Manifesto Festival

We are excited to announce that for the first time, the Roarockit Skateboard Company will take part in the Manifesto Festival's – Live at the Square event on Saturday, Sept. 20^th.

If you are not familiar with Manifesto, they are a non-profit organization that inspires and unites young people through arts & culture. They have been doing great work in our community for over 8 years, and we are proud to join forces with them for this annual event!

Live at the Square takes place in downtown Toronto at Yonge & Dundas Square and is an all-day, free outdoor event that features some of the cities best performers, artists and brands. This year will feature musical performances by Ryan Leslie, Raury, Bishop Nehru, Saukrates and many, many more! There will also be live Dance Battles, Showcases, Graffiti and Cyphers, lots of great food in the Freshest Foods market and some amazing local brands in the Freshest Goods marketplace. Check out the Manifesto website for full details of the jam packed event!

Live at the Square - facebook event page here!

We will be there in a tent alongside our flagship program the Oasis Skateboard Factory, and festival veteran Champstiles Woodburning. Together we will be showcasing our innovative skateboard building process and how it can be used to engage youth through hands-on learning and art focused education.

Join us from 12pm-7pm at Yonge & Dundas Square for this great event!

Check out this video from last years event:

Family Day Art Class

The Roarockit Skateboard Company will be offering a 'Family Day Skateboard Art Class' at our Professional Deck Making School in Toronto's Leaside neighbourhood. (880 Millwood Rd. Toronto, ON - M4G 1X1)

Anyone is welcome, but we encourage parents to come with their kids, and there will be no extra charge to work together on the same board!

Click on photo above for the Facebook event page

880 Millwood Rd. "The World's First Professional Deck Making School"

This 5 hour class will run on Monday, February 17^th from 10am-3pm, and will include an introduction to skateboard art, layout and design of your own custom artwork and a hands-on demonstration of how to make your own custom skateboard using Roarockit's Thin Air Press vacuum bag technology.

**We will take a break at noon and there will be water and snacks provided (bagels, veggie sticks, Timbits) throughout the day. Bring yourself a lunch if you would like more than just a snack at this time. 

At the end of the class, you will leave with your 100% handmade, Canadian maple skateboard with your own custom graphic! Students will bring their designs to life using an array of different mediums and styles; Including, watercolour paints, acrylic paints, Sharpie markers, stencil art, graphite transfer paper and more.   

Price: $145.00 + HST = $163.85 

Class Breakdown

10am-10:30am: Introduction to Skateboard Art

10:30am-12pm: Art Application

12pm-12:45pm: Snack/Lunch Break + Skateboard Building Demo

12:45-3pm: Art Application

This is a one-time event with limited space available.

Please contact chris@roarockit.com if you have any questions regarding the class. You can also call Roarockit @ 1-416-422-5487 or visit our flagship location at 131 Sunrise Ave. UNIT 4A - Toronto, ON - M4A 1B2 to check out what we do! We are open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. 

Board N' School Art Auction

The Oasis Skateboard Factory & Roarockit Skateboard Company Present: Board n' School - A Skateboard Art Show and Auction

Click on photo for the Facebook event page

Where: The Gladstone Hotel Art Bar 

1214 Queen St W - Toronto, ON

View Larger Map

When: Opening reception and silent auction Friday, April 19 7:00-9:00pm 

Exhibit April 19-21 

Friday April 19th sees the Gladstone host a retro mini-skateboard silent auction of rolling artworks by local artists in support of the Oasis Skateboard Factory (OSF), the world's only skateboard and street art design themed high school program. 

A variety of high- profile Toronto artists have partnered with OSF students to create original school-themed works of art on hand-crafted skateboards, and to celebrate the launch of Roarockit’s brand new “Lil' Rockit” skateboard kit, which Roarockit has generously donated for this event. These skateboard art collaborations will be displayed in the Art Bar at the Gladstone Hotel, a community-minded arts hub where design, art and activism intersect, from Friday April 19th through Sunday April 21st, 2013.

Students had the opportunity to teach high profile Toronto artists how to build skateboards by hand. In turn, students then got to collaborate with their artist mentor on a graphic for the board. Typically, OSF students are teenagers who have struggled to connect with high school but through our program focus on creative and entrepreneurial learning with ‘real world’ results they have seen incredible success. Local artist mentorships of students built on that success, exposing students to adult role models who work in the arts while giving them an opportunity to show off their final project in a legitimate gallery. All proceeds of the auction go towards expanding OSF’s innovative program of creative project- based learning and social enterprise. 

Mentoring artists include:

- Fiona Smyth

- Alex Currie (aka Runt)

- John Mariott

- Zanette Singh

- MonsterMeans Mark Byk

- Jimmy Chiale

- Christina Zeidler 

- Laura Wills

- ROCK

- Javid JAH

- Trevor Wheatley 

- Troy Pynn

- Lindsay Fisher

- Sue Cohen 

- Giles Monette

- SLURG

- Hamish from Picnicskate

- Zen Rankin

- Champstiles Woodburning

Opening reception and silent auction Friday, April 19 7:00-9:00pm 

Exhibit runs April 19-21

Lisa Farrows Art

The Roarockit Skateboard Company loves showing off the work done by people in our community, and one of the brightest stars around is Ms. Lisa Farrows!

Lisa is an Outdoor Educator for the Peel District School Board and works with an expulsion program called Fresh Start two days a week. As both a passionate painter and longboarder, she has managed to incorporate both hobbies into her lesson planning and gets students to paint deck-shaped canvases in the classroom... very cool!

You may also recognize Lisa from the Ministry of Wood - as the first artist to be featured in our Builder of the Month section a few years ago. She does some incredible custom paint jobs on boards, often for events or fundraisers, and has even started restoring some historical pieces from around the city:

“...most recently I've been doing restoration work at the Flatiron Building and the Dineen building at Yonge and Temperance. It's been incredible to put my mark on two historical buildings in Toronto. Both buildings have 6 vault doors that are over 100 years old that I've done replication work on. At the Denine building there was a 150 year old safe that was found in an elevator shaft that I brought back to life ... Next on the list is a furnace door and an elevator. It's so exciting.”

Lisa has also worked closely with Rob from Bombora Boards to create some very special decks that were donated to the Boarders Against Breast Cancer fundraiser, and the annual Hospital For Sick Kids Gala.  

And what does the future have in store for Ms. Farrows?

"Who freakin knows! I'm sure there will be more Art, Adventure and Good times..."

You can check out more of Lisa's art on her Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/lisafarrowsart or follow her on Instagram @Farrows

You can also email Lisa for a quote on a custom design - artbylisa@gmail.com

Week Long Build Sessions

Roarockit offers full-week building programs, designed for you to build your own dream board with one of our experienced instructors! 

There will be 5 seperate sessions held in our Professional Deck Making School, located at 880 Millwood Road in Toronto, over the next year.  

The Session Dates:

March Break - 2013
Monday March 11 to Friday March 15
9:00 am - 11:30 am (12.5 hours total)

July Summer Camp 1 - 2013
Monday July 8 to Friday July 12
9:00 am - 11:30 am (12.5 hours total)

July Summer Camp 2 - 2013
Monday July 29 to Friday August 2
9:00 am - 11:30 am (12.5 hours total)

August Summer Camp - 2013
Monday August 19 to Friday August 23
9:00 am - 11:30 am (12.5 hours total)

Choose to make a skate deck, pintail, top-mount speedboard, our new Lil' Rockit or a more advanced drop deck. With an experienced instructor to show you the steps and share all the builder’s tricks and tips, you will produce a seriously awesome board the very first time, and will be able to continue making boards with your new-found knowledge.

Using the best wood in the world for a skateboard (Canadian maple), you’ll learn how to laminate a 3 dimensional board in a Thin Air Press, finish it, design and apply your own graphics. Using Roarockit’s patented method, your quality board will be entirely hand-made, using the power of vacuum, no power tools required.

As there is drying time between many of the steps, skateboard building requires multiple sessions to complete the stages. Sessions are planned so that all the steps are completed by the end of the 5 day program, so attendance at all 5 days is required. Space is limited, so submit your application early to ensure your spot!

What’s included:

The materials and use of our tools to create a custom board. During the 5 sessions, you will prep sheets of Canadian maple, glue up and press them in a Thin Air Press, over a mold. You sand and finish the edges top and bottom, clear coat and apply your own graphics to finish up your board.

What’s not included:

Wheels and trucks, hardware or grip tape

Feel free to contact us for more information:

Phone 1-416-422-5487

Email - marcel@roarockit.com