Our Story

‘Teaken Skateboards’ has been a long journey, to say the least. Growing up, I was obsessed with skateboarding and never wanted to get off my board, except when I had to go to work and build boats.

While building boats and working on yachts for the past 20 years, I have always looked down at the teak timber decks below my feet and thought what an amazing material it was. After returning from skating one day, I walked onto the yacht I was working and living on and I thought, “I need to make a skateboard grip out of Teak!” It’s super durable, handles all weather conditions and does not split or splinter. The best thing about Teak is that it's super grippy and feels amazing under the feet. I got straight to work searching and sourcing sustanible Teak wood then thinking of ways to bring my idea to life.

I started hand cutting and epoxying teak veneer onto skateboard decks on the back of the yacht. I used my own hand drawn designs and a Dremel tool to engrave the pattern out of the veneer to make the grip. This all took about 20hrs per deck, so I knew I had to figure out a better way.

A year went by thinking of ideas and there was a lot of trial and error, but then I had an idea. I decided to start teaching myself graphic design skills so I could make patterns to be cut out on a laser CNC machine. Once I got to a level I needed to be competent at this, I then had the challenge of finding the perfect veneer composition so I could get the most out of the Teak timber so it would work on a skateboard as a grip. Research and design for this took a long time but I have found the perfect composition to give you the cool looking ride with more grip than you will ever need, grip that feels incredible on bare feet and that locks up on the sole of your shoe too.

Enjoy your new ride,

Ryan