January 28/11 21:42 pm - A 'Strange' Encounter

Posted by Editoress on 01/28/11
 

While flipping through the Style section of the Saturday Globe and Mail (no comments about any lack thereof...), I was very surprised to come across a familiar name and photo from the Canadian bike scene:  Shawn Place of Strange Components.  What made it more serendipitous was that, a couple of days earlier, I had pulled a pair of his handmade brakes off of an old bike!  Shawn had a full page in the Globe showing off his design skills in furniture making.

Shawn was the original 'brief case guy' from the 1990s at the Interbike trade show - not big enough to be able to afford a booth at the show, he wandered around with an old brief case full of weird and wonderful designs for various components, under the name Strange Components.  All of them were ultra light jewels, designed and manufactured by Shawn in Brantford, Ontario.

However, sadly, the mountain bike world moved away from custom handbuilt stuff, and Shawn moved on as well - although we would run into him every now and then at a show.

Now, Shawn is in Prince George, BC. However, he will be in Toronto this week for the Interior Design Show. We sent him an e-mail, asking if we might see some cycling-inspired furniture, and received the following reply:

Nice to hear from you! I've been living in Prince George since '05. I'm now married, bought a house and just had a little boy (Benjamin Rupert). I still ride as often as possible, a retired doctor builds 1-2 new trails per year so it keeps things fresh.

I'm not sure there will be any bike parts coming from Strange anytime soon.

Stop by the show and say hi!

Full G&M article

Shawn's website