Skateboard Revival?

When did the skateboard revival occur? Difficult to say (difficult, also, to establish with certainty that it was, in fact, a revival), but sometime between the mid-70s and the first year of the new Millennium, skateboarding took a turn towards an urbanized variety of pseudo-anarchy and revolt.

Given all this—along with the augmenting sense that skating as counter-culture is no more—it was refreshing to encounter the collection of recycled skateboard furniture by Skate Study House. As many other people who watched their  younger brothers or friends splinter, fracture, and use up deck upon laminate deck, I can say with authority that this collection is the best use for the detritus of the sport (be said detritus corporeal or metaphoric) I’ve yet seen. Based on a “passion for mid-century design, skateboard culture, and California lifestyle”—and inspired by John Entenza’s seminal Case Study House architectural program—Skate Study House re-fashions discarded skateboards into stylish contemporary furnishings reminiscent of the golden age of bentwood.

This collection gleams with golden hues, shines with the ebon of upholstered vinyl black as pitch. While the signature piece is the Eames-inspired God Father Lounge Chair, I prefer the one they call Jet Set. Consisting of eight neoprene-wrapped skateboard decks (appropriately, the neoprene is recycled from surfers’ wet suits) atop a curved metal frame—the frame very like a wave or a half-pipe—the Jet Set is an apropo icon for the decline (or, more kindly, evolution) of youth—so be it, but at least we can assert that with maturity comes good taste.