Luxembourg City History Museum: Bamboo Bicycle Club Paris Exhibition

“In today’s consumer-driven mass-produced society, little thought is given to the design, function and making process of the items we purchase. Most everyday products — including bicycles — are not built to suit individual needs but are a ‘one size fits all’ option.” — James Marr, Founder, Bamboo Bicycle Club — essay written for the Musée du Luxembourg exhibition manual, Paris 2023

In November 2023, Bamboo Bicycle Club was invited to participate in the Musée du Luxembourg’s exhibition programme in Paris — one of France’s most prestigious cultural institutions, part of the Réunion des musées nationaux — Grand Palais. James Marr wrote an essay for the exhibition manual, and BBC’s home build kit was physically displayed as part of the exhibition. Visitors could examine the bamboo tubes, aluminium lugs, and assembly instructions that make a BBC frame buildable at home.

The essay: Reimagining Bicycle Craftsmanship

Marr’s essay argued for a fundamental shift in how people relate to the objects they use daily. In an era of mass-produced commodities, the bicycle had become another standardised product — designed for an average person, built for no-one in particular. BBC’s proposition was the opposite: a frame designed for your body, built by your hands, in a material you chose.

The material case for bamboo was grounded in environmental science. Bamboo absorbs 30% more CO2 than traditional timber, giving it a negative carbon footprint. Over 1,500 species exist globally, making it accessible to builders in almost any climate. Its natural tubular structure, combined with high tensile strength (comparable to steel), makes it mechanically ideal for bicycle frame construction. Its ability to dampen vibration gives bamboo frames a distinctive ride quality that carbon and aluminium cannot replicate.

Marr described BBC’s reach at the time of writing: approximately 4,000 unique frames built for people across 36 countries — road bikes, mountain bikes, tandems, cargo bikes, wheelchairs. Training hubs in Kenya and Ethiopia using locally grown bamboo. University research partnerships. All of it rooted in the conviction that manufacturing education, not product sales, is BBC’s core offering.

BBC and the Grand Palais ecosystem

“Education, sharing our knowledge and empowering people to have the confidence to build their own bikes has always been fundamental to our ethos. In addition to our London-based bike building workshops and home build kit offerings, we also run a number of training hubs utilising locally grown bamboo in Kenya and Ethiopia as well as hubs in cities across Europe.” — James Marr, Founder, Bamboo Bicycle Club (Musée du Luxembourg exhibition manual)

The November 2023 essay and exhibition preceded a broader presence within the Grand Palais cultural programme. In 2024, BBC was featured in the Grand Palais RMN’s “Match, Design & Sport” exhibition curated by Konstantin Grcic — photographed by the official Grand Palais photographer and covered by Wallpaper* magazine. The two invitations, a year apart, suggest a sustained institutional relationship between BBC and one of Europe’s most significant cultural institutions.

The Musée du Luxembourg reaches an international audience of culturally engaged visitors — architects, designers, academics, and collectors — for whom the presence of a London bamboo bicycle workshop in the exhibition programme is a signal about craft, sustainability, and the growing seriousness with which the design world is taking handmade materials.

[Note: This post uses James Marr’s exhibition essay as its primary source. Third-party institutional quotes from the museum or exhibition catalogue welcome — [NEEDS JAMES] if sourcing the full exhibition programme.]

Read the full essay on BBC’s website →