Globe
As one of the world’s largest premium skateboard brands, Globe is mindful of the resources it uses to create its products. The eucalyptus deck is crafted from a tree felled for the purposes of conserving the Eames House, but more broadly, Globe has partnered with the National Forest Foundation to plant over 3 times the number of trees it uses to construct its skateboards.
Globe & The Eucalyptus Connection
The eucalyptus trees throughout the landscape around Case Study House #8 were first brought to Southern California in the 1850’s, introduced during the Californian Gold Rush. Many of the trees were planted and propagated as a prospective source of timber for construction, furniture making, and railway sleepers by the enterprising developer, eucalyptus zealot, and forester Abbot Kinney in the later 1800’s.
If you were standing on the bluffs at the Eames House overlooking Santa Monica in the 1970’s, you might have seen surfers starting to progress from single-fin longboards to shorter multi-fin setups. These surfers, like the Z-Boys who claimed Pacific Ocean Park or ‘Dogtown’ in Santa Monica as their stomping grounds, gave rise to the popularity of skateboarding as a form of self expression and design. Similarly to the eucalyptus trees surrounding the Eames House, Globe is a company with an Australian origin, but one with a deep connection to the foundations of skating in California. Its founders, the Hill brothers, growing up skateboarding, then dedicating their business to skateboarding, for over 35 years.
As one of the world’s largest premium skateboard brands, Globe is mindful of the resources it uses to create its products. The eucalyptus deck is crafted from a tree felled for the purposes of conserving the Eames House, but more broadly, Globe has partnered with the National Forest Foundation to plant over 3 times the number of trees it uses to construct its skateboards.
Molly’s Story
The Eames House Conservation Plan was created to provide a framework for the care, management, and conservation of Case Study House #8. This plan includes a treatment of the landscape surrounding the house. Features of the landscape – every tree has been meticulously recorded and observed over time. The eucalyptus trees that became part of Ray and Charles’ everyday life, sheltering their home and welcoming the monarch butterflies in fall, were each given their own identifying number. One particular tree, #236 or ‘Molly’, had stood next to the steps of the studio at The Eames House for decades. But as she had grown old, and begun to pose a risk to the studio, she was carefully and deliberately removed in 2021 – to begin her new life in The Eucalyptus Deck.
“It would seem that one of the most sound ways to get a feeling for the delicate balance of a natural ecology is to get to know something of the process of natural selection.”
Charles Eames
No tree grows tall indefinitely. Culling is a near-natural process that complements the cycle and rhythms of natural selection. A process that Ray and Charles studied closely, spoke of at length, and expressed in the iterative and adaptive mode of their work. Angel City Lumber oversaw the felling of Molly. Their history and their ethos as a custodian of the tree-life of Los Angeles made them a clear choice for a project this steeped in the history of the area and the history of The Eames House. Each length was marked and documented – prepared to be taken from the property to begin their second life as The Eucalyptus Deck.
The Skateboards
The skateboard deck derived from tree #236 gives Molly renewed life, and is a collaboration that speaks to something greater than the sum of its parts. It embodies both Ray and Charles Eames’ and Globe’s belief in ‘taking your pleasure seriously’. After being removed from the landscape surrounding The Eames House, Molly was milled into a raw plank material and then carefully stacked to head to the kilns for drying. After more than a month of daily monitoring as these planks dried, they were then surfaced down into their smaller and smoother finished dimensions.
Each deck was shaped with a CNC machine – offering precision and minimizing the loss of material. The deck top was then laser etched with recognizable Eames designs, and graphic features depicting The Eames House. The process was finished with light sanding and the application of a finishing oil – bringing out the natural grain of the eucalyptus wood and each deck’s unique characteristics. The pattern on top of the deck is laser-etched with a recognized Eames cross-stitch motif. The high-low texture complements the need for grip that makes the deck skateable.
Each of this limited series is ascribed its own number – one of 100 decks created with ‘Molly’. The drawing itself includes ‘Molly’ in her first life at The Eames House. An architectural line drawing of The Eames House features on the longer side panel, and the Eames x Globe collaboration logo is present throughout. The acrylic top pane of the box features the eucalypts that Ray and Charles adored in the original architect’s drawing, through which the decks crafted on of these trees are revealed.
The Eames Wooden Screen curvature was an inspiration for the centre rail channels. A feature that offers rigidity through the deck and emphasizes the natural grain of the timber. No two grains will pass through these wave channels quite the same, making each deck unique in its finest details.
The ‘diamond’ tail shape which, along with a tapered edge that goes from wider at the front foot to narrower at the rear and a pointed nose, is symbolic of skating’s origins in surf. Representing a pivotal time in the history of skating as it emerged and established its own identity.
The Beauty In Natural Imperfections
Molly grew and thrived in the landscape surrounding The Eames House – her development shaped by her setting by the steps of The Eames House studio, and the conditions of Case Study House Bluff. The variations and irregularities you see in the grain of The Eucalyptus Deck – these are the legacy of Molly.
Available exclusively at the “Eames Office: 80 Years of Design” Exhibition at Isetan in Tokyo. Purchase Yours HERE!
The Eames Office Polavision Project
Was Charles Eames a skateboarder? Well, probably not, but you never know. The Eameses had eclectic tastes, and one didn’t have to dive too deep into their world to find proof of that. Recently, the Eames Office undertook a project of preserving ninety-five cassettes of deteriorating Polavision (Polaroid’s experimentation with instant video) footage shot by Charles and Ray, as well as additional Eames Office staff members in 1977. In this treasure trove of footage, the Eames Office found this reel shot by Charles in Venice Beach, California—near their 901 studio.