What's Happening?

It’s April already and we wanted to share a little blog post on what’s happening at Doric Skateboards right now and what we’ve got planned for the future.

At the time of writing this (Saturday 16th April) I’m not long home from Peacocks Studio here in Aberdeen preparing screens for printing a couple of new designs on their way this year.

We’ll be screen printing skateboards and clothing for a collaboration with local creative @helloradical - really excited about this one. Peep their style in the image below. Its going to be a belter.! Before this one arrives we’ll hopefully have another one ready to go - a cracker from a local guy we’ve worked with before based on the Robert the Bruce statue. : )

End of this month is War of the Thistles at Transition and the Loading Bay. Always happy to sponsor events like this - the first one we sponsored was literally the day or two after we launched 5 years ago. I’ll be there hopefully with a couple of the Doric team to have a watch. Say hello if ye see me!

You can find us in person at Curated Aberdeen every month here in Abedeens’s Bon Accord Centre. The event itself is on every week but I’m only there once a month. Find the details here. Really big thanks to folk who come along and see me there. Its incredibly gratifying that folk come along knowing I’m going to be there. Makes it all very worthwhile. I’m booked there until August but will no doubt be there beyond then plus we’ll be doing some other pop ups else where too. Keep yer ears and eyes open for more on that later.

Until then we’ll be busy working on these new designs and sharing some of the process along the way!

Cheers

Gary

Proud

How I feel wearing my Doric gear.

For a wee while I felt ultra self conscious about wearing my own stuff. Criticism had stung me a little and I wanted anonymity when I was out and about.

What if someone asked me if I knew the guy behind Doric and shared some negative thoughts? What would I say?

Probably say “aye he can be right pain in the arse I hear”

But I’m feeling better about myself and my place in skateboarding and in Aberdeen. Dare say it’s Pride. One of the deadly sins but I’ll allow it.

Us Scots and more so Aberdonians aren’t very good at the pride thing. We’re better and pouring buckets of scorn on folk and ourselves. Sarcasm and an almost competitive nature of negativity seems to be part of who we are but I’m trying to get away from that.

It’s incredibly boring.

So whatever floats yer boat - be proud of it.

Don’t let the external or internal sneers effect you.

New Team Member - Gus.!

A Blog post with a difference. Just wanted to welcome Gus to the team again and point you in the direction of our YouTube Page with a Playlist of each of our team and some other bits and pieces.! Plus on this very website we have a page dedicated to them which just links to the YouTube stuff. Enjoy and say Fit Like?! : )

A very warm Fit Like and welcome to the Doric Team for Augustas Buozius aka Gus.!

We did a wee Q&A to share a little more about him. Read it below.

But also take a moment to marvel at these photographs. The subject matter and quality of pic is 👌🙂

𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞: Augustas

𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬: Gus, guist, augis, augucio, gloop hahaha.

𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: I started in 2007 so 14 years? Wow it‘s been a minute!

𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐟𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐠: Reg

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤: Definitely 360 flip. After the kickflip, the next barrier to break was to learn how to tre. I recall landing the 1st ones and I don’t think anything has felt as rewarding since haha. Then when you get them more consistent and can throw it randomly in a line it’s the best feeling I swear haha.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞/𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫: Andrew Reynolds hands down. I‘ve been a big fan of him since I started skating. Before you could view every single skate video on youtube, I managed to download Baker 3 and would watch it on repeat before I went to school. Then Emerica Stay Gold came out and we all know his part blew everybody’s mind. He’s still shredding to this day and working hard to make sure he can still skate and spread the love, so much respect for this guy!

𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Norwich, UK. Sadly had to depart from Aberdeen :((

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: I wouldn’t say talents but more like hobbies: I like to play music, bit of guitar, bass, drums, piano. It would be good to start jamming with some people again haha. I also got into film photography over a year ago and I’ve been really enjoying it. You can really get into trying different films and getting different textures and colours.

𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝/𝐬𝐚𝐲: I wanna thank skateboarding for bringing good vibes, good friends and good memories over the years. Looking back, I have absolutely no regrets but only feel joy for spending everyday of secondary school on the board and having a laugh with the boys. It‘s sad to hear stories of people having had bad experiences during their school years and I feel I was blessed to have avoided that by skating.
I‘m also very chuffed to see the women’s skateboarding scene being so progressive over the last few years. Keep pushing the boundaries ladies and thankyou all for inspiring us!

𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬. 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐲.

𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 Vilius Bareikis

#printlife #handmade #brand #branding #tees #hoodies #clothingline #style #shirts #illustration #screenprinted #love #digitalprinting #customtees #clothes #ink #tshirtshop #hoodie #screenprinting #skatewear #streetwear #skate #skateboard #skater #skateboarder #streetstyle #streetfashion #thrasher #skateboarding

Mental Health

I posted the below on social media the other day. It was great to see some discussions/comments going on and greatly appreciated.

Hopefully it helps trigger something in someone to either reach out for help or to reach out with an offer of help. What I find frustrating is knowing exactly what would help - exercise, eating well, reading, relaxation etc but having absolutely no concentration or drive to achieve it. But I’ll keep chipping away and hopefully feel a lot better soon. But also aware that quite often these things never fully go away - only becoming manageable peaks and troughs.!

Also hope to god no one thinks this is for “likes” or “content”.

Thanks again.

I’ve not been myself lately.

I’m sure it’s not just me, the world has been turned on it’s head this last year and I’m more confident that I’ll kick flip than the current UK Govt leading us anywhere positive.

I’ve given up a few responsibilities in my day job including being a Mental Health First Aider. It wouldn’t do someone any good to have called me lately. And I’ve missed some of the rare social occasions that have popped up too. Just not in the right frame of mind.

My mental health is poor at the moment - that’s the truth. I’m not just miserable - I’ve always been like that….ask anyone that knows me.

It’s something deeper but I know I’m going to be ok. I think saying this out loud is healthy. And if yer reading this and perhaps feeling similar then I hope your ok and I hope you’re getting help and or surrounded by good people. I’m lucky.

If yer pals or family members have gone quiet or seem out of sorts have some patience and reach out. And then reach out again.

#mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #mha #mentalhealthaberdeen #wellbeing #wellness #aberdeen #aberdeenshire #mentalhealthsupport

Your Custom Skateboard x Doric Design Challenge

First of all - huge thanks to all who got into the spirit of this challenge/competition.

Although there was an actual physical prize up for grabs I hope that the posting, tagging, sharing and the engagement across all the social media pages has brought some new followers to your page, some inspiration, more friends and contacts, perhaps some future collaborations and ultimately maybe even a commission or project.

I wanted to get something here on the blog - social media comes and goes so quickly - at least this is here forever.!

Big shout out to Adam and the team at Your Custom Skateboard for collaborating on this and offering discount codes should anyone want their design printed. Get in touch if you want to do that.

The winning design by Alex aka mokoyo.robo definitely caught some eyes early on in the challenge! Congratulations to Alex - can’t wait to see the deck printed.!

But because there were so many entries YCS wanted to give special mention to two others.

Steve Stark design aka stevestarkdesign on Insta was pretty much the first to submit so it was nice to see that his Croc design didn’t get lost in the pile!

And Hello Radical on Instagram with their Fish Food design. Definitely a favourite of mine.!

For these two they will be offered a special discount if they want to print their designs and to everyone else who entered they will also get a discount should they wish to do the same.

From my point of view i wanted to give something away too. So a blank deck each will be making their way to Corey and Reuben to design their own in any way they like.! Well done guys!

That’s it for this year. Lets do this again next year.!

Cheers

Gary

Why the Sad Face?

Growing up as I did I became very familiar with Catalogue books. You know the ones - Kays, Freemans, etc

They sold everything - like an analogue Amazon.

And it had the option to pay it up. So as a kid I’d always pester my mum that i could use my pocket money to buy the latest Action Force playset over 20 weeks. I obviously had no idea how long 20 weeks was!

Obviously these books were full of models. And the tropes looking back were pretty hilarious. A LOT of smiling and laughing, flying kites, having picnics, eating around a dinner table - basically the exact opposite of life for a lot of people using this kind of service.!

And so rolling on a few decades I find myself needing product photographs for Doric Skateboards and think back to these.

Product photos with models isn’t something that I particularly paid much attention to over the years. And so I started to look at Skate/Street wear/Fashion pics.

Something was wrong. They all look aloof, miserable, too cool for school. Looking into the distance, hunched over squatting on a manky side street - its said “fuck you, you aren’t cool enough to wear this shit”.

Of course that assumption is very much coloured by my own low self worth…

But it did plant something in my mind. Why do some models smile and some don’t?

Seems the answer is depressingly simple.

Smiling is associated with being an idiot. Lower class.

Frowning or looking dismissive is associated with power. Higher class.

These conclusions came from some googling - i would add references but this isn’t a dissertation.

So where is the room to express what the brand is? Apparently you shouldn’t? The product should do the talking and the model should do just that - model.

I’ve been lucky enough to have some mega talented photographers do stuff for me. Dean Gray and Pirate Photography spring to mind. Both locals who were kind enough to reach out. Thankfully they displayed flexibility so that the work they did for us wasn’t one or the other in its entirety. Way back in the beginning I was also lucky enough to be contacted by a couple of local chaps - Ryan of Westburn & Granite and a lad called Dominic who i’ve lost track of. Below is a selection and looking back I think they reflect Doric Skateboards pretty damn well.

A bit of fun and a lot of colour.

Check the links above to those talented folk - each picture is also linked to who took it. Thanks again to them all.! : )

Also below that - some classis catalogue modelling!

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?

What's New?

Its been a while for a Blog Update (what blog doesn’t start with that?) - so here goes.

What’s new?

Well we’ve got 4 new designs coming soon. One that will be for Deck and Tee and the other 3 for Tees/Clothing only.

Read on to here about them!

Back in April we did a wee design competition and got some amazing stuff. We already did a couple of them as stickers and donated that money to Mental Health Aberdeen.

But the standard was so high and the reaction to some was such that we had to do a couple more - its taken a while but here we are.!

First up - a T-Shirt for the Aberdonians of a certain vintage.

Peep Peeps design by Phil Lyon.

This was a notorious bar down by the harbour in Aberdeen and the subject of that classic Sky TV show Britain’s Toughest Pubs. I was in once - eventually getting chucked out. Here’s Phils take on his design:

'I'd been reading about the Dada art movement when I seen the competition pop up on Facebook, figured I'd kinda draw some inspiration from that and go for a collage approach but simplify it a bit to make it easier to screen on boards/tees. I've seen a few other brands using that sort of thing with collages of random stuff but wanted to put a local twist on it. Always loved proper pubs with lots of character and characters and thought that Peep Peeps really summed up that working class pub that we seem to have less and less of these days so I decided to combine Chris' infamous hardest pub appearance with an art style I doubt he ever heard of and the result was the graphic I submitted. Still so stoked people liked it!'

Big thanks to Katy from Katys Studio for the assistance with this one and to Lee at Milk Print Studios for printing them. Both are creatives in Aberdeen doing their thing - go follow them. These Tees will be online in November with very limited numbers - no preorder!

Cull the Gulls

And here was the ultimate winner of the design comp. Initially we were just going to print one deck for the winner but after a chat with Neil we decided to do a full run. And its looking great.! Pre-Order for Tees are online soon and decks will follow very soon.! We’ll also have a chat with the designer Neil to talk about the inspiration.!

Spider From Mars T-Shirt

Not part of the comp but from the mind of Chris Graham aka DFunkt Robot - another local loon making his name and someone we’ve worked with before. A wee revamp of the Spider from Deep Fried Mars design will be coming to tees soonish!

Street Dreams Tees.

When we started this nearly 4 years ago our original design was of local diva Annie Lennox and a play on the song from her Eurythmics days Sweet Dreams. We went with Street Dreams being that thats where we learned to skate - no one said it was a clever play on words. ; )

We’ve threatened tees before. These are coming in November/December.

We’ve also got new beanies and a restock of Donut ones plus some Buffs coming soon! : )