Just as many other creatives, our very first encounter with art and design was in our younger years when we started to take up skateboarding. Back then, the skateboard, which is no more than a piece of wood with four wheels mounted on it, became a tool for exploration, expression and freedom. That simple piece of wood just seemed to have endless possibilities. And often, they would have been decorated with the most impressive graphics. Skateboarding just seemed to stir up the creative mind in each and every way.
Talking with friends out of our business, we found out that many of them had a background in skateboarding. They all acknowledged the fact that skateboarding inspired them to start a career in the creative industry. It almost seemed that each of them wanted to be a designer of skateboards back in the days. This inspired us to gather all hands on deck and organise an exhibition, paying tribute to the glory days of our youth.
All Hands On Deck was organised in collaboration with design studio Thomas & Jurgen and artist Olivier Vrancken. We challenged 30 like-minded artists and designers to design a skateboard. The 30 unique skateboard designs where exhibited in Pier15 skatepark as part of Graphic Design Festival Breda 2015. All skateboards were auctioned via an online platform that was provided by Parlor. And we run a very nice photography project with Max Fransen. The photos shot by Max were exhibited in different skateparks all around the country.
We were very thankful to gather around such a big team of enthusiasts to pull of this big project. And of course, we took part in the exhibition ourselves as well. Our skateboard design is called Heyday, which is a tribute do our heydays of skateboarding. Visit allhandsondeck.nl to view the complete project including all 30 skateboards.
