Art makes stand for Hastings cyclists
Is it a bike stand? Or is it art? Art-loving cyclists rejoice - it's both.
The bike stands outside Zigliotto Cafe in Hastings have become a talking point for passersby since being erected a couple of weeks ago.
Cafe owner Warren Hanger said staff were initially confused by the decorative stainless steel hooks and customers were equally perplexed.
"The comments my staff have had is 'what are they?' We were all a little bit puzzled at first. I thought they were some sort of sculpture."
He often saw people musing over the bike stands and heard one person wonder if they were car barriers. So far he had spotted one cyclist who used the hook to lock their bike.
The hooks were initially designed as art. They were "anchor points" that signified the start and end of each block, but morphed into bike stands during the design process.
Hastings District Council parks and properties assets manager Colin Hosford said the council acknowledged the hooks were not instantly recognisable as bike stands, but expected this to change as the council's iWay programme encouraged more people to get on their bikes.
Deputy Mayor Cynthia Bowers was involved in the original implementation of the hooks, when they first appeared in Hastings under the Landmarks project in 1999.
There were now six hooks around the CBD and Ms Bowers was keen to see them labelled as bike stands. "I think they're funky and look great and if people knew what they were, maybe they'd use them," she said.
Mr Hosford said the shape reflected the curvature of Hawke Bay and was used throughout Hastings CBD to signify linkages with the landscape, community and tangata whenua values.
The black bicycle-shaped sculptures outside the council building on Lyndon Road also straddled the art and practical furniture divide.
"The general reaction from the public is that the bikes are funky, quirky and an artistic rendition of the form of a bike," Mr Hosford said. "If people use them as bike stands, that's great, if not, they are a piece of art."
