Kontour: artisan bicycle saddles

Bicycle saddles that would otherwise end up in landfills get a second life from Kontour (PinkOliv).

Refurbish and personalize
We all know them: worn-out bicycle saddles that have become so uncomfortable that we throw them away and replace them. A waste of all those perfectly usable materials, they think at Kontour, a subsidiary of design firm PinkOliv. The start-up from Heist-op-den-Berg refurbishes existing bicycle saddles and puts them back on the market. And there's more: they also personalize the refurbished saddles so that people are less likely to part with them. That, too, is sustainability.

Digital design, authentic craft
To do this, Kontour combines authentic leather craftsmanship with digital design. Traditional techniques for leather processing thus go hand in hand with rapid prototyping, such as laser cutting and 3D printing of elastic inserts. Thanks to these digital processes, the unique, handmade saddles remain affordable.

The basis is always the saddle's used chassis, which usually consists of a plastic or composite shell covered with PUR foam and (synthetic) leather. The chassis is usually made of metal or carbon. Kontour reupholsters the existing chassis, increases the comfort of the saddle and adds emotional value with colors, logos and text.

In 2022, Kontour was allowed to take home the Henry Van de Velde Craft Award.