Cempaka Belanda: Dutch design: a fresh look at the bicycle

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.
They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Dutch design: a fresh look at the bicycle

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 7 April 2010 - 10:48am, by John Tyler

The Dutchess (Photo: Van Munsum)

The bicycle may not have been invented in the Netherlands, but the Dutch have been making bikes for 140 years and they are as much a part of the national landscape as tulips and windmills.

Fifteen major Dutch companies make bikes, and the Netherlands is the largest producer of bicycles in Europe.

Bikes are part of the Dutch DNA. Small wonder, then, that three young Dutch industrial designers, more used to producing objects like tables and chairs, decided to try their hands at making new bicycles.

Three different stories, three different bikes. But all of them original, functional and fun.

John Tyler in conversation with the bike designers

The Dutchess

Wytze van Mansum has designed the Dutchess, a bicycle that US manufacturer Cannondale is considering for the American market. Wytze made the Dutchess to be very low-maintenance. All the wires are inside the frame, as is the transmission.

"The bicycle is a very pure product; you see everything, it's very functional." he says. "We all like the function of the bicycle, it's a very simple device that makes you go faster. In my design I've tried to make it very functional, because I think there's still a lot of downsides to cycling."

It is a beautiful bike. At first glance, the Dutchess looks like a normal city bike, what the Dutch call anomafiets, or grandma bike. But a closer inspection reveals the simple elegance of the design.

Herman van Hulsteijn is impressed:

"It's really weird because in a country like Holland there are so many bicycles around, but hardly anything has been done about a really nice design of it. I just didn't like the things I saw. If you look at how many bikes there are, a small percentage are nice to look at."

John Tyler on the Cyclone (Photo: RNW)

The Cyclone

So Herman drew up a sketch for what would become the Cyclone. Like Wytze, Herman emphasises that his bike is functional. In fact, he and a few of his colleagues plan to ride Cyclones more than 1,000 km, from Milan back to the Netherlands, later this month.

Herman will be in Milan to show the other aspect of his bike: its form. He will be there to take part in theSalone di Mobile, one of the foremost designer shows in the world.

The main feature of the Cyclone is a large curve, stretching from the saddle forward toward the handlebars, and ending back at the rear wheel. The rider seems to float in mid-air.

Tjeerd Veenhoven appreciates just how tough it is to make bikes that are both pretty and functional.

"I've seen so many cool bikes which are impossible to order parts for. There's no real vision in producing them, just making them really pretty and expensive. I've owned several of those bikes."

The Ordinary Carbon Bike

Ordinary Carbon Bike

Tjeerd Veenhoven's design is called the Ordinary Carbon Bike. I call it the ribbon bike, because it looks like it's made out of the ribbon you would use to wrap a present. It doesn't look like it should stand up, let alone carry a person.

Tjeerd: "I took a totally different approach than these guys. I never really meant to design a bike, I just wanted to degrade fibre as it's used right now, as a really hi-tech material. That was my main focus, and the bike was good to experiment with that."

But the question is, do you have to be Dutch to design bikes like these?

The combination of pragmatism, or functionality, and form is a big part of the design movement called Dutch Design.

Wytze, for one, remains humble:

"I think that people in other countries can design these bikes, but because we and the Danish as well, we have the most experience with bikes, that's why we do this. There's just a larger percentage of people who are interested in bikes, so they're more likely to come from the Netherlands or Denmark than from other countries."

967,000 bikes were made in the Netherlands in 2006, at a sales value of 453 million euros
The Netherlands is the biggest producer of bikes in Europe, making 30 percent of all bikes made in Europe.
Nearly 1.4 million bikes were sold in the Netherlands in 2008.
In 2005 Dutch people rode their bikes 14 billion kilometres - that's 2.5 km a day for every resident of the country.