The new issue of the the Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom–run semi-annual style journal Fantastic Man includes a profile of Konstantin Grcic, the German industrial designer who seems to charm every journalist he meets (myself included). While the writing is occasionally ridiculous (“his is an easy elegance, the kind that makes a young man at once formidable and compelling”), the story includes several interesting tidbits about the 44-year-old Munich resident. For instance: Grcic owns 14 bicycles—his favorite is a Tyrell—and he’s currently designing a new urban bike for Muji, which he says “has to be totally utilitarian, yet still look incredibly cool.” Also: he used to hang out at The Hacienda, the Factory Records–owned locus of the 1980s Madchester scene, while a student at the Royal College of Art (which he calls “very boring”). If you want to read more, you’ll have to pick up a copy at the newsstand or shell out $38 for a subscription—Fantastic Man doesn’t post its articles online.

Photo: For the issue, Grcic posed for a series of performance-based works by the Austrian artist Erwin Wurm.

Click the image to begin the slide show

Last Sunday, despite the nonstop rain, Metropolis’s associate art director, Dungjai Pungauthaikan, and its picture editor, Sarah Palmer, joined an estimated 30,000 other hearty souls on the 42-mile TD Bank 5 Boro Bike Tour. The ride began in Lower Manhattan and made its way into the Bronx, through Queens and Brooklyn, and, finally, over the Verazzano Bridge into Staten Island. The tour traversed bridges, roads, and highways not normally accessible to cyclists, and provided exciting views and a sense of community rarely felt in the crowded streets of New York City. Here, Dungjai and Sarah present a slide show of images from their water-logged trek.

The tour kicked off Bike Month NYC, which includes such events as National Bike to Work Day, commuting and repair workshops, and a variety of other tours in New York City and beyond.

The Forum for Urban Design is soliciting ideas for a bicycle-parking garage by the elevated subway station near Red Hook, Brooklyn.

New York City’s controversial new Ikea opens tomorrow, and eager shoppers are already lining up to be among the first to enter the 346,000-square-foot box in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood (and possibly receive a free sofa, armchair, or gift card). Meanwhile, locals are understandably apprehensive about the estimated 14,000 cars a day that will begin clogging streets on weekends. Read more…