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.

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.