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Cyclists ride by an advertisement in Greensboro on bikes designed by Professor Lance Rake
Professor uses bamboo to create change in rural Alabama
The town of Greensboro is located in central Alabama in the so-called "Black Belt." Of the roughly 3000 residents, about 16 percent are unemployed and 24 percent are below the poverty line according to 2010 Census data.
▶ COURTNEY BIERMAN
@courtbierman
For the last five years, Lance Rake, professor in the Department of Design, has been using industrial design to combat rural poverty in the area with the Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization (HERO). HERO is a nonprofit focused on community development in Alabama's Black Belt.
When he first traveled to Greensboro in 2011, Rake was surprised at seeing fields of bamboo, which grows naturally in the southeastern United States, within city limits.
Branded "HEROBike," tourists can pay between $600 and $650 to spend a weekend in town and build their own bamboo bicycle out of a kit developed by Rake. The kits run cheaper, between $475 and $699 depending on if the customer wants to buy the bamboo from HERO or harvest it on their own. A bike typically takes between 20 and 30 hours to fully assemble.
With the help of his friend John Bielenberg, a graphic designer whose Project M has been partnered with HERO since 2009, Rake has assisted HERO in introducing a mini-enterprise into Greensboro.
"[The fields are] kind of impressive," Rake said. "There's a lot of good things about bamboo, and you can do a lot of things with it. I was just looking for a way to use that resource to kind of help create jobs in the community."
Bamboo is flexible, strong, and relatively easy to harvest, making it ideal for products such as fishing rods. Rake, who is also a bicycle enthusiast, saw potential in the building qualities of the plant, and his interest was piqued. He got in touch with Pam Dorr, HERO executive director and started designing.
"[The challenge] is trying to come up with a design that takes advantage of the strength of bamboo and minimizes the weakness," Rake said.
"With just some basic carpentry skills, anyone can build a bike," Dorr said. "And for some people who are do-it-yourself-ers, it's neat to be able to make what you want for yourself."
Bielenberg had already stared manufacturing "relatively crude" bamboo bike frames with fellow designer Marty Odlin's Brooklyn Bike Studio. Rake took it upon himself to improve their design. The "Semester Bike" was Rake's first bicycle design. Durable and simple, the bicycle's bamboo tubes are reinforced with carbon fiber and fiberglass to overcome the flexibility of the material. Rake has used the same principles to design a skateboard, stand up paddle board, and a children's pushbike, all of which can also be built in
the Greensboro shop.
"What Lance has been able to do is help us develop better products and launch new styles and help us become more relevant in the biking industry," Dorr said.
About 64 people have traveled to Greensboro to build a bicycle, and another 336 have ordered kits online to assemble them at home. The workshop has produced around 462 bikes and 38 skateboards in total.
Since he first traveled to Alabama, Rake has taken two sabbaticals in India, where bamboo is a more regularly used construction material. Rake returned last June from his second trip funded by a Fulbright Grant. He traveled to Nepal to observe the methods of a group that builds schools and homes out of the same
material Rake is using to build bikes. He ended up with more ideas of how to improve the work he's already doing with HERO, and he's "pretty excited" about it.
"One of the things I love about Lance is that he's very unassuming, there's virtually no ego, but he's a relentless maker," Bielenberg said. "He's just constantly pushing the envelope of design and making."
HEROBike. has also been turned into a learning opportunity for University students. Rake and University Design Professor Andrea Herstowski have taken four groups of design students to Greensboro since the summer of 2013. They spend two weeks in the
SEE BIKE PAGE B5
University alumnus hones interest in conservation
OMAR SANCHEZ
@OhMySanchez
In the summer of 2010, Noah Smutz, then a sophomore at the University, wanted to expand his knowledge of archaeology. So he set out on a trip to Greece; four weeks with a University sponsored program, six in an archaeological dig.
Noah Smutz during his 2016 Ringle Conservation Internship.
But by the time Smutz, now 2012 alumnus with a bachelor's degree in classical antiquity, headed home ten weeks later, his interest had shifted.
["The archaeological dig] was a great experience and opportunity, but I learned when I was there that I was much more interested in where the stuff we were pulling out of the ground was going, and what we were doing with it, instead of just pulling it out of the ground," he said.
The trip sparked his interest in the work of conservation, and he has studied the field since he returned from Greece. Just this last summer, Smutz came faceto-face with one of his two most challenging projects in his time with conservation thus far: a Saltine cracker — or more formally, a hardtack — in a century-old student scrapbook.
Smutz encountered the
project as a part of the Ringle conservation internship offered by the University. An eight week assignment offered by the University of Kansas Libraries to those with a bachelor's degree in the field and strong skills in book or paper conservation, is an opportunity that Whitney Baker, head of conservation services, said provides training for emerging professionals with short-term projects.
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Mock-ups, designs, and hours of work were put in to figure out how to keep the hardtack in place during the conservation. Noah, with several other contributors, discussed and decided on separate housing; the hardtack would be displayed in a double-window mat structure right next to the scrapbook in a single box.
Several other options were considered, such as removing the hardtack and replacing it with a high-resolution photo, but through the mentoring of his peers, Noah agreed with the separate housing strategy.
"When I think of the most valuable lessons I have learned from more experienced conservators, it is to keep things simple when possible and not to over-engineer treatments or housings," said Angela Andres, special collection conservator of University Libraries, who worked with Smutz during the internship. "This is something I strive for in my own work and tried to impress upon Noah in our discussions."
Before arriving at the university in 2009, Smutz spent a year at the College of Wooster in Ohio. But he transferred to the University after a year, in order to take advantage of the opportunities available in Lawrence.
"He is extremely personable and cheerful," said Andres of Smutz. "He is also open to learning new things, which is a critical quality for a conservator to have."
Smutz then joined the University of Kansas Libraries in 2011 as a student worker, now with an inclination for conservation.
"It takes somebody who can do a lot of tedious work without going insane to be successful in conservation," Smutz said on what attracted him to the subject.
thing, whether it's access or exhibition; whether it's just for collection upkeep. That's what I enjoy the most," Smutz said.
After his graduation in 2012 from the University, Smutz returned overseas for a graduate program at West Dean College in the U.K., where he would receive his masters in the conservation of books and library materials. It was there that Smutz faced his
While the finished product is rewarding, Smutz attributes his attachment to the problem-solving aspect during the process.
"For me, every treatment is different that you come across because there are many different reasons for wanting to fix some-
"It was a book that was filled with navigation charts," Smutz recalled. "As a part of that, there were a lot of volvelles -- basically wheel charts -- a number of them had been damaged. It was then figuring out how to repair them in such a way that allowed them to keep their original function that made it a very interesting challenge."
second greatest challenge in conservation.
Now back in St. Louis, where his family currently lives, Smutz said he has another challenge to tackle while he works on private client work and workshops: finding his first full-time job as a conservator.
"I've spent a number of years becoming an expert in this field. Now it's time to put that expertise to good use," Smutz said.