If you've spent any sort of time with me you'll know that I'm all about DIY and repurposing objects for other uses once they are done. Especially when it comes to mersh. So to give you a little back story, sometime around the summer of 2011, as Instagram was starting to take the skateboard world by storm, I happened upon this rad couple from the UK. Now I'm not quite sure what it is that the dude does, outside of spending a fair amount of time pushing wood, and helping to raise offspring, but the Lady she is all about repurposing all of our old focused decks.
What first caught my eye was the simplicity of it all. Jewellery from old decks at more then reasonable prices. so we chatted a bit, i got hooked up with some stickers and proceeded to place them everywhere that I could. Eventually I ordered a set of dog tags made from an old Real deck.
So what I'm saying is, this is a self run company that I have no issues in supporting.
So the other day, as I was reading the monthly Thrashion E-zine (a quick email blast with a feature on an artist or someone who is doing similar things, usually) I decided that I should send them (Nat & Mohawk Projects) a quick email interview, here is how that went down:
JN: Tell me about Thrashion.com, and what prompted you to start doing this?
Nat: I've always made things and dabbled with bits and bobs, I love tools! And I've always been inspired by the DIY/recycle ethos of the punk movement.
I am a skateboarder (not a good one!) and so is my husband, we met through skateboarding (he's behind all the design stuff and the merchandise by the way!) we had loads of knackered skateboards kicking about and a load of tools and so I tried one versus the other and it all kinda grew on its own.
JN: How long have you been running Thrashion?
Nat: I've been recycling since 2007 and sold my work in galleries but Thrashion really started when I moved online. Which was around 2009.
JN: How has instagram & twitter impacted how you?
Nat: I love Instagram! I'm also a bit of a tweeter, I've made some great connections on twitter and Instagram. I've certainly felt more a part of the wider skateboarding community since tweeting and instagramming. Some of my cufflinks went to the Emmy awards through a connection on twitter, and I've also met some rad people in the skateboard industry who are really supportive of me, I'm very lucky.
JN: What made you decide to start doing your e-zine monthly mail out?
Nat: The eZine was a little way of me giving back! I wanted to give people a voice to a different audience, as I think it's hard to reach a wider audience in the skate community. I also wanted to give people a chance to write about something they felt strongly about which might not necessarily be associated with them. It's still a pretty new concept but the response has been great so far.
Nat: Maybe you should write one?
JN: I just may have too, once a few more things around here have been wrapped up.
JN: Tell me about the process of repurposing the decks, like how do you decide what each board will become?
Nat: I have a specific way of splitting the board to get the most out of it. And I literally recycle every last bit! I also recycle the shavings to a resin artist friend of mine who embeds it in her jewellery (Just K Jewellery you can find them on Etsy)
JN: I know you take donations of old boards, if some of the folks who read On The Wall wanted to donate, how would they do so?
Nat: I have a Freepost address for UK donations but if you're overseas you can fill in a form on my website:
I will refund the shipping costs depending on the size of the shipment.
JN: If you weren't doing this, what else would you be doing?
Nat: I'd be working in an art gallery, I'm a trained curator and my other job is managing the art collection of a small art museum (http://www.falmouthartgallery.com) I also run workshops for families.
JN: Is there anything else that you wanted to add?
Nat: I have got a new product launching on Friday 26th April which is a bag made in partnership with pro skater Emma 'tiny hands' Richardson (image attached) 'thrashion vs Tinyhands textiles' they are limited edition of only ten and are 100% handmade, they feature fabric designed exclusively for us and the handles are made of skateboard tails. This has never been done before! They will officially launch on that Friday at 8pm on our website http://www.thrashion.com
JN: Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us, and we hope to see a lot more new stuff from you soon.
If you'd like to check out more stuff from the fine folks at Thrashion you can find them online at http://www.thrashion.com
Or hit them up via the whole Social Media thing we have going on in 2013
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- Jim Nowhere
