Inside Ride’s Limited Edition DH Series

Last year Ride Snowboards introduced their limited edition DH series, taking the quite popular board into a new sphere with artist driven graphics that were released at different times during the fall season. I watched as each graphic came out wondering about the artist driven movement and concept behind these snowboards. With the release of the latest artist driven DH series 2.4 and 2.5, it was time to find out more about them.

I caught up with Ride Snowboard’s Global Marketing Manager Casey Raymer and Image & Design Manager  Brandon Ramirez to find out more about the Limited Edition DH snowboards, here’s what they had to say.

Shay:  What is the Limited Edition Series all about?
Casey:  Building on our DH2 Artist Series collection that began last season (DH 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3), we have two limited edition boards in store for the 2010-11 season, the DH 2.4 and DH 2.5. Featuring distinctive work from influential artists, the limited artist series is an opportunity for Ride to partner with established, iconic or ground breaking artists.  It is also an opportunity to showcase the latest and most innovative Ride exclusive technologies – in this case beyond the top tech’s for the season like Membrain, Slimewalls and Pop Rods 2.0, but also the debut of the new Hybrid ProRize shape that is not available on any other men’s board in the line.

Shay: How long has Ride been making Limited Edition DH Snowboards?
Casey:  This is our 2nd year on the DH2 Artist Series program.  DH 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 were in last season, 2.4 and 2.5 this year.

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DH 2.5 and 2.4

Do the limited edition DH snowboards vary in tech from the DH?
Casey:  The in line DH2 in terms of features/tech is similar to the DH2.4 & 2.5 with one pretty big exception – Hybrid ProRize.  Hybrid ProRize is a brand new board shape ONLY available for men on the DH 2.4 and 2.5 (side note – Hybrid ProRize is available for ladies on the OMG). Combining the best of both the rocker and camber worlds, Hybrid ProRize offers primo response, pop and landing stability. Featuring micro-rocker in the tip and tail to maintain a fun, surfy, hook-free feel and a level micro-camber zone between the feet to maintain snap and amplify the pop factor. For a clear diagram of Hybrid ProRize shape, check this video out:

Hybrid ProRize Rocker Tech Video from Ride Snowboards on Vimeo.

What artists have been featured on the graphics
Casey:  The DH 2.4 features the original artwork of Dethkills.  Dethkills was born out of the necessity to create something original and organic. Since 2005, Dethkills has kept this need in mind and flourished into a rich and diverse art collective, ranging from screen printing, painting, live installation painting, zine printing, to their own t-shirt line. Drawing their artistic and aesthetic inspiration from music, skateboarding, photography, cycling, and art they apply the grass-roots, Punk rock, DIY ethos that influenced them so heavily. Utilizing a wide array of media from pen and ink to latex and acrylic paint, they painstakingly perfect their trademark typography repeated layering style creating figurative paintings. It is a labor of love and to them, slowing down means the end and forfeiting their paint-stained clothes and artistic visions. It is for this reason that with an almost nomadic ambition, Dethkills lunges forward, sharpie in hand, ready for what the world has to offer next.

We have an artist bio page for Dethkills and the DH 2.4 Video

Limited Edition Artist Series DH2.4 from Ride Snowboards from Ride Snowboards on Vimeo.

The DH 2.5 features Coop, an amazing artist with a truly unique and stand out style. We were super stoked when he took the time to customize a DH 2.5 for us to give away to one lucky person.  Coop (aka: Chris Cooper) – Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1968.?Coop finished high school, skipped art school, and arrived in Los Angeles in the late 80’s where he immediately got to work subverting the mainstream. Chances are good you’ve seen some manifestation of his merchandising juggernaut: smoking devils, devil-girls, hotrods, space aliens or monsters on posters, t-shirts, hats, stickers, stationery sets, skate boards, toys, shot glasses, Zippo lighters, and so much more.?He’s done roughly 100 posters, including rock posters for Nirvana, Soundgarden, The Sex Pistols and many others, and album cover art for everyone from the Monomen to the Ramones. Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame houses two of Coop’s posters in its permanent collection. He cites Robert Williams, R. Crumb and Eric Stanton as some of his favorites and great influences, in addition to Big Daddy Roth, Irving Klaw, Wally Wood, Gil Elvgren, and a host of other degenerates. ?Coop’s first solo exhibition was in Los Angeles in 1993, and since then his artwork has been shown throughout the world. Coop went on to publish two books in the fall of 2001 and 2002. In 2007, following a car accident that broke his leg and kept him from painting for months, Coop rekindled his lifelong interest in photography. To date he has more than 20,000 images posted on Flickr, and is in the process of collecting photos for a new book.

Ride caught up with Coop in his So Cal studio, checked out his space, his hot rod and got some footage of him stenciling up the DH 2.5

Ride DH2.5 Limited Edition Artist Series Snowboard – COOP from Ride Snowboards on Vimeo.

Shay:  How does Ride select artists to work with?
Casey:  I am going to let Brandon Ramirez, our Image & Design Manager respond to this one:
Brandon:  This is an opportunity for us here at Ride to work with Artists that personally inspire us on all levels. Whether they’re a legendary Poster Artist such at Coop and Art Chantry, or the fresh upcoming trend setters like DethKills and Shawn O’keefe, The DH 2 limited release boards embrace Ride’s overall passion and attraction to screen printing and raw street art. Stepping away from what can be a more vanilla consumer format, The DH2 Series provides the consumer a fresh taste of today’s cutting edge art.    

Where can people get their hands on the Limited Edition boards?
Casey:  They can purchase on ridesnowboards.com – those orders are fulfilled by our retailers that carry the DH2 artist series boards, or you can visit this page to find DH2 Limited dealers in your area: http://ridesnowboards.com/dh2/dealers