Interview Davide Pagliardini | The Daily Board

In true master of typography, Davide find the perfect balance in letters and forms to create his broken boards. Careful and sought work that deserves a deeper insight into his world.

It’s funny but sometimes it’s stressing because we do a lot of commercials, pay bills and similar, so I find a way out in the hand-made lettering.

Stocked to have you on the blog… How is it going in Milano? Sunny as hell?

Davide: It’s my pleasure! It’s going all right, it’s Saturday, so I’m not working, and we have sun without cloud… Later, I’m going to skate.

Davide, you’re a board artist passionate by lettering… but really, who are you?

Davide: I’m a graphic and motion designer with a lot of passion, since ever, for lettering and typography. I studied it since high school and I’ve continued to university in Milano, and now I start to do hand-made to detach myself from computer and come back to use hands, pencil and brush. It’s a way to relax, to take easier and slowly the day and have fun.

I work every day with computer in my studio, Trinocle that I founded with a partner and friend, Orazio Marino. It’s funny but sometimes it’s stressing because we do a lot of commercials, pay bills and similar, so I find a way out in the hand-made lettering.

Davide Pagliardini at work

Why skateboard decks? Do you skate? And first of all, why the heck are you using broken boards?

Davide: The use of broken boards was born by chance because I’ve been skating for ten years now, so I have a lot of old decks at home, broken gold really used… And one year ago me and a couple of friends started Donut Skateboards, a small company that makes hand-made cruiser and classic skate decks. So now I have really a lot of decks… My girlfriend was tired of having decks all around the house, so I brought them in the studio and one day I started to painting over, just for fun. And Broken Board project was born!

Broken Board by Davide Pagliardini

Speaking of, tell me more about the “Broken Boards” project? Where did the idea came from?

Davide: As already said, the project was born from my old unused broken decks… Initially just to start doing hand-made lettering there is support not of classical paper and later for making a low-cost and personal Christmas or birthday gifts for my friends, just for fun and tell stories of people with letters. Now I get commissioned by friend of friends and fans, I even do t-shirt, walls, canvas and merchandising. Each board tells a story about the person who asks me to do it. You can follow the project on facebook.

Boobs, marriage, donuts, what is it really about? Do you just want to be provocative or you just don’t give a fuck?

Davide: The project was born as a joke but also to express my thoughts: if you read the first decks you can understand what I love, what I I like doing. The wedding deck was for a skater friend of a friend who is married and tells her story. The boobs deck was for a friend and fellow art director and talks about the state of advertising in Italy in an ironic way. A couple decks was made as prize for a Donut skateboard contest…

I don’t want to shock per say, I want to summarize by lettering the stories of people or give it a thought, often making them laugh.

The boobs deck was for a friend and fellow art director and talks about the state of advertising in Italy in an ironic way

Your board designs always look like an organized chaos – How do you build a board artwork?

Davide: I start by thinking about the concept or the story that I want tell. After I choose the synthetic and right words to explain it and sometimes a picture to summarize it; so I take a pencil and start to divide spaces based on how I plan to be read… I still divides spaces for the serif gold 3D gold effects and continuous inking until it’s all done.

It’s a slow and geometrical work, calculating and dividing the workspace again and again.

What’s your inspiration? Any good board artists or skate brands you love?

Davide: I have a lot of inspiration from artist like Mike Giant to Shane, or Charles Burns… I love the works of Luca Barcellona or Chaz Bojorquez and all the sign painters. I’ve studied the story of typography and graphic design so my inspiration is derived also from my studies, from classic typo composition to modern art of calligraffiti. About skateboarding, I like Element and Zoo York because of the work with lettering in their graphics. Nowaday, skateboarding is growing so fast around all world, not only in America, so there are plenty of new european and italian brands pushing hard that I follow.

Next, I want to learn calligraphy, move my lettering into digital

Sidewalk skate by Davide Pagliardini
And so, what’s next? Do you have some new projects in mind?

Davide: Next, I want to learn calligraphy, move my lettering into digital to use it for motion design, continuous with Broken Boards merchandising for e-salling, and keep up in crafts and handmade markets around Italy.

Also, to push Donut Skateboard collaborations with new clothing brands and go to skate more.

Thanks a lot Davide! Keep up creating that way!

Davide: Your welcome and compliments for your blog, it’s a great inspiration, since I found out I watch every day what you post!

Surfing The City by Davide Pagliardini

www.davidepagliardini.com
www.donutskateboards.com

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