Beardman Bicycles
Every filmingof the Made On Honor Series generally starts the same way. The MOHteam assembles in the parking lot or driveway of our week’s subject, and we chat in hushed voices while we gather our gear and walk to find the story that awaits us. Wehypothesize about shot ideas, our subject’s story line, and what questions we’re wanting to ask, all while in the back of our minds we know that any preconceived notions of our shoot are immediately thrown out the window from our first handshake. It’s a ritual. Sort of our unspoken way of saying, “we can never really know what to expect”.
Pulling up to a small raised ranch located on Route 1 in Wrentham, MA was no different. The house – white, quaint, and clearly built in the 70’s, was attached to a very large 3-bay garage. While working through our ritualistic chatter in the driveway, all that was truly clear was that Scott Krawitz,owner and fabricatorof Beardman Bicycles and the subject of this week’s story was behind one of those doors.
What we didn’t anticipate was that Scott’s story actually started in the house itself. Scott’s Grandfather, Robert Childs has been fabricating specialized hand-made tools from that very garage since they built the house in the mid 70’s, and for various companies before that. Scott grew up watching his Grandfather, who just turned 85, work large sheets and blocks of metal, but still considers it happenstance that many years later two are now working side by side in the very same shop.
Althoughmetal working is in his blood, Scott’s path into bicycle building isn’t so obvious. Behind the welding mask and beard is an artist fueled by creativity and problem solving. Scott graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in 2001 with a focus on multi-media design and illustration. About 6 years ago Scott and his wife Shanna started riding, collecting, and eventually repairing bicycles as a hobby. Scott was at a point in his life where he was looking for his next challenge. Shanna suggestedbuilding his own bike, and Scott hasn’t looked back since.
3 years later, Robert has made room for Scott in his already overflowing shop. The two enter the garage together every morning slowly sipping mugs of coffee and then silently work beside each otherbeneath the hum of machinery, grinding of metal, and the hiss of propane torches.
Scott produces 1-2 meticulously crafted bikes each month, obsessing over every inch and constantly pushing himself beyond his limits. The result is a bicycle that defines what it means to be Made On Honor, and a client whose every expectation has been surpassed.
Company:Beardman Bicycles
Website:Click here
