Dear Friends,

When walking around in Geneva’s old town, people cannot help but stop and stare at the M.A.D.Gallery’s windows when they reach that part of the street: parked tantalisingly behind the plate glass separating the footpath from the gallery is a pair of beautifully finished, finely detailed motorcycles.

The passersby spy them, halt any chatter, and gawk in rabid attention. Are the motorcycles art or are they functional vehicles? Perhaps, just perhaps, they are both.

The M.A.D.Gallery is no stranger to displaying artfully constructed motorcycles among our rare and unusual artworks, and we have staged exhibitions featuring the work of both Chicara Nagata and Maxwell Hazan in the past. Our mechanically inclined environment certainly provides the perfect backdrop for high-octane steel-and-leather-infused motorbikes such as these.

The M.A.D.Gallery currently has London-based Auto Fabrica’s visually arresting Type 6 and Type 8 on display, one-of-a-kind motorcycles that look simple, but are in reality extremely complex to make with fully rebuilt engines and increased performance.

The Type 6 and Type 8, each of which took six months to create and perfect, were made on the basis of stripped-down donor bikes − as are all of Auto Fabrica's motorcycles − in this case respectively a 1979 Yamaha XS650 and a 1981 Honda CX500.

At the official opening of the exhibition, guests expressed having particularly appreciated the bikes’ incredible detailing and very distinctive style. On the Type 8 this detailing certainly originates in the flowing, organic shape that covers the slick, rebuilt engine while a long tank became an extension of the frame. A signature detail of the Type 6 defines the shape of its whole entity: a scalloped, tunnelled section at the rear of the tank where it meets the seat. Hand-rolling manually-formed aluminium to make the tank and seat base as one piece created and preserved its simple lines.

Auto Fabrica was founded by brothers Bujar and Gazmend Muharremi, siblings enamored of mechanics and motorcycle design, a passion they have shared since childhood. Gazmend has a diploma in product design while Bujar has a master’s degree in automotive design, so working together and using their skills to design and produce artistic motorcycles at their own workshop was a natural step.

Auto Fabrica makes a very limited amount – typically between 8 and 12 pieces – of its artful motorcycles each year, each one unique.

Even though Auto Fabrica’s motto is well expressed with the simple statement “less is more,” all have understood that these motorbikes are anything but simplistic.

Auto Fabrica’s very rare motorcycles are characterized by a highly original look that combines the brothers’ vintage manufacturing techniques with modern-day production processes to create newly manufactured parts for the stripped-down bikes.

The result is an old-school-style creation that is beautiful, reliable, unparalleled in rarity and uniqueness, and a stark reminder of the luxurious feel of days gone by – without even the barest hint of old-fashioned.

If you are passing through Geneva, do drop in and see them for yourself. And if Switzerland is not part of your travel plans, you can keep in touch via Facebook and Instagram (@mbfmadgallery).