flying flea lands in paris with original 1940s parachute and immersive masterclasses

Flying Flea parachutes down Paris Design Week 2025

At Paris Design Week 2025, Royal Enfield’s Flying Flea brand brought together artists, designers, and students for an immersive weekend of masterclasses, panel discussions, and installations at École Duperré, turning the historic design school into a hub of creative energy. Among the highlights was a panel talk with multidisciplinary artist Mattia Biagi, exploring the art bike Motototem, the symbolism of materials, and the collaborative spirit behind Flying Flea’s ambitious entry into the world of City+ electric mobility. The masterclasses served as the intellectual and creative heart of the event, giving visitors a chance to see how art, technology, and cultural storytelling intersect around Flying Flea’s first electric motorcycle, the FF.C6.

Flying Flea, the city+ mobility from Royal Enfield extended partnership with École Duperré with a bespoke event at the Paris Design Week | all images courtesy of Royal Enfield

the air-dropped 1940s Royal Enfield Flying Flea motorcycle

The weekend’s creative program took inspiration from the original Royal Enfield Flying Flea motorcycle, which was famously air-dropped by parachute during World War II to provide lightweight, all-terrain mobility for soldiers behind enemy lines. That history came alive at École Duperré through a striking parachute installation by student designer Sarah Bouyssou, who draped a genuine 1940s parachute over a Flying Flea motorcycle, symbolically linking the past to the present. The image of a motorcycle ‘landing’ in Paris tied together Flying Flea’s roots in courage and agility with its modern philosophy of Live Lightly – a call to embrace freedom, creativity, and sustainable urban exploration.

‘Flying Flea has been the platform for creative expression through which we are exploring new and exciting realms. Our collaboration with École Duperré at Paris Design Week is one such example and marks the beginning of our journey in this city. France is where the original Flying Flea motorcycle played a pivotal role during World War II, and today, Paris stands not only as a global epicenter of design and culture but also is one of Europe’s most dynamic two wheeler EV markets. This beautiful city represents not only our past but also our future. Therefore we are excited to announce the opening of our first company operated flagship store here in Paris, with this being our first step towards cementing our long term commitment to the city and its people,’ said Mario Alvisi, Chief Growth Officer, Flying Flea and Royal Enfield Electric Vehicles, commenting on the collaboration and the announcement.

the event showcased the classic styled FF.C6 and a one-off art bike on the FF.C6 named ‘Motototem’, a sculptural art piece that illustrates the intersection between creativity, innovation and sustainability

Mattia Biagi’s masterclasses take center stage

At the center of the courtyard, Mattia Biagi’s Motototem drew visitors into a world where motorcycles became sculpture, storytelling, and material experimentation. Built on the FF.C6 platform, the piece combined travertine, bronze, hand-blown glass, walnut, leather, and clay into a single flowing form. Each element carried meaning, from the travertine stone that echoed natural textures and permanence while shaping the fuel tank into contours reminiscent of parachutes and airborne movement, to the hand-blown glass lights that symbolized fragility and transformation, replacing standard headlamps with luminous sculptures born from fire and craft. Bronze grips and footpegs embedded the artist’s fingerprint into the machine, leaving a literal personal mark on the work, while walnut wood seating added warmth and organic tactility, contrasting with the modern magnesium battery casing beneath.

Explaining his process, Mattia Biagi shared during his masterclass: ‘After a specific day on a beach with my wife, I realized I wanted to do a collaboration where I created a crazy motorcycle sculpture. I started to sketch, and that led to my conversation with Flying Flea. We drove back to the basics – the core sensations and universe of bikes – with this artwork.’

built on the FF.C6 platform, the piece combined travertine, bronze, hand-blown glass, walnut, leather, and clay into a single flowing form

In the masterclasses, Biagi described how collaboration affords creatives the space to exchange and enrich their work rather than reflect in solitude. ‘I don’t believe that an artist has to struggle alone to be good. It’s actually the opposite. I like to be surrounded by love, energy, and inspiration because that is how I create but also how I create in different ways, though different sources. An artist needs to find a source of energy to create,’ he explained.

Over the weekend, he shared the stage with the Flying Flea team discussing how design, mobility, and culture meet in the brand’s vision for the City+ era. Visitors saw how the FF.C6 motorcycle merges heritage design details, such as its modernized Girder fork suspension, with connected technologies including over-the-air updates, customizable ride modes, and intuitive digital interfaces.

bronze grips and footpegs embedded the artist’s fingerprint into the machine

The artist noted that while his work often features recurring motifs, they emerge organically rather than as provocation.‘I find symbolism fascinating so if something captures my interest, it does influence my art. I don’t look for symbols – whether religions or political – to provoke as a strategy for attention. My work does not intend to make a statement on specific subjects, but instead shows how I wish to capture a specific moment,’ he said during the discussion.

In Motototem, the parachute-like tank contours, organic battery fins, and glass light sculptures became metaphors for motion, fragility, and renewal, reflecting Flying Flea’s Live Lightly ethos while pointing toward a sustainable urban future.

over the weekend (5-7 September), École Duperré transformed into a four-floor celebration of artistic vision, craftsmanship and collaboration

As the weekend closed with music on the rooftop and conversations across the courtyard, Biagi hinted that Motototem is only the beginning. ‘Let’s see the future of the Art Bike Motototem. We are working on many different projects with Flying Flea. I am very involved in pushing not only the art bike further but also supporting the brand into the future,’ Biagi added.

For Flying Flea, the Paris Design Week masterclasses demonstrated how a motorcycle brand can be more than a maker of machines. By merging artistic collaboration, engineering excellence, and cultural storytelling, Flying Flea positions itself as a creative platform for the next era of urban mobility—one where motorcycles help reimagine cities.

the creative takeover also showcased installations by École Duperré students along with live art and cafe and immersive master classes