This is the first in a series of guest blogs by Rick Franken, the designer and founder of Bomber Gear. Rock/Creek is one of the paddlesports retailers chosen for the launch of the new Bomber Gear line on March 1; right now we only have the spray skirts in stock, but more is on the way!
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Hello everyone,
Rick Franken, founder and designer of Bomber Gear here. Bomber Gear is a global brand on the rise, which makes me a global traveler in the off-season, searching the globe for the best products and practices out there to keep my products on the cutting edge. This is the first in a series of journal entries that will take you through the Bomber Gear journey to 2012 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. It’s going to be a good one. First stop, my homeland: The Kingdom of Thailand.
I landed in the Bangkok airport Friday morning, and on my way to where I was going, I witnessed a unique sight that I choose to believe is a sign of the things to come in the 2012 Bomber Gear journey. I drove by forty monks walking barefoot in a line along the motorway. Having grown up here and spent a lot of time traveling the country, I was delighted to witness such a thing. I admittedly pulled over and took a few pictures. As I did, I noticed the people around me giving the first monk in the line a bit of money (for good luck, they say).
I felt obligated, as monks live off donations, to follow suit. And after all, believing in a little luck can’t hurt, right? I proceeded to pull out a 100 bhat and stuffed it into the leading monk’s bag as I had seen others do. He then reached out and touched me. It took me off guard – monks rarely touch people; particularly head monks leading a migrating group of 40 other monks. A sign of good things to come? I would have to say so. Four solid weeks of submersed designing begins.
I will be spending the next four weeks at a factory in Thailand creating the product line for the 2012 Outdoor Retailer Summer Show. I have been working with this factory for fifteen years now, and it has been an amazing relationship.
As founder and designer of Bomber Gear, I choose to involve myself in every step of the process, from design to production systems. When creating durable, quality products, strict guidelines from the design to the production procedures are in order. By being here and working with the factory this closely, I am able to control much of the environment to ensure quality products that I’m proud to call mine. I speak the language, I work directly with the operators, and I am able to personally take my ideas from concept to prototypes.
This is always an interesting time for me in the grand routine of events that cycle through my life and thus through the brand every year. This is the creation stage. The part of my design process when my art takes form; when my ideas become reality. I would imagine it’s how an artist feels just before he touches paint to a canvas. Better yet, it’s the rush I feel just before the last stroke off of a waterfall. I am excited and ready to make it all happen.
More to come on the Bomber Gear journey to 2012 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market…
Stay fluid,
Rick Franken
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