Have you ever thought that the kitchen is the last workshop that each of us still has in our homes? Even though crafts are gradually disappearing from our homes, fortunately there are people who do not want to let them die. Michal Žák took hold of this idea and "baked" his project Bakery Boards , thanks to which he wants to spread the message of self-production among people. For him, a longboard is both a means of transportation and a stylish accessory. And if you want, he will teach you how to make exactly the one you imagine.
How did your Bakery Boards project come about?
I was very influenced by the community in Zaježová dolina and their ecological lifestyle. I was there at a workshop where we made wooden bowls and spoons. Today, people are used to buying everything from factories, where products are produced in large quantities, which creates overproduction, and it pollutes the environment. I thought about how I could connect this idea with design, and I think that a designer should not be someone who designs something for a factory. I want to be a designer who designs something so simple that everyone can make it at home.
And I decided that I wouldn't sell made longboards, but workshops where people would make these longboards with me. And then when a person finds out that they can make something themselves, something that they can ride, they suddenly understand that maybe they can fix a battery, change a siphon. I think there's a completely different atmosphere around anything that a person can do themselves.
Why did you choose the name Bakery Boards?
The name Bakery is basically based on the fact that the only workshop that we all still have in our apartments and houses is the kitchen. We no longer have a blacksmith's, carpentry workshop, etc. The kitchen is the last workshop that we really all have at home. We make things for ourselves in it. That's why Bakery - if it's easy for someone to cook or bake something at home, then it should be easy to make something else. Maybe not for eating, but for traveling.
Maybe you just need to experience that feeling. When you make your own wooden spoon and smear your hands with olive oil to make it last longer, and when you eat from it, you have a completely different feeling than with an anonymous spoon from the store. For me, it was a great experience. Moreover, by making it with our own hands, we create a relationship with the thing. It is harder for us to throw it away, it lasts longer because we take better care of it.
What are the most interesting designs you have designed?
The design of a longboard in the shape of a pineapple was very successful. For a drinks brand, I made longboards with a place to put a bottle. I often design designs related to family - for a German woman I made a board with a photo of her parents who had passed away. For children, I designed boards with superhero motifs, or clients wanted to have their favorite dog on them. As a gift, I also prepared a longboard with a motif of a hill that a couple climbed together.
You managed to establish yourself abroad as well. What helped you, social networks?
It started with the Wolfcraft brand and the Grape festival. I agreed with Urban Market that I would come to Grape and lead workshops and make longboards with people. I wrote an email to Wolfcraft, sent them a video from the previous year's Grape festival, that there were 20,000 people there, and suggested a collaboration. I needed 240 of their clamps, which I use when gluing boards. They sent me 24 of them, I changed the production a little, but in the end everything worked out. It was quiet for a while, and after about half a year they called me back and said they were celebrating their 70th anniversary and asked if I would come. We made about six boards there, there were a lot of people there and their customers who approached me. So I connected with the Hagebaumarkt chain of stores, for which I do small workshops in front of their stores every year. People can win participation in them in a competition.
I'm not an extreme "rider", I know how to ride it, I can show it to people, I can advise them how to get started, so they don't get scared, and so they don't break anything. But I'm more of a current cyclist.
What are your plans for production? Do you want to start with something other than longboards?
There were some attempts. I did 3D mandalas with some tattoo artists, we called it visual meditation. We wanted to make it for walls, and that also got good reviews on Instagram, but somehow we haven't moved it anywhere yet. Maybe I'll work on it later.
In the past, people did many things at home themselves, had farms, farms, workshops, but today, few people think about this when shopping.
I'm a transportation designer, and a skateboard, longboard, or whatever, is basically the simplest means of transportation we can make at home.
What did your first longboards look like, and where did you move in your creation?
In the beginning, I tried to create a kind of collection for clients to choose from. Showing them designs of everything that could be created sparked their creativity, and they wanted to customize the design for themselves or their loved ones. So today I listen to my clients' stories, they inspire me. I find out what they like, what characterizes them... Then I design the boards according to their ideas, but tastefully.
And my favorite motif is inspired by a chair my great-great-grandfather had that had a heart carved into the back. For Valentine's Day, I made two boards with half a heart carved into them , so when they're placed next to each other, they form a whole heart.
Do you ride skateboards or longboards yourself?
I started snowboarding. I rode for about 17 years, then I bought alpine skis. That same year I started wakeboarding. That's actually how Bakery Boards was created. I wanted to train, and because it's better to train on a bigger board, I wanted to buy a longboard, but I didn't like any of them. So I designed my own, simple, clean. But my friends scolded me for being a designer and not having anything original. So I made about 7 graphics, printed them all, and founded the Bakery concept.
Michal Žák studied design at the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak University of Technology and automotive design at the Academy of Fine Arts. He did his diploma thesis at Volkswagen, but since he was unable to find a job directly at the car manufacturer after school, he worked in a production studio on animated videos and later in a startup dedicated to 3D modeling. He is currently working on, as he himself says, his dream position at Pixel Federation as a 3D modeler on the Train Station 2 project. In addition, he is working on his own project Bakery Boards .
