They Were Sk8r Boys

By Bergan O’connell
Theme Editor

Skating into their new hobby of making skateboards, two best friends ride their way through the art world.
Though it started as a hobby, Mira Costa juniors Graham Amato and Bridger Hart now sell their hand-made skateboards. Inspired by their passions for skating, the two friends create the boards by hand.
“I asked them to make me a board and didn’t specify what I wanted because I had seen them make boards before, and they have all been really cool,” junior Chris Brown said. “It came out perfectly,and looks and feels amazing. I would recommend them to anyone.”
Although they are only just beginning their business, they are both constantly coming up with ways to make the production quicker.
“We use a CNC machine to carve out complex designs that wouldn’t be possible to do by hand,” Hart said. “I have a lot of ideas for designs for the boards, and once we make more boards, we’re going to find a new way to produce large quantities of boards at a time.”
According to Amato, the skateboard designing is still more of a hobby than a business, but Hart and Amato hope to soon take their designs to the next level with more creative designs and board shapes.
“We have only sold a couple boards so far to our friends,” Amato said. “However, I would like to expand our sales and get the word out by telling more people what we do.”
Their boards stand out because they use woodburn and paint. The designs on the board incorporate lightning bolts and other symbols to make the boards individualized for each customer.
“I have some designs to test for boards I haven’t made yet that are more innovative than the decks you see in stores,” Hart said. “Right now, I am finalizing an idea for a board that might change the way you ride a skateboard by changing the actual board layout.”