One of the most exciting new brands to appear recently is Evisen Skateboards from Japan. Amazing graphics, talented team, and soon to be available in the United States.

Katsumi has this to say about Evisen’s latest collaboration with Sadam for Maru’s homie, Shota Kikuchi: “Evisen Skateboards will be releasing a first ever guest model for a skateboarder from Sendai Japan, Shota Kikuchi.  The art work is done by SADAM an artist also from Sendai who has offered to design for the previous collaboration board.  The graphic is not just a Bouquet but there is a Gimmick in the graphics. Kotobuki means felicitation.

“The reason why we made a guest board for Shota is that we have huge respect to him but its not only about that.  Our team rider MARU has been skating with Shota from a young age up till now. MARU strongly wanted to give back to his lifetime brother so that is why we have decided to give a Bouquet designed in the board. Thank you skateboarding.”

In 1993 Kurt Cobain and William S. Burroughs released a rarely-discussed spoken word record entitled “The Priest, They Called Him.” Since I was a fan of both contributors, I eagerly purchased the album so I could complete a collection I was working towards. Bad idea; the album sucked. Live and learn.

Around 6 years after this, and long before the concept of collaboration became commonplace [nearly to the point of obnoxiousness] Mo’Wax and Mark Gonzales released an edition of 1000 Priest statues made of reconstituted stone (porcelain?). The figure was actually sculpted by Ben Drury, not Gonz- but each one was customised by Mark with a paintbrush, sharpie, pencil, or a combination of these. If you’re a weathered skate nerd, you’ve likely seen images of them floating around the internet. I think Mo Wax distributed around 500 of them directly within the UK, and the remainder went to retail in Tokyo, friends & family, various skate shops, and Alleged Gallery in New York.

I have been searching for some of those remaining ceramic figures for years; so needless to say, I was elated when toy connoisseur Super7 said that they were releasing a brand new Priest figure in conjunction with Gonz and Krooked Skateboards. I’m definitely a fan of both contributors- and buying one of these is a great idea.

The Priest stands at approximately ten inches tall and is draped with a red robe, adorned with gold. You can even change the facial expression with a twist of his head. I’m especially glad that this thing is made of Japanese vinyl, because if I had acted upon my impulse and began the hunt to collect a range of the original stone versions from a decade ago, my children would have positively destroyed each and every one of them by now… But for anyone reading this, let me know if you’ve got any of the original reconstituted stone figurines, I will pay in gold bouillons or grocery money.

To purchase Mark Gonzales’ The Priest, visit Super7store.com … and I suggest you hurry as it’s rumored they are nearly sold out already.

Special thanks go out to Josh and everyone at Super7.

Thank goodness for brands like Makia. They recently sent me a bundle of their latest Finnish-designed product including this permanent fixture on my coat rack: the Button Up Hooded Sweatshirt. Apparently it’s also a favorite of musician, actor, and Viking Vesa-Matti Loiri. If you’re still trying to catch up with Makia, check the documentary below or visit MakiaClothing.com

In 1872 a human-sized gold nugget weighing more than 600 lbs was unearthed from a dusty hill in New South Whales. Rumor has it that when the prospectors were chiseling away at this shiny mother lode, a future-historic skateboard was found deep within the core of the gigantic chunk of cheddar. Not knowing whether it was extraterrestrial, celestial, or just plain pugilistic, the archeologists decided to bury the skateboard and never speak of it again.
From the land down under comes a brand that you should certainly be paying attention to. PASS PORT is making premium skateboard decks and a range of apparel that confirms this is more than just another garage project… and quite possibly connected to the aforementioned true story. They recently dropped a new collection on their website, and fret not: you will soon be able to get your passport stamped, as there are rumors that Pass~Port will be available in the US soon. For more information visit passportal.com.au

Something frightening lurks in a dark attic of Seattle in the form of a newsprint zine known by the name Hazmat. It’s pages will leave your fingers black and your heart blacker. A homie [who we'll call Harrison] is the appalling proprietor of this punkrock propaganda, and I suggest you do yourself a favor and buy a shirt, find a copy of the zine, and ominously laugh at anyone who insists print media is dead. They even have a blog in case you agree.

Something frightening lurks in a dark attic of Seattle in the form of a newsprint zine known by the name Hazmat. It’s pages will leave your fingers black and your heart blacker. A homie [who we'll call Harrison] is the appalling proprietor of this punkrock propaganda, and I suggest you do yourself a favor and buy a shirt, find a copy of the zine, and ominously laugh at anyone who insists print media is dead. They even have a blog in case you agree.

Makia has beaten everyone to the Finnish line by announcing their endorsement of car racing prodigy Kimi Räikkönen. I must say this is brilliant, isn’t it?

Rapha just released an online lookbook to accompany their Autumn/Winter Collection. Click the images above to check it out.

The Stussy-sponsored solo exhibit at Bleach London featuring new works by Mark Ward has been such a success that the show has extended until September 9th. Mark’s been a busy lad, releasing a recent collaboration with Broadcast and now this amazing group of work. Click here for the documentary.

Growing up in the NW, I never wore sunglasses- it was only sunny for like 90 days out of the year, and I always figured that shades were reserved for the upper-cool class. How foolish I was. Proof? I was chatting with a homie the other day who said he has some sort of crazy cataracts or micro-growths on his eyeballs from too much ocular exposure to the sun. That certainly ain’t cool, right? Well, fortunately a while ago the fine folks at Timber sent me an awesome box full of eyewear crafted from bamboo & skate deck plies and I was immediately impressed with the handmade feel of everything from the boxes to the press kit- so I want to introduce this independent brand to the readers of RadCollector.com. Remember: this summer, please cover your [eye]balls from the sun.  On an unrelated note, that new Timbaland single featuring Pitbull is awful, right? They can’t all be zingers. Put your pupil-peepers on the full collection at GetTimber.com

In conjunction with Stussy and Beach London, my good friend and exceptional artist Mark Ward is exhibiting new work during his solo show entitled Far Out.

The Press Release states, “As a child of the late 1980s, Mark was heavily influenced by the day-glo representations of exotic Americana that the TV beamed into his suburban south London home. In this pre-internet era, Mark was receiving snippets of game shows, skate videos, NFL coverage & commercials. The images he saw contrasted with the reality of his drab UK surroundings and set his imagination free. These elements created a wasteland of visual reference that, with the optimistic outlook of his childhood, Mark pieced together to create his own distorted Californian ideal. The path of adulthood has brought with it the mundane reality. The mythical sun scorched world Mark aspired to with galactic expectations has evaporated away, but while the realisation has set in that the world Mark yearned for doesn’t exist on this planet, the fascination with Americana has not left his consciousness. It must exist out there somewhere…

“This brand new body of work takes us on a journey to an alternate reality existing in a parallel universe – a visual feast depicting a far-off cosmos where glossy icons live in harmony with banal staples.

“The work is presented across a variety of media including paintings, sculpture and installation.”

PRIVATE VIEW: 9th August 6-9pm.
Show continues 9th-26th August
Beach London, 20 Chesire St, E2 6EH