The Board Skateboard

CHEN,CHIA-WEI's The Board Skateboard, presented in its rolled circular configuration, operates as a powerful symbol of transformation and adaptive potential within material culture. The circle itself carries profound archetypal weight across civilizations—representing wholeness, cyclical renewal, infinite possibility, and the cosmic order—here rendered through an object traditionally associated with linear forward motion, creating productive tension between expected trajectory and achieved form. The articulated segments suggest both vertebral flexibility and armored protection, evoking the defensive curling of armadillos or pangolins while simultaneously referencing the modular thinking prevalent in contemporary design philosophy. The diamond-grid surface pattern resonates with numerous symbolic traditions: in heraldic vocabulary, the lozenge shape connotes honesty and constancy; in sacred geometry, repeated diamond tessellations suggest infinite extension and interconnection. The metallic fastener points scattered across the surface function as visual anchors, their circular forms creating a secondary symbolic layer of unity and completion while practically enabling the transformative capability the design celebrates. The monochromatic charcoal palette communicates sophistication, seriousness, and timelessness, eschewing the vibrant graphics typical of skateboard culture in favor of material honesty and formal purity. The reflective black base introduces concepts of doubling, shadow-self, and the visible meeting the invisible. This work invites contemplation of how rigid assumptions might be articulated into flexible possibilities, how familiar objects contain latent potential awaiting innovative vision to release them.

The Board has a strong visual appeal of its transforming process. The structure makes it a completed circle which can be put in a backpack easily. Because of the circular appearance, it can be part of decorations at home or even place in the narrow space. It will give the users disparate visual experience and surprise. The skateboard is made from 57 interlocking pivot hinges, by folding the hinges one direction or the other, transforming the classic cruiser shape into a perfect circle.