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| The goddesses of skateboarding by fashion and beauty photographer Chenman |
Although Skateboarding has come in and out of mainstream it never diluted the core of the skateboarding scene. It is that scene, on the outside of conformism and often on the edge of society, that, with its own rules of conduct and its very unique identity, has again and again redefined design.
Skateboarding is a crude sensation, it delivers emotions that are hard to describe. It makes one feel like getting closer to god ! The idea of flying has always been man´s dream. Ikarus would have been a skateboarder, was he born today. It is this awesomeness that stuns the spectator again and again. It is this very sensation that makes Skateboarding so interesting for design and advertising.
As a trendsetter Skateboarding has defined fashion, graphic design and industrial design.
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| Who skates with those shoes ? |
With Skateboarders, those street fighters, being today´s heros it is obvious that there is an urge by the young generation to be like them. That starts by dressing up like them.
On the other side there is the need for those on their skateboards to make a living. It often starts by printing some T-shirts and sometimes ends up in big business.
As soon as a skate style has become fashion and is pulling the whole scene into mainstream the core of the skateboarding scene moves quickly away from that trend and invents a new identity.
Apart from the genuine skateboard fashion brands a lot of traditional firms have added skateboards to their products. Young models usually hold a few skateboards, sometimes they stand on one. The result looks often quite fake.
The skateboarding magazines had an impact on the grunge and trash graphic style which moved away from the vectorial cleanliness that are the signature of graphic design software. Typography was badly photocopied and then hand cut and glued to pages to be scanned back into the computer for production. The artwork reflected the torn jeans and worn out Vans of the skater.
Skateboard decks are an ever changing inspiration of cutting edge design.
The deck is a screen printed piece of multiplex plywood. The same screen printer that provided the T-shirts printed on the first decks. As the printing techniques evolved it became possible to do more photorealistic full color art. Instead of a two color screen print we find an array of all kinds of imagery on decks today.
It must have started with the need to keep the old skateboards. Every skater is emotionally attached to his deck, which has provided him with many strong emotions. It is difficult to let it go, even after its lifecycle. Here are some interesting pieces of skate furniture:
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| by Zanini de Zanine Caldas and others |
The skateboard culture has been threatened and was damaged by its own success and the wash-up of easy money. But as it moved in and out of mainstream these streams of revenue dried up again and again bringing Skateboarding back to its creative roots giving birth to new trends.
"Skate or die" will prove again and again that Skateboarding is not dead but always on the edge - good for the next trend.