As an industrial designer, David Zimberoff loves great art. And as SRAM’s Global Marketing Director, it’s his job to promote SRAM. With the bike-part-based sculpture pART Project, Zimberoff got to combine the two — and raise money for a good cause.
The premise behind pART Proejct is simple: SRAM gave 22 talented artist 100 bike parts and asked them to create a piece to be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to World Bicycle Relief.
The first pART Project raised $140,000, which translated to 5,000 bikes donated in Africa.
On June 22 and 23, the second pART Project auction will conclude in Velo Village in British Columbia.
Cyclists and art fans can bid on the pieces now. You can view the pieces in this gallery.
“I have had the idea for many, many years, but only implemented it last year,” Zimberoff told BikeRadar. “The goal was, I would select some bike parts – from SRAM, Truvativ, Avid, RockShox, Zipp, Quarq – I would invite 50 artists to make a sculpture, and we would auction it off for World Bicycle Relief. We displayed them at Interbike, and then had an auction in Chicago, with a $100-a-ticket dinner. We raised $140,000. I thought, wow, this is really powerful.”
From that event, SRAM paid for 5,000 low-maintenance bicycles to be given to those in need in Africa.
Thomas McPhee's "SRAM Raptor" is one of 22 pieces available in the current pART Project
The goal this year is $50,000 for the Velo Village auction, and then $250,000 for pART Project 3, which will be held in New York City this winter.
“Everybody donates their time, and donates the pieces,” Zimberoff said. “So it’s a high rate of return.”
Zimberoff finds the artist through networking and his extensive contact list in the design and agency worlds. He is recruiting artists now for pART Project 3.
