OUTSIDE THE LINES RAPHA + DAVID CARSON GOING OFF-GRID
Early access for RCC members: 25th August. Open to all: 26th August
David Carson’s layered, vibrant and disruptive style has always been driven by instinct not doctrine. The legendary graphic designer returns with a new collection for Rapha. It explores ideas around rejection of established rules and the motivations that keep us riding.
“Artists have to have their freedom and express themselves however they want. That’s the definition of design.”
– David Carson
David Carson is a high school-teaching surfer who became a self-taught graphic designer. Known for his nonconformist attitude to design, his approach to typography and layout still sends ripples through the world of visual arts today. We’ve teamed up with David for our second cult collection of on- and off-bike apparel, conveying what he sees as the spiritual intersection of cycling and design.
RIP THE RULEBOOK
Carson is famous for rejecting grid-based graphic design. This simple artistic choice has come to define his output, and influenced the direction of the practice globally. With his work as art director on Ray Gun, the seminal alt-rock magazine launched in 1992, David set out this design philosophy. Over more than 70 issues, Ray Gun and Carson did not so much rewrite the rules, as rip them to pieces.
FREEDOM TO CREATE
Carson’s raw, untamed spirit can be seen throughout the collection. Motifs of clouds and sky are emblematic of unrestricted thought. Uncontained typography feels like it’s breaking out of the design. Together, these repeated ideas bang the drum for ‘doing’, without worrying where the journey might take you.
“People will say you have to know the rules to break them, and I simply don’t believe that. I never knew the rules, and other people told me I was breaking them.”
– David Carson
GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Alongside the globally available collection of on-bike apparel, ten Rapha Clubhouses worldwide also have their own custom-designed T-shirt with a typographic treatment by Carson himself. These tees are all unique and exclusive to their respective Clubhouses.
ARCHIVAL VISION
To initiate the creative process for the second capsule design, Carson opened up the Rapha photographic archive. Exploring the visual legacy of the brand gave him the launchpad he needed to set off into new, unclaimed territories.
“The people that are following all the rules and going through the motions, especially in graphic design, they end up usually doing fine, professional, forgettable work. That's not where I choose to live.”
– David Carson
BREAKING AWAY
Like Carson’s design work, how we ride is more captivating when we define the rules for ourselves. Where, how far and with whom? Crucially, wearing what? The open road is a route to escapism, not a pre-defined paradigm.
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