Welcome to our 'Catching up with' series, here we dive into personal stories of people from our community about their journey, their style, their challenges, and what keeps them hyped on and off the board. Today; Ander Pérez de Arenaza
Yeah, you probably don’t know who he is, but if you follow us, chances are you’ve had one of his designs in your hands... Meet Ander, the creative mind behind our boards! We caught up with him to talk about where his creativity comes from, how surfing and skateboarding shaped his work, his favourite designs a what he’s got in mind for t
Words by Lars Goos // Photography by Lars Goos
Ander! Whats up! We see each other quite often around the office, but tell the rest how’s life lately, where are you from and what are your passions?
Hi! It’s a real pleasure to have a chat with you guys. I’m from San Sebastián, a coastal city in the Basque Country, in the north of Spain.
I’d say I’m a person with many passions, actually, I’m probably 100% passionate about everything I do. But if I had to choose a few things that I’ve been especially focused on lately, I’d say drawing, cartoons and animation, the mountains, and the ocean. They’re all things I really enjoy and try to make the most of every single day.
Your work obviously has been seen by every single person that ever had a look at our surfskates, but you have been behind the curtains for way too long hehe. Can you give us a short background on your life and how skateboarding and surfing came into it?
Haha, yes! I’ve been designing YOW boards and graphics for several years now, although I’ve mainly been focused on the boards. It’s been a really fun adventure, especially because when I was a kid I used to fantasise about one day drawing graphics for skateboards and surfboards.
As I mentioned, I’m from San Sebastián, and more specifically from Gros, a neighbourhood squeezed between the mountains and the beach. I was never really a football kid or into competitive sports. From a very young age, I learned to play with the waves with whatever I had around me.
I still have my first skateboard. It was a present from my uncles when I was three years old, and I used to ride it on my knees around the park. From that moment on, skateboarding and surfing kind of grew together for me. I used to go to the park on my longboard, we had a quarter pipe outside school, and my mum would sometimes pick me up from school with my sandwich and my skateboard.
During my teenage years I got much more into surfing, so skateboarding slowly became more secondary. There weren’t many skateparks around here, and the weather wasn’t always the best for skating, while at the same time I had La Zurriola, the beach in my own neighbourhood, right there. The waves are really good and pretty consistent, so I guess it was inevitable that I ended up choosing the ocean over the skatepark.
I never really stopped skating, but surfing definitely became my main thing for a while. The two have always gone hand in hand for me, but during those years I basically swapped the skatepark for the beach.
I also remember making little surfboards at school, kind of like finger skates, but with surfboards, painting them by hand and then making waves with my maths notebooks. Even back then I was already imagining myself creating graphics for skateboards.
I’ve actually never really chosen a skateboard because of its shape. I always chose it because of the graphic on the deck! Surfboards were different. That’s where I developed much more of an interest in the shapes and the actual craft, and I would buy them completely white and paint them myself with markers.
So I guess skateboarding and surfing came into my life very naturally. They were simply a way of having fun, connecting with the present moment and with nature. And there’s something else I find really interesting about all of this: drawing, surfing and skating all have a very strong element of creativity and improvisation, if you want to approach them that way. That really hooks me.
And when did the creative part of illustrating and creativity come alive?
I think it happened little by little, but it was definitely there from a very young age.
I’ve always had very strong creative interests, probably partly inherited from my father, who is also a very creative person. He taught me how to draw when I was little. Of course, I think you also need to have that natural interest yourself to decide to follow that path.
I was one of those kids who got incredibly bored at school. I wasn’t a particularly good student, to be honest. My everyday life was basically about drawing on anything I could draw on, tables, notebooks, books, walls… anything.
One of my favourite things on Saturday mornings was turning on the TV and watching cartoons, or putting on my Disney VHS tapes. So I think my interests started very early, and that desire to develop and improve my drawing skills has always been there.
How does your process usually start? Sketch, concept, mood, or something else?
That’s a cool question because I don’t think I actually think about it that much.
It depends a lot on the project. When I was younger and probably a bit more immature as an artist, I used to work mostly when I felt inspired. That almost magical feeling where suddenly you connect with something and you just don’t want to stop drawing.
But as an artist, you also have to deal with the lack of inspiration. And as a professional — and as someone who is constantly trying to grow, I eventually realised that I couldn’t rely on inspiration alone.
Over time I’ve learned to have a routine and a way of working that doesn’t depend on that feeling being there.
Usually, I start with research. For example, if I have to design a board called Mundaka, I’ll start by finding out where the name comes from and what Mundaka means. Very quickly I’ll discover that it’s an incredible wave on the coast of Bizkaia, in the Basque Country. Then I start looking into the history and culture of the area.
That research gives me a lot of clues. I might discover symbols, decorative elements, traditional ways of using certain shapes or patterns, and — most importantly — what they actually represent. Sometimes I find things that are surprisingly coherent with the world of surfing and sliding: the sun, waves, energy, movement…
That’s just one example, but it’s usually how I approach a project. I like to treat every board and every graphic as a project of its own and put as much passion into it as I can.
That’s simply how I experience things. When something has my attention, I really throw myself into it. And that’s also how I understand my work.
Most of our boards are inspired by waves around the world. Is it there where you draw the inspiration from for their designs or what does inspire you?
The waves and the places themselves are obviously a huge source of inspiration, but I don’t think I look at them only from a purely visual point of view.
I really enjoy looking at the whole context surrounding a wave: its history, the people who surfed it, the culture around it, the different eras of surfing, and even the aesthetics that developed around each place.
Surfing has such a beautiful visual history. Everything is connected — the waves, the boards, the shapes, the clothes, the photography, the colours, the music, the people.
For example, Teahupo’o in the 2000s immediately makes me think of that era of surfing, the tribal aesthetics, Andy Irons, Kelly Slater and that whole visual culture. J-Bay, on the other hand, makes me think of something much more retro and alternative, connected to lines, style and the freesurfing scene around people like Derek Hynd.
So the place and the wave are always the starting point, but then I like to dig deeper and see what kind of visual language naturally belongs to that world.
What’s the important detail you look for in a board so it becomes a good design for you?
One thing I really enjoy about designing a collection is understanding what each surfskate is actually made for.
The shape of a board already tells you a story. So I like to separate the different models and understand the kind of surfing or skating they are trying to recreate.
That also leads me into the history of skateboarding and surfing, which I find fascinating. Every period has its own reasons for the way boards evolved. The shapes, the engineering, the tail, the nose, the amount of pop, the wheelbase… everything changes the way you ride.
And all of that history is documented. You can look at old photographs and suddenly you understand why a certain shape, colour or graphic belonged to a particular moment.
So when I’m designing a board, I like to think about the shape and the function as much as the graphic itself.
For example, a Power Surf board has a flatter nose and immediately reminds me of carving, flow and that more fluid style of surfing. That naturally pushes me towards a more surfboard-inspired aesthetic.
For me, a good graphic is one that feels like it belongs to the board. The shape, the function, the history of the sport and the visual language should all be talking to each other.
What’s been your favorite board or graphic you’ve ever worked on, and why?
I have quite a few favourites, to be honest.
The Slappiers from the last couple of years are definitely among them. I also really love the black Lowers with the silver graphic. It’s a wide, fresh-looking board and I love the way that shiny silver works against the black.
Another favourite is the Gabriel Medina. Designing something for a surfer of that level is really special, and I think the final result came out beautifully. I particularly love the yellow wood showing through and the way the colours work with the grain of the board.
But my absolute favourite might be the red Flora Cruiser. I collaborated with Xué on a photograph and added one of my own drawings over it, and the result was really, really cool. I actually have that board hanging in my bedroom.
But if we’re talking about a surfskate and a shape that I actually ride a lot, I’d probably choose a custom board I made while developing the DEL MAR model.
That was a completely handmade process that I really loved. We tested different shapes, lengths and wheelbases using the Meraki trucks cut down to 99 mm. During the process I ended up with this little 28-inch, round, flat board, with two strips of grip tape and a beautiful hand-varnished almond colour.
I ride it all the time to go to and from my studio, and I absolutely love it. I’m honestly in love with that custom board.
Long live custom! I’d encourage anyone who has the opportunity and the desire to shape their own board, paint it by hand and skate it until it’s completely destroyed.
What about the wheel designs?
I’ve designed the Ekhi and the Tanta wheels, and honestly, I can’t really choose between them.
I absolutely love the Tantas, especially in the mustard colour. We chose some very ’80s-inspired colours, and the green and pink look amazing against the yellow. I particularly love how they look on boards where you can see the natural wood.
But I have a special affection for the Ekhi because they were the first wheels I ever designed.
The process was really beautiful because Cris and Aitor showed me how the wheels were actually made using tampography. From preparing and developing the artwork to the actual printing process — it was amazing to see the whole thing happen physically.
So, a big hello to both of you, and thanks for your patience!
You created Ekhi, the YOW Character, what was the idea behind it and how did you get inspired to create this?
When I was asked to design a new set of 101A skate wheels, we decided to call them Ekhi which means “sun” in Basque.
During the design process I created this little character, and we ended up thinking it would be really cool to turn him into a mascot for the brand.
The idea was to introduce him through the City Cruisers and the kids’ collections, but also to give YOW a slightly more playful and personal side. A character that could appear in future boards, promotions, products and different things around the brand.
I’ve always loved cartoons and creating characters. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, so creating Ekhi felt very natural to me.
And I really like the meaning behind the name too. The sun is basically a friend of skateboarding. When the sun is out, you go skating. You can surf the asphalt.
We love the sun.
What are you currently excited to experiment with or explore next in your work?
I’d really like to experiment more with stained wood.
I love seeing the grain of the wood. There’s something very special about having that natural texture visible. It gives you the feeling that you’re holding something valuable in your hands.
At the end of the day, a tree was cut down, then the wood was polished, laminated, shaped and suddenly it became an object that can completely change your life — maybe that sounds a bit intense, but in my case it actually did. It gave me a way of enjoying life through sliding.
That’s why I like leaving the wood visible whenever I can. I think it’s a small way of giving the material the respect it deserves.
When you cover the whole board with a transfer, that feeling of the wood disappears. Sometimes that’s exactly what the design needs, of course, but personally I get much more satisfaction when I can still see the grain.
So I’d love to explore that idea further and find new ways of giving the wood a more important role in the graphic itself.
What can we expect in the future on YOW boards? Give away some spoilers!
I think the future of YOW is going to be really fun.
Surfskating is changing incredibly fast right now. There are so many riders pushing the sport into places I never imagined it would go. Tricks are being done that I honestly never thought I would see on a surfskate, and they’re already happening.
We’ve seen this kind of evolution before, both in skateboarding in the ’80s and throughout the history of surfing. The sports keep changing, and the equipment and aesthetics evolve with them.
I’ve definitely had all of that in mind while working on the future collection…
But that’s probably as much as I can say for now.
Hehe.
Thanks so much for your time Ander. Where can people follow your work?
Thanks to you!!! Mostly on Instagram: @Anderperetz
