Since I’m the one starting this thing it seems only fair that I subject myself to the same scrutiny. I spend my days doing design work for companies. When I’m not working for money I try and create fun projects of my own.
When did you start skating?
I started in sixth grade. That would have been sometime around 1985.
What was your first skateboard?
My first board was a Valterra Melt Down, one of those Toy R Us boards. My first real board was a used Sims Steve Rocco Streetstyle.
When did you stop or slow down significantly?
There have been periods where I slowed down a lot, down to a few times a year. Four years ago, I was working at one of the biggest banks in the world (in the creative department) and I wasn’t really skating at all. An opportunity to work at Black Box Distribution (home of Zero, Fallen, Mystery and more) came about and I moved to California to take my 15 year old self’s dream job. All of a sudden I was surrounded by skateboarding, living the dream and having to relearn how to skate. It wasn’t easy and it’s taken a few years to reinvigorate my board feel. For a long time it felt like I had foam wrapped around my shoes. Only recently has it felt natural again. Since moving, I’ve gotten back to a regular schedule, riding at least two or three days a week.
What do you do for a living?
I’ve been working in graphic and interactive design for years. I’m currently an interaction designer for Specialized Bicycles.
When you are not skating, how often do you think about skateboarding?
I think about it all the time. Walking down the hallway at work I smith grind the railing with my imaginary fingerboard. I 360 flip my phone about 100 times a day. I almost always land it. Even when I wasn’t skating regularly, I still identified myself as a skateboarder. I’ve met people working in offices and once we make the skate connection (that we both have this common history) the friendship is solidified and the stuffy office co-worker guidelines are removed and we elevate to a new, more organic friendship. Every conversation after that point is different, more relaxed and the boundaries are gone.
How did skateboarding affect the direction of your life?
Skateboarding was the first place I felt at home. I played baseball, basketball and other stuff. But when I started skating–it took over everything and that was all I wanted to do. I can see now that the graphics, DIY attitude and the culture of skateboarding shaped a lot of how I see the world. When I started, it was just fun. Skateboarding was the first place I saw brands and the how they shaped consumer habits. It was the first time I saw videos as marketing. I made zines because the older skaters made zines. The whole culture at that time was creative. If you skated you were in a band, made zines, shot photos or made art of some kind. Every board I bought early on was heavily influenced by the graphics.
What is the connection between skateboarding and creativity?
I think skateboarding instills a different way of seeing the world. Once you skate, you can’t walk down a street without seeing the lines, stairs, curbs as something different. Nothing is what it is any longer and that is really mind blowing at a young age. You don’t have that in most sports or in most jobs. There are a lot of rules in the world and skateboarding twists many of those to new ends. Design does the same in a very different way. I see design, especially commercial design, as a problem solving process. I’ve always learned tricks the same way–with a lot of trial and error. In my personal projects, I try and get outside the limits that my 9 to 5 put in front of me. It’s not that I hate rules, but projects are a lot more fun when you create the rules and scope of a project.
More about John Freeborn
John Freeborn.com (Portfolio), John Freeborn (blog), Milkcrate Digest.com
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