Simple green living

Just off Garsfontein road, to the west of the N1 you’ll find Earthworld Architects. They’re a creative and  innovative company doing both architectural and interior design work – and you’ll find you can recognize a lot of their buildings: the interior of the original TriBeCa in Pretoria CBD; the Centenary building on the campus of the University of Pretoria, the list goes on. They are from Pretoria, their work has been recognised with hosts of prizes and awards, and they’re always focused on creating an innovative atmosphere to drive their designing processes.

So they are a cool architectural company. That’s really great - but what does it have to do with Simple Sam? André Eksteen, one of the founders of the practice, explains: “We were busy preparing a tender for buildings of the Future Africa Institute at the University here in Pretoria. The project is really in line with our values: the institute has a strong focus on alternative thinking, green design and collaborative work. We love working in Pretoria – we really feel strongly about putting our skills to use in a local context. The project really seemed made for us, and I wanted to motivate my staff a little extra, to really to push them further in a new way.”

Enter Simple Sam. During the course of the preparations, André found out about the bikes through one of his staff and decided that could be the perfect motivator: if Earthworld got the project, he’d promised to buy each of his staff a Simple Sam. Eksteen explains that he loved the design. “We pride ourselves on our local impact. So much great work is being done in Pretoria, and Simple Sam’s take on Urban Freedom is one we can really find ourselves in”.

We then have a local architecture firm, working to get a local, sustainable project, further inspired by a local bicycle company, working hard to promote local design.

Of course, Earthworld got the project and is working hard to finalise their plans for the institute’s new home. The employees were incredibly excited when their bikes arrived (though they honestly admit to finding the current weather somewhat daunting on the bikes, and the uphills a little tough), and are still happily riding.

So this is a shout-out to local design and urban innovation, to sustainable thinking and a strong collaboration. We’d like to thank Earthworld for supporting our local design – it’s an honour to supply their classy workforce with our classy bikes. We hope you keep riding your SAM’s for as long as you design amazing things!

Find out more about Earthworld on earthworld.co.za or follow them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ewarch