Back in time.

I took this picture in 2013.

Way back in the late 80’s and early 90’s when I was at school I would draw skate stuff all the time.

Logos and ramps.!

I turned those drawings of ramps into something more formal and sent it to the council asking if they would build something.

To my surprise I got a letter back and was asked if I would come in to speak to them. I went with my mum and we were shown the plans for this ramp at Westburn. Obviously I had no real impact but I was grateful that they entertained me. I walked out of there with the blue prints for these under my arm.

I think by that time the exhibition centre that briefly housed facilities was long gone so there was no purpose built stuff at that time.

And so despite any design issues this ramp might have had I was excited. I remember going there when it was opened, can almost still smell the soft bark that was put down around it.

I was sad to see it had been taken down a few years ago. This ramp had a twin nearer my childhood home in Northfield. The one at Heatheryfold was opened a little later if I remember right. It’s also gone. Heatheryfold I believe may have been home to an early concrete skate park. It certainly had a BMX track that’s ghost can still be seen I think.

Northfield now has a skatepark near Byron shops. It’s a bit of a mess but if I had that as a kid? Wow.

I have strange dreams about the skatepark at Byron. I’m a kid again and I suddenly discover this amazing place and it’s empty. But as much as I try to get there I can’t ever quite get in or I don’t have a board with me. Wonder what that’s all about?

Donuts for Daze and other news....

Its been a really busy start to the year for Doric Skateboards. After the Christmas madness we took the time to plan out some things for the year ahead.

If you follow us on social media you’ll maybe have caught a glimpse of the new design.! Really stoked to be working with local loon Chris Graham again. Check him out on Instagram here. Release date is Saturday 29th February.

This new one is a ramp up for us in a few ways:

• Tail graphics. We’ve never done anything on the tail of the screen printed designs. Its definitely a bit harder but we’ve engineered something that works.!

• 3 colour topside logo. Way way back we did two colour topside logos for the Jetpack Dinosaur collaboration. This time we’ve went 3. Now i know that a lot of people simply grip tape over the topside but i prefer to do them anyways. And doing 3 colours requires a lot of time and patience. Working within the concave of the deck can be really tricky - its all muscle memory eventually though.!

• 6 screen graphic. For the main graphics we used 6 separate screens/layers. This is on top of the 4 for the tail and the 3 for the topside. That’s a total of 13 passes needed to complete one deck. I think the finished article will show where that effort has went.

• Multi screen clothing. For the last collaboration deck we did with Fit Like we dipped our toe into screening the clothing too. That was all one colour stuff. This time its multi colour/screen designs so we’ve invested in some new equipment to facilitate. Excited to get going with it and show it all off.!

So keep your eyes peeled for the reveal early/mid February for the release on the 29th Feb.!

In other news:

• Organic clothing. We’ll slowly move on to clothing that is at very least ethically sound but also coming from organic cotton. I’m well aware that i’m producing “stuff” and sometimes the world/us don’t need more.! So the least i can do is make sure its better for the environment. The goal by the end of the year is to have all tees/hoodies done with this sort of clothing.

• Future collaborations/designs. We’ve got a firm date for another deck and clothing design plus other new bits and pieces in the first 6 months.

• 3rd Bday Bash. Possibly schedule another Bday Bash this April.!

• Pop Ups. Some planned already - others TBC.

• We added a load of screen printing tutorials to the YouTube channel. Please head there and subscribe.! : ) We also added it to the website here.

• Last year we added a page to the website that features people, business’s, organisations, brands, artists etc that we admire. Check it out here. You might find something you want/need!

• We also restocked some of our stuff. Plenty of PoP tees in Black, White and Olive Green. !

• And to make room for new stuff you can grab the Scotch Tee design on sale for a bargain £10 posted.!! Black Front Print, Black Back Print, White Front Print, White Back Print and a kids one (aged 3-4 years old) for a fiver.!

Next month we’ll have revealed the new design in its entirety - we hope you like it.! Until then - thanks for the support. : )