Bridging Worlds: The Skateroom's Fusion of Art, Street Culture, and Social Good

In 2014, Charles-Antoine Bodson, founder of THE SKATEROOM, decided to sell his own collection of skate decks to support the construction of a skatepark in Afghanistan. And that’s how it all started!

As winners of our end-of-year contest, we created for them some nice customized Patagonia gear and a set of permanent markers. This gave us the perfect opportunity to sit down with a few team members and chat about what made their project so special. We talked love of art, skate and social impact.

Q: Could you introduce the project THE SKATEROOM?

A: THE SKATEROOM is one of the early B Corp in Belgium. It started in 2014 with a wish from our founder: leverage art to support skateboarding social projects from around the world. 10 years later, we’ve developed more than 250 editions, with more than 70 different artists working with the biggest actors of the art scene.

Q: How came the idea to make art on skateboards?

A: The story started through the love of art. While skateboard decks were already used as a medium for creative works since a decade, our founder, Charles-Antoine, who had always appreciated the skate culture, started collecting some exceptional decks. Through a chance encounter, he discovered a project to build a skatepark in Afghanistan and he decided to sell his impressive and personal collection to help finance the construction of this site. And just like that, his life changed! At least, that's how he tells it.

Once he ran out of decks, considering his love for art and the network he had built through past experiences, he decided to try something new: bringing art pieces on the decks and establishing a sustainable revenue flow to support skate projects everywhere. And here we are now, 10 years and 250 editions later, that generated 1.7M euro to support more than 40 different social projects and NGO’s.

Q: What is the link between the art scene and the street scene?

A: Those 2 worlds seems to have different codes, but both have very dedicated communities, leveraging passion to accomplish bigger things and inspire people. So actually, bringing those two universes together is quite natural. While the skate culture was infused with art at an early stage, at THE SKATEROOM, we also try to work on the reverse, putting skate decks in museums.

In addition, the art scene is evolving a lot and is becoming less exclusive & codified. Those past years, we’ve seen a lot of initiatives florishing trying to make art more accessible and bring people closer to it.

Q: You propose personalized art items for people's homes. Can you tell us more about your audience of buyers? Who are they?

A: Well, our audience is very diversified and we can tell we’re bridging different worlds. You’ll find 3 main type of people interested about what we do.

• The skaters, like Noah, that are mainly enjoying our content. They’re less buyers but they interact a lot with the brand. We tend to have more affordable pieces for them too.
• Then we have the interior design aficionados, like Anne, that love our best sellers and special art editions to put it in there home or other people’s home.
• And then we have the art collectors, like Steve, that value the exceptional collabs we’ve given life to.

Q: How does it work with artists? Some of the skateboards are replicas of famous pieces, others are original art pieces? Tell me more.

Exactly, either the art works are original, either it’s license of famous pieces. The original pieces, which are exclusive artwork of an artist, are the proof of how close we get with the living artists. For example, we work with Raymond Pettibon, Michèle Lamy, Ed Templeton or Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, etc. In this case, it’s really a collaboration with the artists. We’re directly speaking with them and we work hand in hand to create something new. Most of them time, their involvement allow us to do very special things such as unique editions. As time went by, we gained in popularity & credibility and we were able to go further with those special projects, working with well-know artists and making exceptional pieces.

On the other hand, we also work with foundations and licensors to get very iconic pieces available. How it works is that a foundation licenses different visuals for different partners. Usually, the whole deal is to get volume because it makes sense for their business. But with time, our company was also able to build such relationships that we have access to specifics visuals too. For example, we became really close with the Andy Warhol foundation and we were able to license an exclusive edition of 100 Andy Warhol’s self portraits that are all uniques. It was a big big success and in fact we only have a few left.

Q: Can you tell me more about the social aspect of your project?

The social aspect is paramount at THE SKATEROOM. On every sale we make, 10% goes to support social projects. We also see that this social aspect is a common drive in the team: we have a lot of fun developing our products, pushing further the quality standards and exploring the art world, but the meaning of what we do comes from our commitment to create impact.

The projects we work with are only NGO’s, and they always use skateboarding as a way to protect and empower the youth. Some projects are animating youngers in skateparks, others are pushing for the educations and getting them back to school and we also see more and more projects promoting mental health. For example, with the launch of Korakrid collection, we were able to support the Sati foundation which is doing things around mental health & sex trafficking in Thailand.

Q: How do you select those projects?

Every year we go through the application process to give the chance to any project around the world, to submit their case. And based on the budget we have for the year, we pick them. Bigger project are often part of our selection because the sustainability of those projects is very important to us. Indeed, we don’t want to support a project to be told the next year that it’s not continued because it was not viable. Then we have the smaller projects that will have an impact on local grounds and that are equally important to us.

We also try to build bridges between the different projects. For example, when the NGO Cuba skate, that is using plastic garbage to build skateboards modules, were stuck in their project at some point, we put them in relation with another project we knew in the area. By connecting them, they found solutions and that helped them both to go further. This is our vision for the company, and we aim to continue facilitating such collaborations.

Q: Which pieces are your favourites? And why?

Here’s the selection of some of the team members.

Arnaud — Juergen TELLER / Michèle Lamy No.8, London 2018 — "What I like with this piece is the idea behind it. It was the first skate we've made as affordably as possible so people could actually skate with it. It represents a close up of Michèle LAMY’s iconic golden grill, photographed by Juergen TELLER. On top of that, this made Michèle Lamy also super enthusiastic thinking about people skating her teeth."

Laurie — Copper Surrogate / Walead BESHTY — "This piece is made of real copper. The living material is the whole deal for me. Just the idea that this object lives along with us and that we can print our existence through an oxidizing touch feels magical."

Pablo — New Arrivals / Jules de BALINCOURT — "The stunning colour palette, the simple delicate brush strokes, the scene depicting some kids cleaning a swimming pool to skate it. This edition just makes me smile."

Anatole — Almond Blossoms / Vincent VAN GOGH — "Just a timeless peaceful and poetic piece by the famous dutch artist we don't need to name. And also a well less known than 'The starry night'."

Martin — Untitled #414 (Clown) / Cindy SHERMAN — "It’s simply the edition that is most representative of THE SKATEROOM from my perspective, meticulously exuberant."

Zuzanna — Cup Noodle / JOHN Yuyi — "John Yuyi was the first artist I interviewed for THE SKATEROOM, so her collection holds a sentimental place in my heart. Visually, the editions are so bold and striking, yet the personal story behind them is filled with so much searching and vulnerability. It’s a fascinating contrast and I think Yuyi’s creative execution is beautiful."

For more explanations about these pieces, you can head to THE SKATEROOM website.

Overall, THE SKATEROOM isn't just about skateboards; it's about connecting people, art, and causes that matter. Through their colorful decks and meaningful collaborations, they've shown us that small actions can make a big impact. So, whether you're a skater, an art enthusiast, or someone who simply wants to make a difference, join THE SKATEROOM'S journey. Let's roll towards a brighter, more inclusive future together!