Today we’d like to introduce you to Roberto Smith.
Hi Roberto, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Simply put, I like to create. This is probably a big part of why I ended up in the visual effects/animation industry helping create digital effects and performances for tv and film for the last couple of decades. I also like to build/construct. Building things with my hands: the problem-solving, the brainstorming, the “a-ha” moments. Creating something new out of whatever I have on hand is very satisfying, and if I can catch people’s attention with the results, even better.
The idea of turning my old retired snowboard into a skateboard sounded like a fun experiment, never thinking it would later grow into my skateboard company, “Alegre Boards”. Even though I wasn’t really a skateboarder at the time, the idea of colliding the two activities physically together was too cool of an idea to pass up. I made do with what I had on hand: a rusty-edged snowboard, homemade jigs and setups, a few visits to my local hardware store plus a whole lot of trial and error, and I had my first Alegre Boards skateboard. Even though there were some limitations to it, I learned a lot in the process. Riding, testing, internet searches, and simply spending a lot of time in the garage with different materials and tools, I figured out the initial problems with my first few boards. But now with better materials, better tools, smarter approaches to the build process, the Alegre Boards skateboards catch a lot of attention down on The Strand in the Southbay.
True to my initial idea of making due with what I had on hand, the Alegre Boards skateboards are still made with used snowboards. The upcycle aspect of the Alegre Boards skateboards I feel is part of the charm, part of the brand. I realized when picking up used snowboards from all sorts of different sources, you naturally end up with a collection of boards with a large variety of graphics and styles. When you look at the boards as a group, that wide variety of the board graphics really makes them stand out; really highlighting the uniqueness of each one. You really are going to get a unique board when you get an Alegre Board skateboard.
After showing my boards to a few friends and family, it was suggested I turn it into a business. I’ve definitely been taking it pretty slow, taking my time with the LLC and patents. But finally, this coming May 2023, I’ll be selling Alegre Boards skateboards at Hermosa Beach’s Fiesta Hermosa on Memorial Day Weekend. I guess this will be a defining moment…
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Trying to start up a skateboard company out of a garage doesn’t seem too crazy, but space gets very limited when the skateboards are all over 5 feet tall. My first snowboard to skateboard conversion I built on a whim for myself and I was able to work around certain limitations and issues (read: ignore). But once I started thinking about building Alegre Boards for retail sale, I knew I couldn’t ask potential buyers to just ignore those problems. I had to rethink some parts of it, refining and redesigning so the final skateboards were of much better quality than my first one and easier to build. Recognizing weak spots in the design and materials and trying to come up with alternatives to overcome the issues can really get your head spinning and I often found myself going off the deep end with runaway ideas. Catching myself in these moments and getting back on track happened a lot. I also had to put myself in a potential owner’s shoes to make sure I thought of every way someone might interact with the boards. If something bugged me about the board, I assumed it would bug someone else. And although I’ve put in a lot of time and work into raising the quality and features of the current Alegre Boards, I certainly won’t say the design improvements are done, there’s always room for improvement.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve always been caught up in the details. In my digital work, it can be much too easy to get lost in infinite amount of details you could focus on at any time. Luckily you’re usually working in a very structured team within strictly defined schedules that help keep things on track.
In my latest work with the Alegre Boards skateboards, I still seem to focus in on the details. Always agonizing on the quality of the table saw and router cuts, making sure all measurements and cuts are as precise as possible… as if the skateboard will somehow fail if things are 1/32 of an inch off. Using sandpaper down to 6000 grit for polishing the metal edges. I guess it’s the part of me that just wants the final work to stand on its own. To appear as if nothing else needs to be done to it to complete the piece.
Any big plans?
I’m putting a lot more time and attention into my Alegre Boards business and I’m hoping to see it grow. As a digital artist for years, I’ve been very comfortable bunkered in a dark room hidden behind a monitor. The Alegre Boards business is a whole different world that doesn’t live behind a computer monitor. I’m stepping out into the sun, literally and metaphorically, and this is definitely a big change for me and I’m very interested in seeing how things go. I’m definitely very excited about it, but I’m sure I can say that about a lot of previous ideas. But since the Alegre Boards skateboards seem to get a lot of attention on their own, I’m hoping this will help me gather a following but I guess we’ll see soon enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.alegreboards.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alegreboards/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alegreboards/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberto-smith-5b34941/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRHqppOynyngAUKawMer9Jw
Image Credits
Roberto Smith
