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?

Fund Raiser C-Fine Aberdeen Food Bank

CFINE

Fundrasier.!

I’m sure you’ve all seen the photos doing the rounds of the free school meals parcels that are being sent out. If you haven’t then go see for yourself. Not good enough.

Firstly let me say I hate the fact that we live in a world where food parcels and food banks exist. But at the moment they do.

Secondly - I’m as cynical as the next when a business pops up with something like this - is it all just marketing? We know the companies that do it. But if the end goal of money and more support for a cause is raised then all good.

We had a successful Christmas period and feel very lucky about how we are supported - so we’ve set up a just giving page and donated £500 from that takings. All proceeds will go to CFine here in Aberdeen - they have provided a valuable service here for many years.

And so I’m asking you guys to donate what you can. The target is £1000 and we’re half way there already.

If you can’t donate - please consider sharing this to your network.

Much appreciated. Stay safe.

https://www.cfine.org/Fundraisers/doric-skateboards-cfine-fund-raiser

What I've Learned Part 6 of 6

Part 6 - Be Nice.

The last for now of what I’m learning.!

It seems like a ridiculous thing to say. Be nice.

Being nice is often seen as a negative. And being nice isn’t exactly an adjective that goes with any business - particularly skateboarding.

Edgy, aloof, cynical - those are probably more closely associated! And you’ll see it in the words some businesses use (or lack of - words are for losers), the product pictures (standard miserable pose with a gritty backdrop - don’t smile), don’t follow anyone on social media, use the word kook. Essentially imagine how you looked and communicated when you were 14. That’s about it.

But obviously I’m a good bit older and about as edgy as a blob of custard (with the body consistency to match!).

So all I can do is be myself. I’ll probably smile in most photos. I’ll create long wordy social media posts. I’ll genuinely say thank you. And I’m about as far from cool as you get. Kinda like David Brent x Ned Flanders.

None of this means that edgy can’t be nice. But you get the idea.

Be yourself. I just don’t believe that every skate and street wear brand is run by someone who looks and sounds like they canna be arsed.!

Go on. Crack a wee smile.! This is supposed to be fun.

What I've Learned Part 4 of 6

Part 4. Despondency and Perspective..!

Carrying on with what I’ve learned, what I’m learning and what I’ve observed.

I think it doesn’t matter who you are or how successful you are, you will feel despondent at some point.

Sales slowed down?

Lost a bit of fire in your belly?

Believing everything that everyone else is posting on social media?

Wandering what in gods name you are actually doing?

And on and on.

Generally I just ride it out. Let it take its course because somewhere deep down I know I’ll come out the other end and be ok.

Sometimes I feel like quitting but then I feel like I’m in too deep. Easier to swim on and take a rest at the next stop than turn and go back.

Gotta keep perspective. It’s easy to do nothing, take no risks, snipe from the sidelines - God knows I’ve done a lot of that in previous years.!

But If you’ve got up and put yourself out there then you’ve done something that a lot of people want to do but don’t quite get there.

So if that’s you? Give yerself a break. It’s easier if you are doing things for the right reasons. Not so easy if you see yerself as the next “insert famous rich person here”.

So go have a pie and look at what you’ve done.

What I've Learned Part 2 of 6

Part 2.

Carrying on with things I’ve learned, observed and am still learning with Doric Skateboards.

Make Mistakes and Don’t Be Afraid to Change Your Mind.!

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

This doesn’t just mean in the field/medium you specifically work in. I think that should go without saying - you will NEVER get things right all the time, particularly when starting out. Mistakes are just practice.

But also don’t be afraid to make mistakes in your approach, strategy, ethos etc. Worst case scenario you are a hypocrite!

Best case - you’ve found a way to work and an approach that feels right.

Plenty of people will want you to do things a certain way, maybe even produce certain type of work. Now that can come from two opposite ends of the spectrum! The friends who are genuinely enthused and the non-friends who shout at the internet all day. Try to listen to your own voice.

I’ve had to learn that it’s impossible to keep everyone happy - including myself.

Nothing is written in stone though. And I find that trying to screen print clothing and decks myself can be a huge strain/impact on a variety of things:

• Quality

• Skill limitations

• Time

And so I’ve needed to use more 3rd Party help than I ever thought I would. But I’m ok with that.

So make mistakes, don’t worry about what you said before, did before - look ahead. If the last 9 months has taught us anything it’s that we should stay loose and flexible because you never know what’s coming.!

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! : )

Part 9a - Aberdeen and the Art Community

So for anyone following or just glancing over the previous blog posts you'll see that its chronicled the journey and will soon be up to date! 

But for now i thought it was worth doing a wee post to add to the discussion on Art in the city. So here goes.

As some of you might know i attended an event the other night called Art Hive - this is a forum for creatives of all levels to exchange ideas, inspire each other and provide support. I did a wee presentation on Doric Skateboards focusing on how it came to be and what i felt my place was in the creative world. Its great to be involved and see the discussions happening in our City. One question that was asked was:

Is Art the New Oil? 

Its not a question with an easy answer and its a question that goes off on tangents. The last few years in Aberdeen have been well documented in terms of the negative impact the Oil/Gas Industry has had but alongside that decline we've seen a real surge in the arts and culture of the city.

As expressed by Rachael Cloughton in this article (https://www.list.co.uk/article/96644-after-the-oil-boom-and-bust-could-art-save-aberdeen/):

"In 2013 Aberdeen failed in its bid to become UK City of Culture 2017. The judges told the council their plans lacked 'a coherent vision' or a 'wow factor'. It was, according to council leaders, a 'wake up call'."

And wake up it did. Now some of these things may already have been on the agenda and some weren't but its been the cumulative effect of these things that has invigorated our city:

• Look Again - celebrating the best in visual art and design.
• NuArt - spectacular and returning next year and beyond. I've never seen such diverse crowds walking around Aberdeens streets. 
• Spectra -  stunning event and returning in 2018 to celebrate young people.
• The Anatomy Rooms - a beautiful venue that provides a creative hub.
• Seventeen - another creative hub that hosts Make and events such at Art Hive.
• Creative Learning - ACC team coordinates classes and events all over the city with accessible and varied topics.
• Painted Doors - a fantastic project that saw doors in Aberdeen painted by selected artists to bring some life to the streets.
• Revamp of the Art Gallery - looking forward to this. Bit by bit we can see the revamp.
• Revamp of the Music Hall - like the one below, may have caused concern amongst some but this should be great for the city.
• Marishcall Square development - now this one has caused a stir. But at this point we have no choice but to go with it and see how it pans out. Better than we had before? I think it will be. As good as we wanted it to be? Perhaps not.
• Union Terrace Gardens development - hopefully this should be the happy medium that will keep people happy and provide a space for all.
• Aberdeen Football Club - i'm adding this to the list as the general feel good of the teams efforts has infiltrated the city again and even inspired a fantastic art project that saw AFC players past and present replicated on the streets of Aberdeen.

Now this is just the ones i could think of off the top of my head. There are more, loads more. Aberdeen has success stories that don't revolve around Oil and Gas. The more thats celebrated and discussed the more the people of the city will feel empowered to take part and chase dreams. 

So is Art the new Oil? 

Its certainly more sustainable.

But the more relevant question could be:

Can Art be the new anything in Aberdeen. I think the answers obvious.