Ferro Telai, feed 3 of 5

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Ferro Telai

Steel bicycle frames, built by one person

A brazing torch flame on the lug of a steel frame, metal glowing orange
Year
2024
Scope
Identity, Frame number system, Art direction, Product photography
Profile
@ferro.telai

Every bike on the profile is a real frame in progress, and it carries its owner’s number.

The brief

Ferro builds about thirty frames a year, alone, in a garage workshop. Customers wait months for a bike, and photos of finished frames only made the wait feel longer.

The idea

Every frame gets a number, and the feed follows that number from bare tube to paint. A spec post opens each build. Customers find their own frame on the grid and watch it being made.

The launch grid

Twelve posts, as they sat on the profile on day one. Scroll to step closer.

  1. A brazing torch flame on the lug of a steel frame, metal glowing orange
  2. Typographic post: frame number 112 with its tube lengths
  3. Hands in a leather apron filing the edge of a steel lug in window light
  4. A finished oxblood red frame hanging on a soot-stained white wall
  5. Raw steel lugs and tube sections laid out in rows on a dark workbench
  6. A polished stainless lug with a hand-cut window shape
  7. Ferro Telai wordmark in condensed capitals on soot black
  8. A raw frame clamped in a heavy frame-building jig
  9. Red paint swatches fanned on a steel bench next to a lug
  10. A mitred tube end next to old hand files and metal shavings
  11. A cyclist and an oxblood bicycle on wet cobblestones at dusk
  12. Typographic post: eleven weeks, one person

The system

Everything a staff member needs to post without us.

Color

  • Soot#1A1918
  • Steel#8C9093
  • Oxblood#5E1A1D
  • Paper#E9E4DB
Typeface
Big Shoulders Display
Posting rhythm
One post per build stage, numbered by frame
Handle
@ferro.telai

Details

Typographic post: frame number 112 with its tube lengths
The spec post opens every build. The number stays with the frame until it leaves the workshop.
Hands in a leather apron filing the edge of a steel lug in window light
One window, no flash. Every workshop photo is lit the same way, so the grid holds together.
A finished oxblood red frame hanging on a soot-stained white wall
Oxblood is the only paint color that appears on the profile. Other colors go to the customer.

What shipped

A wordmark and head badge, the frame number system, a spec post template, and one lighting setup built around the workshop window.

After launch

Customers now message with a frame number instead of a name. The spec post doubles as the build sheet on the workshop wall.