The story behind The Art of Parts

My name is Tim Koers

My name is Tim Koers and I am the creator of The Art of Parts. I've been developing this project for roughly a year now.

How did the idea start?

It was pretty simple actually, I was wrenching on my Mercedes-Benz CL600 and thought, what a shame that the old parts will end up in the trash, instead of telling their story. Some parts where on the car from the factory, so they've been a small part of many stories the car has had.

What was the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge was actually getting a frame big enough to fit, to look in place and to get the luxury feeling I was aiming on. There are a lot of wooden frames available, of which the look just didn't fit inside of my vision. The choice to opt for aluminum frames, for now, was made.

The story behind the prototypes

The first prototypes where clutch plates I had gathered from a few BMW M5 models (E39 and E60) and a Lamborghini Gallardo (LP560). They where a bit rough, not perfectly aligned and had holes in the 'backdrop' (the face plate of the art piece) on places that weren't used.

Then a 3D designer came into play and we digitized the prototypes, from there on it went fast. I needed to create a prototype for a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup brake disc.

It took 1 prototype and a lot of long nights to get it right. I tried to hang the first prototype myself and that was quite a hassle. We had to redesign the mounting mechanism to be more user friendly, which we did.

We're now in the process of applying the basic design to the clutch prototypes. After that's been done, I need to get the packaging right and I'll finally be able to list them for sale on my store.

It's not all about the art itself

There are many things involved in setting up an art brand. A few of which are the website, social media and networking. The brand needs to have a good looking website, appear well on social media and I need to network. It requires me to be putting in a lot of work, which initially comes unrewarded.

Last weekend was the first ever event that I've attended with my art pieces, both exciting and scary at the same time. I brought the whole fleet of art pieces with me and I met some nice people and had some leads for the art.