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Our Favorite Skateboard Designs from frog’s DECKxDESIGN Challenge

For this year’s NYCxDesign, frog partnered with Art Start for the second year in a row to help bring creativity to NYC’s homeless and at-risk youth through their DECKxDESIGN challenge. Following a successful inaugural year focused on dart boards, this year pivoted focus towards a different type of board—the skateboard. frog wanted to push the limits and see what would happen if they asked NYC-based artists and design studios to reimagine the classic, run-of-the-mill skateboard, and the results did not disappoint.

The boards were put on display and made available for auction during a party held at the design firm’s Brooklyn-based headquarters. All funds from the auction benefitted Art Start. Below are some of our favorite boards from the challenge, accompanied by descriptions written by each designer/design team themselves and divided into two categories: Technical and Novelty. Unfortunately, a few of the boards we want to include don’t have photos available, but the one’s we’ve featured here are a solid representation of the results.

Technical

The below boards either have a new form factor we’ve never seen, include clever design details or an interesting use of material.

Name: Adam Wrigley

Job Title: Product Architect at frog

Materials: Polycarbonate (‘bulletproof glass’), Aluminum, Steel, Urethane

Inspiration: Ghost Board is inspired by opposites and is designed to cause a double-take. When ridden, the rider would seem to be floating above the ground. The transparent top of the board appears to be quite fragile, but it is actually extremely durable. It is made of polycarbonate: the same material used in bullet proof glass and fighter jet canopies.

Names: Damon Ahola, Ryan Luce, Joey Pasko, Oliver Sheu, Brent Arnold

Job Titles: Design and Engineering team at Motivate / Citi Bike 

Materials: Citi Bike aluminum downtube, 3D printed nylon plastic end caps, bike headlight and taillight, aluminum trucks, polyurethane wheels

Inspiration: How can we repurpose a decommissioned Citi Bike?

Name: Karim Rashid

Company: Karim Rashid

Materials: pattern printed flooring designed for Parador (An eco-friendly company using sustainable materials), ball wheels

Inspiration: Digital pattern that conveys mobility and speed. Fluidity of its lines are translated into the overall dynamic shape.

Name: Felipe Castaneda

Job Title: Industrial Designer at MakerBot

Materials: MakerBot Tough PLA in Orange

Inspiration: We wanted to challenge ourselves by creating a fully 3D printed MakerBoard, with no extra materials, that’s still lightweight and sturdy enough to ride.

Name: Piotr Woronkowicz

Company: Piotrworks x Machinehistories

Materials: 100% HDPE plastic waste found along the coastline beaches near NYC

Inspiration: After surfing following a rainstorm that had washed up a disturbing amount of trash onto the beach, I wanted to make this board using the waste polluting our oceans and beaches and think more about creating meaningful and functional products succeeding the materials in their virgin form.

While visiting a friend at Machinehistories and discussing a few ideas, he showed me an experimental process they were using of shredding and compressing materials under high heat to create new forms and patterns. We used Precious Plastic's free blueprints to build the grinder, and after refining the process, we were able to make this skateboard deck solely from waste collected off a few beaches. This process allows every board to be a one-of-a-kind piece showcasing a new wonderful mingling of color, pattern and history. May you shred on this board filled with infinite colors, shades, patterns and past lives.

Company: Aruliden

Materials: white powder-coated 1/8in waterjet steel

Inspiration: Translating the motion of skateboarding into a functional piece of furniture that anyone can experience.

Novelty

We included the following boards because they’re just plain fun, intriguing and/or include some good old comic relief.

Names: XY Feng & Jung Soo Park

Titles: Designers, frog

Materials: Thuidium (Fern Moss) & Leucoloryum (Cushion Moss)

Inspiration: 

Under the bridge
In a dark hidden corner
Lots of you
Thriving on the cold hard concretes
This is your spot
Where you start and spread little by little
No matter what others think of you

Name: Brandon Washington

Title: Design Director, Staple Design

Material: Faux Alpaca

Inspiration: Sneakers & Fashion.

Name: Daniel Venegas Production: Joel Medina + Gerard Sambets

Job Title: Associate Creative Director at Epic Signal x Mekanism

Materials: Plexiglass, glycerin, glitter, metal brackets

Inspiration: The inspiration was the airwalk trick in skateboarding where in mid-air a skater holds the nose of the board and kicks out their feet to appear like they are walking on air. Who’s better at walking on air or water for that matter than Jesus? These elements came together in this transparent skateboard along with a baby Jesus to provide riders with the ultimate airwalk.