the manufactured landscape rises with no end in sight.
skateboarding makes sense of the sprawl, it is bricolage in motion.
skateboarders learn to interpret architecture and civil engineering in their own way. navigating the streets is drawing in three dimensional form, sculpting an experiential conception of urban space. skateboarding provides a voice, a democratic second use of over-developed land. skateboarders seek out the forgotten concrete slabs and reclaim them.
skateboarding, though, is not environmentally friendly. skateboards are mass produced to be mass consumed, disposed of, and repeated. boards are generally coated in toxic paints and lacquers, wrapped in plastic, and shipped in units of thousands. power tools and machine operations are used to remove all evidence of human interaction.
no machine is capable of recreating the touch of the human hand. anthropocene skateboards are not made in an automated factory, they are made by one set of human hands, a limited number of power tools, and a love and respect for the materials. shapes exist in a library of formulas and dimensions, not physical templates. each board is drawn by hand every time.
boards are made from canadian maple, sourced from sustainable forestry operations. the glue is manufactured in the united states, is water-based, and contains no urea-formaldehyde. boards are finished with various all-natural, biodegradable ingredients. in addition to the efforts to minimize the impact of the materials and process of production, $5 from every board is directly donated to forest restoration efforts.
this skateboard company is not saving the world, but it is creating an alternative option that is true to the materials and is easier on the environment. the future for humanity may look bleak, but it’s not the end of the world, it’s just the anthropocene…