2019 Review!

2019 was a busy year. Perhaps too busy! Some stuff fell off the list and I maybe stretched myself at times and rushed a few things!

Lessons learned.

But thought it was worth a wee chronological look back at the highlights!.

Doric x Honk Part 2 -Jan/Feb

The year kicked off with a collaboration with my old mucker Justin Lawrie aka Honk! This one we called Freedom. Freedom to do what you want (as long as it isn’t something despicable!). Tees and decks were done and this was my best multi screen print to that point. 4 screens that combined to create the graphic plus another to create the logo on top and bottom. First run was sold out as were the tees - so we added some more. Lesson learned there as I still have a few left. I’m not Santa Cruz yet. 😂

These went on display at the flagship Brewdog bar for a while - really appreciated that opportunity to give a little more exposure.

You can still grab a deck and a tee!

Doric Drop In Number 2 - 8th February

We put on our second Doric Drop in at Transition in February. The idea was/is to attract those folk that stay away. Maybe they are intimidated, maybe its been a while, maybe they just want to hang around the first time and see the skatepark. This one wasn’t as well attended as the one the previous (Nov 2018) but we still saw some folk come through for it and at very least we are trying something.

AALF - Arts Across Learning Festival with Creative Learning and Small Stories - Feb/March

Around February/March time we were lucky enough to get involved with AALF - Arts Across Learning Festival. We were honoured to be asked by Creative Learning to pair up with our pal Small Stories to create a number of workshops for primary school children. This all culminated in us screen printing some of the designs to donate to the schools. You can read about it here!

Doric 2nd year Bday bash - March

March saw us take over Transition Extreme for our 2nd bday bash.! Cake. Pop up. Free skate. What more could you want?

We had folk from Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Elgin, Inverness, Perth, Glasgow and of course Aberdeen all there having a skate. Same time next year? Aye maybe!

Inspired Nights on the Green/NuArt - April

April 18th saw NuArt return to Aberdeen. Its never really away - all the artwork remains and its great to see it change over the seasons - but each year see’s a new influx of artists and events.!

We were lucky enough to get a pitch at the Inspired Nights event -if you haven’t been please check it out next year! Good food, drink, music and a great place to join in the NuArt tours or just explore on your own. This year we were also asked if we wanted to provide a little something for the artists, so we did a limited run of Doric Skyline tees using the colours of NuArt. We added a little something to the design to differentiate - look closely to see!

We returned to Inspired Night another two or three times during the summer and glad to say we didn’t get rained off once!

Chris Graham - Collaboration Spider from Deep Fried Mars - April

Around the same time in April we launched a new design. Spider from Deep Fried Mars - designed by local lad Chris Graham. Check out his instagram here.!

This all started with a Spider with wee lightning bolts in his eyes. This made me think of Bowie’s Spider from Mars. And whenever i think of Mars i think of Mars Bars….and so it became Spider from Deep Fried Mars (deep fried mars are a bit of a delicacy in certain chip shops up here!). This was our second dabble into deck printed “digitally”. We’ll use this when it works and this one certainly did! These decks flew out and we’ll look to always hold a few.! You can grab one here.

Really happy to have worked with Chris and he’ll continue to be part of the Doric team for the foreseeable future if he’ll have us!

Fraser Price - 1st Doric Team Rider - April

We’d never really thought much about a “team” before. Seen a load of brands do teams before they are even a brand. I take my time with everything (mostly) so it took me an age to make this decision. Once i did it was easy to pick the first rider. I’ll say it until i’m blue in the face - the first thing i’m looking for is attitude. I’ve got zero interest in grumpy, wannabe tough guys who skate with a grimace.

Fraser ticked all the boxes. Good guy. Supportive. Enthused. Empathetic. And of course - he can skate.! Look forward to working more with Fraser next year! Thanks to him for getting the Doric brand!

Doric x John Walter Collaboration - April/May/June

Around early 2018 a chance encounter saw me chatting to John Walter on Instagram where he suggested getting his mural on a deck. For anyone not in Aberdeen - John was commissioned a few years back to create a mural consisting of “Aberdeen” people (i don’t think thats the exact wording of the brief but you get the idea!). The very first Doric deck design was of Aberdeen’s Annie Lennox - John had also included her in his mural so i was very excited to do this one! Some time passed and it wasn’t until this we really got going - i produced a test deck and then a proper “artist proof”. John was involved in the Look Again Festival here in Aberdeen so it made sense to launch the deck then. I won’t lie - i was very nervous about showing him the deck. My screen printing has improved but these were a real test.! Happy to say John was really happy with them and you never know - we might do something again in the future!

Pete Barrett - 2nd Doric Team Rider - 21st June

The wonderful side of social media is the ability to reach out and connect with people. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with some of the skate groups on Facebook over the years where I’ve met (virtually and in real terms) some great folks! One of those is Pete! When i started Doric Skateboards he was on board straight away and after meeting him i knew that if i had a “team” he’d be on it! So i was really pleased that he was up for it! More from the team next year and maybe an addition or two? Who knows!

Etsy Summer Showcase - June

This years pop up for Etsy was at the Anatomy Rooms. Great venue and a really good laugh. The bum bag was back out and sales were made.! Its always great to see returning customers. And always appreciated. Also - the efforts the Etsy team make (as well as all the other sellers!) is worth a mention!

Broch Skate Club - July

This year we cemented our friendship with our pals in the Broch by screen printing some Broch Skate Club decks to raise money and the profile of their efforts. They are currently hard at work trying to get a major upgrade to the skate park facilities there - i’m always happy to support them. There is no pretension with these folks - just a total community and inclusive vibe. And i’ve had major support from them from day one. Can’t wait to get involved next year with whatever they are doing and in whatever capacity!

Young Creatives Skateboard Screen printing with Gary Kemp Hosted by Peacock Visual Arts - August

In 2018 we dipped our toes into some presentations and workshops. This year we went full on and did a screen yer own deck at Peacock Visual Arts.

Peacock Visual Arts is where i prepare my screens to screen print with. Its where i learned and continue to learn! But i screen all my decks at home. I’ve not really screen printed in front of anyone. I’ve done some videos to showcase it but not really with actual people there!

So doing this and walking people through it was a challenge! But i think the people that signed up enjoyed it. I think next time we could do a two part class - first one design, second one print. Keep your eyes peeled!!

Grays School of Art - YES SKATEBOARDING and 2nd Year Design Students Skateboard Project 

A chance encounter with John Welsh at Transition one evening led to this. John works at Grays and was looking to work with the Denis Law Trust on some skateboard designs. The Denis Law trust had successfully rid the city of No Ball Games signs - perhaps someone could do the same or at least highlight the No Skateboarding signs. Myself and John chatted about various designs over a few months and eventually John produced some absolute belters! They are for sale and in the new year i’ll make some space on the website to try to facilitate this.

Sometime later in the year i was asked to come in and talk to the 2nd Year design students about what i’ve done and skateboard design. Really honoured to do this.! They class of 60 had a project to design a deck with the winning one getting printed. Myself and Adam of IFive and Your Custom Skateboard picked our top 5. Happy to say we both picked 4 of the same! Congratulations to the winner Anca Tomescu for the playing card inspired design.

Doric X Fit Like Collaboration. November 1st.

The latest collaboration was with local artist Fit Like. A play on the the Day of the Dead Sugar Skulls - this one was full of Aberdeen based imagery.

Another chance for me to screen print multi layers that complimented Fit Likes spray paint - i really enjoyed this one and it proved popular. All decks were sold by launch night. Speaking of launch night - we held this at Fierce Bar. A cracking pub that is the flagship for local brewery Fierce Beer. Some serious hangovers the next day for sure.!

This collaboration gave me the first chance to screen print the clothing too. I’ve been building up to it and went for it with this one. We ended up doing nearly 40 T-Shirts, 20 Tote bags, 9 or so hoodies and 20 decks. A few tees remain - grab them here and a few totes - grab those here!

Read more about this collaboration here.

Doric & Friends Drop In at TX - November 23rd

For this Doric Drop in we decided to invite a few folk. The idea was to create a sort of Pop Up event with artists/.makers/organisations/brands. You can read all about it here!

Suffice to say it was a success and plans are afoot to follow up next year with something similar!

Etsy Christmas Showcase

As winter approaches so do events. Really pleased to be part of the local Etsy community. If you’ve never been then keep your eyes open for summer 2020. Its packed full of talented makers/designers etc - and us! ; )

This one was no exception. At most events I’ll get some passing trade - people who’ve never heard of us but like it. But what’s also really exciting is the return of people who’ve made purchases before.

Thanks to all that came and supported all the makers there.!

Christmas in the Quad

This leads us directly onto Christmas in the Quad! Within the confines of the magnificent Marischall College we had our wee hut for two stints this year. Much like the Etsy event we saw plenty of new customers and loads of returning ones.! Can’t thank folk enough for just saying hello - its all much appreciated.!

This last weekend finished on the 22nd and was a really successful one for us.!

And that’s that for 2019 pretty much! We have a wee sale on (discount code DORICBOX gets you 20% off!).

Thank you to everyone who’ve supported us and look out for more in 2020!

Doric & Friends Drop In at Transitions 23rd November

I thought that it was worthwhile summarising the event from last week on the blog.! Some of it is a blur so best get it down now.!

Lets start at the beginning.

We’ve done a few events now at Transition and some elsewhere. The Drop In nights were purposefully aimed at appealing to those who haven’t been before or maybe it had been a while. The last 2 we did were mixed results - first one was well attended but the 2nd one didn’t hit the mark. I know what went wrong so it was time to fix it. !

Mike and the team at TX have been very welcoming from day one with Doric Skateboards. Months ago we identified 23rd November as another Doric Drop In. They are always keen to offer up the opportunity of a pop up shop for the night whilst i’ll get posters and marketing done - hopefully ensuring its a bumper day for them!

At the outset i had an idea to invite a few other sellers and or organisations to set up shop. Some were available and some weren’t (its pretty much full on Christmas Market season now!). Each week i’d add someone else or i’d get an email from someone asking if they could set up too. Before too long we had around 14.

Initial plan was to set up in the lobby area but that was never going to be practical once i measured up. So the empty unit beckoned and i set about measuring up and making sure we could all fit.

I’ve never organised something like this but i’ve been to plenty.!

On the day i was there setting up waaaaaaaaay too early! But it was good to be there to welcome all the others and slowly but surely life was breathed into the space.!

Once we got the doors open it was fantastic to see the engagement - lots of interested people and of course all the other sellers and organisations meetings and chatting. 100% community spirit.

We had Peacocks (Joe, James and there volunteer) screen printing the poster, badge making and offering up prints for sale and information on everything they do. Peterhead and Banchory Skate organisations telling their stories and offering up some merch. Mark from Singularity Sauce Co. selling his hot sauce - he’ll be too big for wee events like this soon! Aberdeen Skaters Anders and Chris - Shed of Shred and Jetpack Dinosaur - offering up rad stuff made from recycled skateboards and art work. Mystic Caravan from Fife - an absolute cracking clothing brand going places! Granite City Roller Derby showing that the park can be used on 8 wheels.! Westburn House highlighting the heritage of a park thats important to skaters in Aberdeen. Two Birds Cold Blend keeping everyone energised.! And of course Grays School of Art with their exhibition of 2nd Year Design Students - a real gem - go see it until the 29th Nov!

Skaters came from far and wide. We had our team rider Pete and his (and our) pal Ben from Lincolshire, Dan from Cumbrai, Mike from ESP and his new team rider Campbell, loads of locals and from other parts of Scotland.! Totally humbled that people travelled for this.

I’ve been burning the candle at both ends recently - working on this and Doric stuff plus the full time job has left me pretty burned out.! But its Christmas and i’ve got 3 pop ups totalling about 12 days to do. So i’ll need to get some rest and be ready.!

Lots to plan for next year.

Massive thanks again to all who attended and or helped/supported. Lets do it bigger and better next year……

Doric x Fit Like at Fierce Beer Bar Aberdeen

Well that was a fun night. Next morning wasn’t too clever but thats a distant memory now,.!

We decided to do something a little different with this launch - firstly we revealed the full graphic a couple of weeks before release. By the time we’d announced the collaboration we’d already sold nearly half the stock of decks and tees. When we revealed the actual graphics we had to do another run of tees and were left with just 3 out of the 20 decks. Really pleased with that and can’t thank people enough.!

So on the night at Fierce we sold the remaining 3 and a few other bits and pieces but also got a chance to have a chat with some new people and some friends who’d come down to have a beer.!

Its pretty gratifying when folk from the local community support what you are doing - i hope i do the same for them. I try to share other peoples stuff on the Doric page and on my own page. It really can make a difference.

Coming up to Christmas you’ll see a load of posts about supporting local and F Amazon (the website, not the jungle - i hope). I say support what you can. If you can’t afford to buy bespoke clothing or hand made something or other then lets not guilt each other into debt. Sharing a FB post or re-tweeting or commenting/recommending is a fantastic way to help out your local business’s. Buying stuff is obviously welcome but not everyone’s budget stretches that far. I’ve definitely benefited from both and very much appreciate it.!

And talking of appreciation - big thanks to Fit Like for this collaboration. And to the team at Fierce Bar Aberdeen for hosting us.!

So whats next in terms of collaborations? Well we’ve almost definitely got 3 lined up for next year already. Some artwork locked, some not even thought of! So watch this space!

Wax on Wax off

I’ve been working hard recently learning to screen print on clothing. I have a one colour press and it involves some problem solving. Especially when a weld gave way and it nearly broke...anyway. 

There’s the theory that if you spend 10,000 hours doing something you’ll become an expert. That theory seems to have been partially debunked BUT practice really does work. I should take that onto my skateboard (going through a massive slump there). The more you do something the better you’ll get. Now there will be a ceiling limit for most of us across most things but perhaps you can find the thing that allows you to burst that ceiling.

I’ve also been listening to podcasts such as Creative Rebels. In an episode I listened to they spoke about patience. I sometimes get the anxiety that i want to do more. More clothing. More decks. More designs. Approach shops to stock stuff. Open my own shop. More team riders. That anxiety is just my patience being tested. Been a slow month sale wise? Quick - print something new.! And that just doesn’t work! Why? Because I’ve done it for the wrong reasons. It’s been motivated by anxiety and a desire to get to the end goal (for that day/week/month) artificially. 

But overall I am patient - nothing of what I do comes naturally, and that’s ok. I like the process of learning things that I am interested in. The satisfaction of getting it right is worth it! And going back to podcasts and listening to other people’s experiences - it’s gratifying to hear the advice given mirror your own experiences.

And so with screen printing. Starting out I had ideas that I would one day screen print my own clothing too. For reasons of confidence (or lack of) I’ve never got around to it. The process of screen printing on decks has consumed me - it may not be rocket science but to me it’s been a challenge. So why complicate things and start printing on clothing?

Well once I got myself in the right head space (much like skateboarding again!) I soon realised that it wasn’t that scary. I had learned the skills to do it. Kind of like Daniel in the Karate Kid 😂I just had to wax on and wax off and away I went! 

So practice for 10, 000 hours to make you an expert? Who knows? But it’ll definitely make you better than you were! I know I feel it.! Here’s hoping I get my head in the right place and put the squeegee down for a minute and pick up the skateboard and get that feeling of learning again. 

Final words on patience. I see a lot of frustration and talk on social media about where everyone wants to be (business, careers etc) but what are we actually doing about it. Talking about it isn’t the same.

Goals. Targets. Projects. Getting out of your comfort zone. I’m trying them. Patience isn’t just a waiting game - it’s got to be pro-active too. Wishing something to happen won’t make it happen - don’t blame Facebook and Insta algorithms. Try harder. Regroup. Rethink. 

None of this is meant to be advice for anyone other than myself. Kind of like an open diary. Maybe it’ll resonate, maybe you’ll think I’m a narcissist. Maybe a bit of both? 

Anyways - don’t let the doubters get you down and that includes your own doubt. 

Fit Like? Nae bad, yersel?

As promised in the last blog, this one will have a look at the most recent collaboration.!

This one is between myself and local street artist Fit Like Art.

Fit Like came up with a concept very early in the year but due to its subject nature we had to keep it until November 2nd!

Once this design was locked it was over to Fit Like to use stencils to throw up some graphics on the nose and tail of each deck. Screen printing on the nose and tail will require a bit more development in equipment for me but doing it this way made perfect sense. FL used a variety of stencils to recreate his collectives logo and his own logo along with liberal splatterings of ink.! This makes each deck unique.

It was then over to me to screen print the run. I’d already done a dry run of the main graphic and at the last minute decided on the green, white, red fade. Originally i had thought of just a white undercoat.

But first the topside logos needed done. They can be a right bugger to do - you are screening with the concave and need to be quick, firm and steady.! It can lead to mistakes….

Once done it was time for the main graphic. Using the 3 colour fade for the undercoat can be messy - you might need to clean out the screen every now and then. The wee detailing is done with a sliver and then the main black outline - its amazing how it all comes together.

I took the opportunity to produce the whole run of tees and totes for this collaboration. I had messed around with printing on other mediums but this was a whole new thing. Thankfully i got through it with minimum waste.! Its a different ball game doing it on clothing. Screening on a curved, shiny surface of a skateboard has its challenges but so does clothing.! Ink consumption being one - didn’t really factor just how much it would eat up!

Super stoked with the response to this one so far though. We have a planned launch night at Fierce Bar on Nov 1st. Hopefully we’ll still have something to sell! 😃 I’ll make sure we have a few extra tees.!

From this we jump on to the next event at Transition Extreme. Head over to the Facebook Page event for more info. Really looking forward to this one.!

To keep in touch with where we will be this year (Chr*stmas) check out the websites Whats Happening page.! I’ll hopefully be adding an event or two to that soon.! And maybe another collaboration to sneak in.! ??

Its Been a While

Its been a few months since the last blog entry - thats no reflection on having nothing to say. Quite the opposite - i’ve just been too busy to get it all down!

So this blog entry will be a good chance to fill in some of whats been going on!

Last time i wrote anything it was about getting out of the comfort zone. Read it here. Some pictures below of the output from that venture!

Since March we’ve launched a few new designs/collaborations:

• John Walter x Doric Skateboards - that was a whole lot of fun. Check out the pics on Facebook here.

• Spider from Deep Fried Mars - another fun design with local designer Chris Graham. Check out his Instagram page here.!

• Doric Roll - a new logo deck that borrowed ideas from Powell and Alva.!

We have 2 new Screen Printed collaborations in the bag and hopefully out this year!

I’ve kept out of the comfort zone recently too with a workshop at Peacock Visual Arts. It was the first workshop i’ve ran solo and i think (hope!) it went well. It was a screen your own deck workshop - the idea was to have some pre-prepared screens for people and give them a go in their own colour combo.! Everyone went away with something unique! Thanks to all that came (shout out to Mike from Elgin Skate Shop ESP for coming down) and to the team at Peacocks for trusting me! Keep your eyes peeled for another of these soon i hope!

We’ve also been at the fantastic Inspired Nights on the Green with a wee pop up - back again in September - click here for more info.

And we acquired our first two team riders! It was always something i shy’d away from to be honest but Fraser and Pete fit the bill in more ways than one and i think everyone has been enjoying their clips and pics. Can’t wait see them get a session together. Check out their Instagram pages here for Fraser and here for Pete! Very thankful that those guys want to represent Doric. More riders to come perhaps later this year, almost certainly next.!

I’ve been trying to get out more too - usual story of work/life/friends timetable getting in the way! But having just got a car for the first time in 10 years i’m able to get out more easily which is a boost!

Next on the horizon is a talk at Grays School of Art about skateboard design - at least my take on it and how it applies to Doric. Another opportunity that i couldn’t say no to even though i feel like a massive impostor. ! News on that when it happens!

After that we have a couple of collaborations - one local and one not so local (but with a twist!).

Also - if you are reading this then you get first news on a Doric event lined up for late November at Transition. 23rd November 4-10pm. Mark your diaries.!

Blog post next month will document the making of the newest collaboration and how thats come together.!

Or i’ll forget and not do another blog post for 6 months…!

Until then - thanks for the continued support!

Getting out of my Comfort Zone

For 2 weeks across February/March in Aberdeen the Creative Learning teams Arts Across Learning Festival sees artists/makers (call them what ye want) descend on primary schools.

The purpose is to celebrate the arts and their value to learning and teaching. The festival brings a stimulating wealth of learning experiences to spark imagination and enthusiasm for learning to nursery and primary pupils and their teachers for free! (words from the horse mouth!).

It was way back in October that i was asked if i wanted to take part. Nice safe October where February THE NEXT YEAR feels a million miles away!

Ha! Then its Christmas, then its February very quickly and you know you have to get out of that comfort zone.

The set up was myself and Gabi of Small Stories fame would go into schools for 2 hours sessions. Sessions consisted of a very short talk about our journeys and then onto designing something that we would be screen printing onto some blank decks to gift to the school.

Gotta say i was nervous about it! Since starting Doric Skateboards i’ve done a couple of presentations and workshops about it all via Art Hive/Look Again/Etsy. But they were to adult human beings. This was to small humans.

I needn’t have worried. I had a blast.! The enthusiasm and talent on display was inspiring - might nick some of their ideas (joke).

Anyway - some pics below and keep yer eyes peeled to find out what the 4 decks will look like! Hoping to get them screened for mid - April.

Thanks again to Creative Learning and Gabi for involving me. Means a lot.