Hot off the heels of the brand’s last collaboration with Bráulio Amado on its “hugely popular” RCC cap, Rapha has just announced the launch of a complete collection designed by the artist. Full of dynamic brush strokes, scanned materials – and perhaps even the look of intersecting roads – the collection spans flyweight and long sleeve jerseys, plus bib shorts. Buyers will also find cycling socks in the range, kitted out with “some cute little drawings with flowers”, says Bráulio. To get the skinny on this recent collaboration, we caught up with Bráulio and Rapha lead graphic designer Felix Kraus, who collaborated bring this range to life.
One of Bráulio’s main ideas for this new collection was for it to feel like an abstract representation of movement. The artist adds: “I wanted it to be weird and with lots to look at – so that people could cycle through the art and try to figure out what the hell it is. Discovery and movement were my two keywords while designing it.” Though Bráulio is keen to keep people guessing and searching for answers within the graphics, he does reveal the final imagery was a product of experimentation. According to the designer, the result emerged from “chopping a bunch of different abstract things together”. Starting out with brush strokes, Bráulio would scan them, then process everything digitally and scan it again, before “adding more stuff on the computer etc, etc,” the designer recounts. “A huge mix of things!”