Brief Explanation

The abandoned bicycles went largely unnoticed sitting in the same spot, day after day. Our hypothesis was that the situation showed no signs of improvement because the problem remained “invisible.” So our challenge was to make an “invisible” problem more “visible,” and at the same time to make something people were “forced” to see (i.e cautionary notices) into something they “want” to see.

The Brief

In Tokyo, over 2 million bikes are being disposed on the city streets every year, creating huge litter, blocking traffic, as well as being esthetically disturbing. COGOO, an organization aiming to create cleaner cities had tried to solve this problem by using regular cautionary stickers and notices but to no avail. With the number of abandoned bikes continuing to increase, COGOO was desperately searching for an effective, actionable, and out-of-the-box idea to raise awareness of this problem.

How the final design was conceived

We transformed bicycle-parking lots with abandoned bikes into an art gallery displaying SADDLE BLOSSOMS: A Beautiful Solution to an Ugly Problem. First, we collected dozens of abandoned bikes and recycled saddles into planters to be used as an unforeseen new medium. We then got support from botanical experts to plant special seeds that grow fast. The plants left outdoors grew under the different weather, and in just a few weeks, abandoned bikes became art objects that created a unique plant gallery that caught the attention of many passers-by who stopped to ‘watch’ and ‘feel’ the hitherto invisible problem.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

In just 1 month, the exhibition helped reduce 40% of abandoned bikes in the area which in actual numbers meant about 12,000 bikes. It was featured in various news programs and the media value (non-paid publicity) reached more than ＄1,000,000. It even caught the attention of the local government, and got them to recover and recycle the abandoned bikes. The campaign was praised as bringing to life a beautiful solution to an ugly problem.