Why “Spark” and why “Free”?
In this short blog I talk a bit about how the name and the logo came up and what it stands for. Also, about my wife and my questionable curiosity approach. Only important topics as you can see.
Reading time: 3 minutes
As you look at this webpage you might ask yourself what the name stands for. I actually have to thank my wife who came up with the idea for the name including the logo. It is maybe a good moment here to introduce Ms. Spark Free, let’s say her name is … Emilie. She is actually not a big fan of riding on a motorbike but does a fabulous job in sending me off riding. Probably only to have more peace at home (still one child, one dog and two cats remaining to get rid of ). Now this all somehow discredits her as a viable source of inspiration for the name, logo and myself, but you have to trust me on that one.
As I prepare the concept one line of thought came to mind that holds true today. It says
“Spark Free does not sell cloths, it creates dreams”
The main motivation behind creating Spark Free is about creating and fostering emotions, not commercial success, no enriching myself as I have a job in parallel. More about my philosophy for the boutique in another article.
The Spark represents the energy that gets things going, like the spark plug that initiates the explosion in the engine.
When I got my first bike, I could not stand it to not understand what is going on in the engine while I am driving. I knew the theory, but I had to see it, touch it. To the big surprise of many and before really driving with the bike, I put the bike including the engine partially apart so I could see how it all works inside. After putting everything together again, the bike eventually worked well to my big surprise.
Here is a picture of it, it was a Yamaha XJ 550. Obviously, a picture taken before my work on the bike as it looks still quite functional.
Spark also stands for ideation and innovation. Spark Free aims to provide sometimes a different view at things and a different format of things; also, I have some future plans which could bring even more innovation in.
Free stands for this incredible feeling on the bike. It is the freedom and the adventure. But it is much more than that. It is about who I am and the ongoing process of who I aspire to be. The bike is the mirror of where I am in this process. Just looking at how people ride their bike gives you insights similar to those as if they were lying on the sofa of Freud.
Personally, without a motorbike I would not be where I am today. It helped me to take responsibility in life amongst many other things. For me the more I learn and progress in my life the more I free myself up from my past, which, in my case was not always so great. So that is why Free is an important part and goes together with Spark. The name is actually a good representation of who I am today.
For me bringing Spark Free to life was not always easy mentally: “Do you really want to go out there with your views and opinions? I typically do not have more content than the next 2-3 movies, will inspiration come afterwards again? Will people like it?”
Soon I realised that with that mind set it won’t work. My guiding principle for this project is: FUN. To turn this around I had to go through a little brain exercise to FREE me up from those self-imposed worries. And I hope I will never enter a spark-free moment in my live when creativity leaves me 😉
And no, Spark Free is not about electric, spark-free motorbikes. Well… not yet. The name then should be spark plug free anyways…
We will talk about the tagline “Fire up, ride, live” another day.
One last thing: time is one of the most valuable and precious things in life. As unfortunately (or fortunately?) most of us do not really know how much of it we have, I want to respect the time you invest in consuming Spark Free content. I want you to feel that your investment pays out: that it makes you smile; it makes you think; it fires your passion; it gives you energy.
Tell me, how do you connect with the name and the logo?
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