Charax snowboard by Elliot Chaves

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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

EC : the actual graphic was inspired by a painting and the idea of the dimensional design feature simply came to me as I wanted to do an entire line of boards with some new detail and my apparel background snuck in with the thought of giving some texture to the object while making it a single piece of design and "Dimensional Decks" were born.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

EC : To make the aesthetics of snowboards equate to the technological advancement of their performance while creating something I would want to use as a fellow rider.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

EC : to get it prototyped and manufactured and see it being used on mountains all over the world

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

EC : 3-4 weeks

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

EC : When I feel something inside me, I simply know it is the right concept and inspiration. So once I got the inspiration, I acted on it until I thought it was perfected.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

EC : I plan to sell or lease the production rights out to a company who truly loves it as much as I do.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

EC : My first passion in life is designing and being creative. My second is snowboarding so for my first project in "product design", I wanted to do snowboards.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

EC : None other than the painting that inspired the actual art.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

EC : Snowboarders all over the world.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

EC : The fact that no other snowboard on the planet has dimensional decks.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

EC : The latin name of the butterfly is a complicated one but its prefix is "Charax". I liked it and it was simple and easy to pronounce and I felt that it was right so it stuck.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

EC : After hand illustrating it, Illustrator and Autodesk fusion 360

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

EC : the physical dimensional thorax of the butterfly that has texture.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

EC : I worked with my CAD engineer who took it to the 3D view in Autodesk Fusion 360. His name is Aurelian Leu.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

EC : balancing the design of the board without compromising the performance.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

EC : how the surface of the board will be in the end and how will the final construction of the board be.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

EC : I am trying to get exposure in hopes someone will like my creative thinking so that I can find more work and grow as a designer.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

EC : My confidence grew as a product designer and I learned that I need to improve on my computer skills.