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Let our next guests come in since they are ready with their boards
They need sun for going around
To me they go out even with rain
Whatever the weather does they are always with their skates. Who are they?
They are Atypical team, 2/3 of them are friends of mine
and I figured it out just outside, they are from Monza and I'd let them come in directly on their skate.
Andres, host them by yourself at this point.
Here we have Nicol�, Andrea and Alessandro.
- Hello guys! - Hi
- Welcome! - Thanks
Well, I was looking at your video that shows exactly the skate you got in your hands right now Nicol�.
It has a swallow tail, what's the name?
- Yes, that's swallow tail. - Exactly
You produce these skateboards that are particular, I mean one is used to see classic skate
with black grip made for tricks, instead yours have a different use.
Yes, let's say that our skate has seen more like means of transportation,
it's not a skate for making tricks and stuff like that, ramp or street,
it�s more like a mean of transportation for moving into the city.
Your claim says it, too.
Your claim is SURF THE CITY or SURF YOUR CITY?
No, no it's SURF THE CITY.
SURF THE CITY, exactly.
Yes, tell me tell me.
The idea was to emphasize a bit that mechanism of using skateboard for moving into the city
and SURF THE CITY is like the fusion between the use and the spirit the brand was born for
because the idea of surf, the freedom, and so all those values linked to freedom
come from the surf mentality, and we tried to put them back in a daily and metropolitan reality.
- Did you want to say something? - No, no go ahead!
We have seen that you realize by hands your skateboards, starting from the long wood board,
smoothing it all and then you fix the trucks. How did this process start?
I mean, where did you go the first time to get materials?
The first, very first time, we went to this man, an acquaintance who had a joiner's workshop
and then he quit and so he had some waste wood. He suggested us to use ash, that is
the wood old ski were made of, and he said "You have to try".
So once we tried, we made our prototype, we got wrong and we made it again, we fixed it
and then we got the definitive one. Since that time we started making contacts with
several joiner's workshops, we found a trusted one for doing the sharpening part
that we are not able to do it, in other words to obtain small boards of 80/60 cm
we want to realize from the long piece of wood of 3 m per 6 cm.
- The industrial part that has nothing to do with you, the one you need specific machinery for.
- Yeah, that is the only step we commit someone else for. From that, we decided a measure
80 cm height and 2 cm or 1,7 depth, we started with all the production process,
which consist in, the first step giving shape to the boards, then making holes for trucks,
later we move to the cut, then the whole smoothing part, three different sandpapers
for making the wood smooth and obstructing all pores, otherwise they absorb to much varnish
and then you have to repeat the process too many times, then we start with the colors step.
Finished with that, colored it all by using acrylic, we make tape's masks as you saw in the video
and once the color part is finished we wait the right dry time and then we put resins on.
- The graphics are very simple and colors play a lot on the simplicity,
we have seen a lot of models and we are still looking at them. What I was wondering about is
if you learned craftsmanship, so the know-how playing with your skateboards I mean fixing them,
or you learned it by standing in the lab along with people who taught you to?
- Honestly speaking none of us have studied design or stuff like that.
We learned the know-how by making mistakes, so there has been the first phase of experimentation
where we took materials, as Nicol� was telling you just before, and then doing several trials for a couple of months
we got to have a prototype.
We tried and used it and in about 4 moths
we got our first board and we launched a 5 pieces collection.
- Who was the first tried the first board?
- It was me, for all the production part we have been helped by my mum since she has a
restoration activity so she gave us a place where we could work in, without buying machineries even for the first skate.
- Sure.
So since I was the son of the mum it was me that worked for the first time, to gain as first craftsmanship.
Then we went to Monza, in a place you know well "Cappella" and we tried it there,
there is a nice asphalt there, then we check how the prototype worked.
- I imagine like, you know, the aviation test moment "kick start" something like that
You was telling me before that you are especially selling abroad. I mean, you produce them here,
very close, but the request is more abroad.
- Exactly, France is the country gives us more satisfactions, so far.
Even if when you open an e-commerce your public becomes global and wider.
Even if when you open an e-commerce your public becomes global and wider.
But, so far France is the country has replied better, even though selling far away such as Bogot�, Cape Town has been the bigger satisfaction.
- Well! I'll be! - Wow
Others in Uk, anothers in Germany so let's say different places.
- One also in USA.
- Yes, that's true. The very first one has been sold in Barcelona.
- Maybe it's also because you feed a hole, even though I don't understand a lot about skateboards,
are these kind of old-school / vintage boards very common?
- Well, at the moment the reality is increasing, to be honest I guess we are the first in Italy so that.
- Maybe even the only ones.
- So that was also the encouragement and it worked a lot also in the spreading of news.
- And you are also a good example of how it still possible to be artisans in 2013,
because your products present themselves as absolutely contemporary design ones.
- Products out of usual standards. - As Lapo would say.
- Do we have Lapo? - "Out of usual design standards"
- That was the quote. - Lapo docet !
- Well, well. - The new 2014 claim!
- We all agreed about Lapo. Well, thanks guys! - Thanks to you!
- I hope to see you in Monza at... - What's the place's name?
- Cambiaghi, no sorry! - Cappella
- No sorry, Cambiaghi is another one, it's Cappella, Cappella!
- If you want to come we are often there, going around, testing...
- I'll come to test one of your skates!
- You're welcome!
- Thanks! - Thanks to you!