RKS Designer Josh Probst returned from Paris after receiving the Paris Design Award. Josh was honored as the best emerging designer of 2020 for his electrical motorcycle design, MAYA. This prestigious award is given annually in Paris to the best new designers in the world. As the 2020 emerging designer of the year, Josh won while he was a senior at college. Due to COVID the 2020 awards show was postponed till December 2021.

About the Paris Design Award

The Paris Design Award was started for designers by designers. The awards are organized annually by Farmani Group – a global leader in the curation and promotion of architecture, design, and photography, alongside In Between – a Paris-based collective of thinkers and makers.

Awardees come from over 70 countries, and the awards honor achievements across the categories of Architecture, Landscape, Interior, Product, and Graphic Design, falling into either ‘Professional’ or ‘Emerging’ sections – with the latter dedicated to exemplary student projects. The jury includes creatives, editors, and famous designers such as Maurizio Cattelan, Pierpaolo Ferrari, Suchi Reddy, Fernanda Marques, Yoko Choy, and Amit Gupta, among many others.

Winning the Award

Josh won the Paris Design Award in 2020 when he graduated college but was unable to attend due to the new COVID pandemic. At the time he found out he was a winner he was also searching for jobs in one of the hardest job markets in the recent past. The award, and notoriety that came along with it, helped raise his profile to RKS principal Ravi Sawhney.

MAYA appealed to the judges, in part, because of its audacity. During his last semester of school, Josh designed and built a fully functional modular motorcycle. While not street legal, the motorcycle is fully rideable and sets out a new vision for motorcycles that can be upgraded by component. Being upgraded by component, the motorcycle can in theory last forever.

The Bike

MAYA breaks into four major components that are quickly and easily disassembled and assembled making automotive upgrades easy and approachable. Using the single frame, the battery, seat, aesthetics, and powertrain are all changeable and upgradable. In addition to being user-friendly, the bike is eminently sustainable, allowing old parts to be recycled and upgraded without the need to scrap the entire bike.

What’s next for MAYA?

After his big win Josh will showcase his design at motorcycle shows around the globe, including the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show, Mama Tride Motorcycle Show, and the Bike Shed Motorcycle Show (London). He’s also working on a new motorcycle. Asking the question, “What will the motorcycle look like when the combustion engine becomes obsolete”, he is again looking at the future.

According to Josh, the motorcycle hasn’t changed since the Traub motorcycle of 1916. As the engine powering the bike becomes obsolete, so will the design. Whereas motorcycles were built around the combustion engine, which has also remained relatively static, now motorcycles will be built around battery packs that come in all shapes and sizes. So what will the last motorcycles built with a combustion engine look like? Once Josh is done, we’ll soon find out.

Spending his weekends working with CNC, 3D printing, and other heavy-duty and game-changing prototyping tools Josh is one his way.

About Josh Probst

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Josh Probst has always had an affinity towards Design and building. This passion led to him building his first motorcycle in his parent’s garage while in high school. This 1978 Honda CB 125s called the retro rocket not only got him the opportunity to be the youngest builder invited to the handbuilt motorcycle show in Austin, Texas but also got him into the University of Houston Industrial design program. The four-year program honed his skills and challenged him to broaden his perspective to a more empathetic design approach. Graduating with honors in the class of 2019 he accumulated several awards and experiences. Including 2019 IDEA finalist, and was invited to display and be a keynote speaker at Kookmin university’s Wearable tech Exhibit for his air pollution mask called 2.5. As well as receiving the 2020 Paris Design Awards Emerging product designer of the year, 2020 core 77 design award, and was invited to display and be a keynote speaker to the Harvard Business school club of Houston for his Fully functional modular electric motorcycle thesis called MAYA.