Many companies in the skate biz are what one would call one-trick ponies, i.e. they’ll have exactly one feat that makes them kinda sorta (but hardly) stand out in a sea of depressing uniformity – say, flashy board graphics with skyscrapers or other symbols of urbanity that glow in the dark or do whatever the fuck – and then they’re rubbing your nose in it until it bleeds. Well, guess what, joining our portfolio of brands is an upcoming Swedish company that goes by the virtuous name of “Poetic Collective,” so it’s about time to grab the figurative 12-gauge, take that favorite one-trick pony brand of yours out back behind the barn and put it in the ground.
Poetic Collective is quite the opposite of a one-trick pony. The brains behind the Malmö-based brand is Tom Botwid, a local skateboarder who studied fine arts in Berlin. Far too many skateboarding companies claim that art considerably influences their perception of skateboarding, but in most cases they’re just feeding you marketing bullshit designed to make them look more sophisticated than they really are. Not Poetic Collective, however. Tom’s view on the relationship of art and skateboarding is among the most profound we’ve heard to date: producing art is a deliberate process necessitating personal choice, i.e. not an accidentally occurring phenomenon. So is the act of skateboarding – in the sense that a skateboarder deliberately chooses tricks, clothing, and the color of their favorite bong. Skateboarding, according to this analogy, is art in motion. Or, as Tom says, it’s “poetry in motion.” See what a clever guy he his? In addition, the Poetic collections’ designs aren’t simply pretending to be art, they’re actually based on artistic movements like minimalism or abstract art, so google that shit if you don’t know what we’re talking about.
We can’t see Poetic Collective going anywhere but the top, tbh. And if that little excurse in brainy concepts of art theory didn’t convince you, we recommend checking out their latest video, in which they lay waste to the city of love, Paris. How fucking poetic.
From now on, you can buy Poetic Collective both online and at our store in Frankfurt.
