Victoria and Dorothea – fabulous restored vintage bikes by Mrs Fairweather’s Bicycle Emporium in Adelaide!
Boris – another beautifully restored bike by Mrs Fairweather’s Bicycle Emporium
Two weeks ago at the Bowerbird Bazaar market in Adelaide, South Australian graphic designer Nigel Venning launched a fantastic new sideline business. It’s called Mrs Fairweather’s Bicycle Emporium, and you guessed it, it’s all about cool vintage BIKES. In Nigel’s own words – ‘this is a small gig that restores old pushbikes and gives them a contemporary edge for today’s discerning urbanite… basically i take a wreck, restore the parts on it that are salvageable, recycle from other wrecks if parts are too far gone, and if I cannot find a part to suit from that then buy a new part.’
OMG awesome-looking vintage bikes, re-purposed materials and ethical integrity? I think I died and went to hipster heaven :)
SERIOUSLY though I am LOVING Nigel’s creations – if you wanna be REALLY impressed have a look at the ‘before’ shots on the website. Truly amazing transformations!! This prompted me to ask Nigel a few inquisitive questions…
Give us a little background on yourself – what was your previous career before Mrs Fairweather!?
My previous career is still existing. The bikes are a sideline that I am pursuing. I own a small web and graphic design studio, *nishnish, in Adelaide and have had it for the last 11 years.
When did you first launch Mrs Fairweather’s Bicycle emporium?
Mrs Fairweather’s Bicycle Emporium was launched a fortnight ago at a designer’s market here in Adelaide called Bowerbird Bazaar. This was a great PR exercise to see what folk thought of what I am doing. I have sold a couple off the back of that bazaar and received some great feedback.
What inspired you to restore old bikes in the first place?
It all started about 9 months ago when I found a bike on hard rubbish next door to our home, and I said to my wife that I was going to restore it for her for Christmas. I presented her with the bike on Christmas Day and she loved it. She also suggested that I do something further with the idea. From there I purchased 30 bike wrecks and set about to creating restorations with a story.
Is the business just you? or do you have some helpers?
At the moment it is just me with excellent support from my wife and the guys I work with at *nishnish.
Where does Mrs Fairweather work from?
The restoration is done at home at the moment and the bikes are stored at the studio where *nishnish is. We’ll see how it all goes but the dream is to give Mrs Fairweather a home.
Nice work Nigel (aka Mrs Fairweather!). Love your bikes!
If you’re bike-MAD, you may be interested to catch up with Mrs Fairweather at the Melrose Fat Tyre Festival in South Australia’s Southern Flinders ranges from June 10th – 13th. For unashamed city-slickers (ahem), I’m hoping there might be a Melbourne visit sometime soon… will keep ya posted!
Beautiful bikes. Excellent job of restoring them, they look fanatstic!
A fantastic idea, giving these bikes a new life. Beautiful .
oh my, how lovely! come to melbourne please :) x
I love the green! These bikes are absolutely stunning – worthy of wall mounting!
awww no giveaway??
good to see Adelaide featuring on The Design Files!
Slick. Makes me want to be a Cutter.
Oh man , Soooo good – i’ve just looked at my own bike in the shed Oh Dear ! Does anyone know how long it takes to ride from Adelaide to Melbourne !
Makes me wish I hadn’t put my old dear out on the street a year back…
What a cool bike
I LOVE ‘Victoria’, but what, no mudguards on a bike like this?? Mud splatters up the back of my wispy gypsy dress isn’t a good look! All the best for this venture; gives a whole knew meaning to the term ‘recycle’!
thanks for the kind words all.
i forgot to mention connie in the statement about support. she is the wordsmith that gave the bikes their stories. thanks connie.
I want one! ;)