harold approved Tom's early sketches, the much longer period that followed was about finding the right colours and fine-tuning the details. Tom's masterstroke, however, was the video in which he sketched out his final version of the design in Illustrator. When Harold saw the video of the process, he was amazed. He said it felt as if he were sitting next to Tom.

With the designs, colours and lines given the seal of approval, Tom could get to work on the frame. Many hours of painstaking work later the dragons were finished and the frame was ready to be sent back to the paint shop for the final coat of transparent lacquer.

The Dragons will fly to Manilla as a frame set. Knowing Leroy, we are sure it is going to end up as a top-notch build and we’re looking forward to seeing it and sharing the images with you…

written by: Janek Jaros
photos: Tom Hnida