Students can walk into class on Saturday and ride out on Sunday on their own custom-built bamboo bicycle

In conjunction with the Society for Contemporary Craft’s (SCC) exhibition DIY: A Revolution in Handicrafts (September 10, 2010 – March 26, 2011), SCC is excited to announce a special weekend-long workshop in their Studio with Ben Masters of Brooklyn-based Bamboo Bike Studio to be held Saturday and Sunday, October 23 and 24 from 9am-5pm each day. Registration to close soon.

One weekend is all it takes to fabricate a frame from bamboo, assemble the components, and roll away with a bike tuned to your body and personal cycling style. The cost of the class, $948 per person including materials, directly supports the Bamboo Bike Studio’s efforts to open the first bamboo bike factory in Ghana, where reliable and cheap bicycle transportation can dramatically improve access to jobs, commerce, education, basic food and water.

Workshop instructor Ben Masters graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2003. After college, he served in the Peace Corps for three years in Zambia; taught English in Japan and worked at a Kids Camp in Hawaii. An avid cyclist, in 2009 Masters made a conscience decision to advance cycling as a form of transportation in America and began his “Year by Bicycle.”

To learn more about this opportunity, contact Laura Rundell, Education Director, at 412.261.7003 x25 or email thestudio@contemporarycraft.org.

Car Free Fridays features Lawrenceville in October

Since 2009, BikePGH’s Car Free Fridays has been challenging commuters to find alternative transportation options, focusing on one neighborhood or municipality every month. Just a bike ride or walk away from SCC, Lawrenceville will be highlighted during the month of October.