laser etched skateboards

Laser Etched Skateboards (coming to a mall kiosk near you?)

Seven is an art exhibition of laser etched skateboards. Refill Magazine is the show’s sponsor. Their press states it’s a new technology but the Laser etching process predates pospsicle shaped skateboards. Right now the web site is mostly coming soon and only has a handful of examples. Since you have to sit through an animation and they don’t stand still for long, we’ve pulled a few off in static form after the jump. Legendary skateboard artist Jim Phillips is the only industry affiliated person on the contributors list so far. [Source: Freshness]

Seven: Laser Etched Skateboard Art.

Seven an exhibition of lasered skateboard art. A world first of its kind Seven allows artists to explore the idea of lasering away at the seven layers of ply to make their mark on the board. A select group of artists globally have contributed their works to explore this new technology. Only 50 will be produced per artist. The aim of the show is to have a series of unique decks that collectors may choose to ride or display. The exhibition will have its first show in Sydney Australia scheduled in early March, to be followed by New York, L.A and scheduled tour of Europe.

While there are a few companies that either brand or stamp a serial number into a deck, I haven’t seen any laser etched top sheet logos yet. It seems like a perfect fit for some of the hand crafted longboard outfits. Laser etching would also be interesting on a short board, especially with a dyed top sheet. But is it Art? Well… The originals are art. Laser etching it on a skateboard doesn’t make it much more than a novelty since it essentially removes the artist from fabrication process. It might as well be a heat transfer in that respect. I think you can actually go to a shopping mall now and buy custom laser etched wood plaques.

laser etched skateboards

Still, they are interesting to look at. Some renderings work better than others, such as the more detailed designs, but the decks with large areas of untouched surface and spot etchings are equally striking. Anything with a lot of black removes more wood from the bottom ply, making it weaker. I don’t think many people will chose to ride these anyway. As long as we are talking about art and not function, it would be interesting to see a thin sheet of aluminum etched and laminated as a bottom sheet.

laser etched skateboards

Discussion

6 thoughts on “Laser Etched Skateboards (coming to a mall kiosk near you?)

  1. The have had one of those deals out at Nike and have done some special edition shoes, engraved people’s phones and powerbooks. etc.

  2. They have some sick ones at Cal Skate on 6th and Davis!! I was impressed actually at how unique that is- now consider a nice red walnut stain. HAR- I said Nut and Stain- hahahaha.

  3. This is so far from anything to do with skateboarding. What next? A skateboard with a watch in it, or celebrity sperm laminating or widdle world skateboards. How about a four rollerblades mounted to a skateboard so you can fuck yourself. Peace Off.

  4. It is like a more precise version of that old G&S branding iron treatment. Time marches on hand silk-screen boy. They put whitey on the moon back in 1969.

  5. […] An earlier post showed some laser-created relief on skateboards. Here is a Flickr set of similar work. I think they have one of these rigs out at Nike, They have experimented with decorating various items: shoes, cellular phones, laptop computers. […]

  6. […] posted about this before but it’s worth revisiting. There are a few decks that were added after we last posted […]

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