We recently sat down with Lenart Oblak to talk about his newly designed surfskates, exploring the creative process behind them and the journey from initial concept to finished product. In our conversation, Lenart shared the inspiration, challenges, and key decisions that helped bring these surfskates to life, offering a behind-the-scenes look at what makes them truly unique, jump in!
Words by Lars Goos
Lenart, well first of all congrats on an epic job designing your boards! How have you been lately?
Life has been pretty solid lately. I’ve been keeping myself busy and focusing on the things I’m genuinely passionate about. The challenge is always balancing that with real-life responsibilities. Time flies by so fast that I sometimes forget to pause, zoom out, and appreciate everything that’s actually going well.
Overall, it’s been great. Let’s just say it’s all going exactly as it should. Although I desperately need a trip right now... routine is killing me. Life can get busy fast. Stress, responsibilities, and routines have a way of taking over if you’re not careful. That’s why I think it’s so important to make space for the things you truly enjoy and that make you feel alive. Otherwise, you slowly stop doing them and…well…eventually die inside. And that’s probably not ideal.
You are from Slovenia, for people who never been there, what is it like?
Slovenia is a really small country in the middle of Europe, but it has an insane amount of variety packed into one place. You’ve got mountains, lakes, forests, and coastline, all within a couple of hours of each other. Life here feels calm and connected to nature, which I think influences a lot of people creatively. It’s an amazing place to grow up if you enjoy being outdoors and staying active. The skateparks are great, there are plenty of interesting DIY spots, and people are always happy to share the stoke.
The only downside is that there are no waves to surf. We’ve been messaging Kelly Slater for years asking him to build us a wave pool, but still no reply. Not sure what’s taking him so long, honestly. At least we’ve got a lake with an island in the middle and a church on top of it. What a flex, huh?
Before surfskating became your thing, were you already deep into boardsports?
I actually got into board sports a bit later as a teenager. Snowboarding came first, then skating, and surfing after that. Surfskating followed pretty quickly, and I think having that background helped a lot. It gave me a better understanding of movement and made me feel comfortable on a board from the start. Looking back, it all connected pretty naturally. One board just led to another.
You’ve been traveling around the world with us, did the idea of designing your boards come up during one of those travels?
The trips definitely helped refine what I wanted from a board and what best suited my riding style, but the idea was already there long before that. Before I got sponsored, I used to make my own boards out of sheets of plywood and only buy the YOW surfskate system because complete setups were quite expensive for me at the time. I loved cutting out my own shapes, painting them, and experimenting with different ideas. It was something I genuinely enjoyed long before YOW even noticed me.
When I started posting these colorful handmade boards online, people began paying attention, including Xué, who was the brand manager at the time. Looking back, I think that’s where the whole idea started taking shape.
One day he casually brought up the possibility of making a pro model together, and I immediately started doing laps around my room trying to process it all. At that moment, it felt like a dream come true. Honestly, it still does.
When you started designing the boards, what as the most important thing for you?
The most important thing for me was definitely the shape and the wheelbase, because that’s what affects everything, how the board rides, how it responds, and how it feels under your feet. Everything else is basically aesthetics.
I already had a pretty clear feeling in mind for how I wanted the boards to ride, so the whole process became about finding the right combination of shape and wheelbase to bring that feeling to life.
Lenart's Prototypes
Lets start with the Neonfish, explain us about the graphic, design and shape?
With the Neonfish, I wanted to create a fat, super fun board, something playful at low speeds and easy to throw into tight corners and small features. It has the shortest wheelbase of the two, so wherever you turn, the board follows instantly. I also wanted the shape itself to feel playful. Most importantly, I wanted it to be as wide as possible because I don’t like my toes hanging over the edge. A wider platform simply feels more like a surfboard to me.
The back graphic came right after a YOW trip to Barcelona. I got home and that same night drew this figure with charcoal, trying to capture that feeling of coming back from an amazing trip while your head is still somewhere else. I liked the drawing so much that I knew it had to go on the board.
I love it because it carries a message and a piece of myself that I relate to deeply. I wouldn’t be living my dreams if I never dared to dream in the first place. I hope the board reminds people to dream big and have the courage to chase whatever excites them, because some of the best things in life start with an idea that sounds slightly unrealistic.
From there, I built the rest of the graphics around that drawing so the whole board felt connected.
For who or which kind of surfskater do you think the Neonfish is?
The Neonfish is definitely the more performance oriented board. If you like boards such as the Arica, Mundaka, or Snappers, this sits in that same category. It’s designed to be thrown around, sharp turns, powerful maneuvers, bowls, airs, and anything that benefits from a reactive setup
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At the same time, the wider shape makes it feel stable and comfortable under your feet.
So if you enjoy having a bigger platform while still keeping that fast, responsive feel, this is probably the one for you.
And then there is the Longfish, explain us about that board?
The Longfish is definitely my personal favorite. The goal was to recreate that feeling you get riding a twin-fin fish surfboard, effortless speed, smooth drawn out turns, flow, and connected lines.
I didn’t want it to be too long because I still wanted it to generate speed easily and allow tighter turns, but not too short either, so it would remain stable when things got faster.
This board is all about flow, carrying speed and connecting turns in a seamless line.
I love how it feels heavier and more drawn out through turns and snaps, and the wider outline really adds to that surfy feeling.
For the graphic, I drew this sleepy pufferfish and everything started growing from there. I also knew I had to make one board yellow because it’s my favorite color. To finish things off, I added a small self-portrait to the collaboration logo and hid a message in the background that I’ll let people figure out for themselves.
What do you think makes the combination between the two boards so good?
The cool thing about the two boards is that they each have their own personality.
If you own both, you’re pretty much covered for every style of riding. The Neonfish is the one you grab when you want to push tricks, snaps, and more aggressive maneuvers. The Longfish is the one you take when you want to focus on flow, style, and drawing smooth lines.
They complement each other really well, which was exactly the goal from the beginning.
And then you took the boards on the trip to Fuerte Ventura, tell us about that trip!
Yeah, I barely finished the boards before the trip, I was literally still painting them the night before we left. The Fuerteventura trip was such an experience. I was so hyped to finally film a full video part, and the filmer, Rok, was just as motivated. Every day became a mission: searching for spots, making plans, skating all day, stacking footage, stretching, then sharing a drink in the evening and reviewing everything we’d filmed.
We kept repeating that cycle for over a week until we had enough footage and desperately needed a rest day. Honestly, there’s no better feeling than finally getting that clip after spending hours trying to get all the tricks exactly the way you want it. Working with Rok was amazing because he’s incredibly passionate about what he does. His legs were probably burning more than mine from crouching behind the camera all day, but he was always down to film “one last try” which, of course, was never actually the last try.
One of the hardest parts was finding spots. We weren’t looking for skateparks. We wanted creative street lines and places that most people wouldn’t even think about skating. Every evening I’d spend hours on Street View pinning locations to check the next day. When you get more creative with how you approach the spot, you realize you can draw interesting lines on every street.
Making my own video part had been on my bucket list for a long time, so I’m incredibly grateful to YOW for giving me that opportunity, and to everyone else who helped make it happen.
So fun, Lenart, hey lastly, explain us more about your personal life and what you are up to! Making a clothing brand?
Making clothes has definitely become one of the biggest parts of my life over the last few years. I love creating things, bringing ideas to life, and expressing myself through them. At this point, it’s something I genuinely see as a full-time job, one that I truly care about and enjoy.
One of my favorite parts is seeing the community that has grown around the brand. Watching people connect with something that started as an idea in my head is still a pretty surreal feeling. I’m constantly learning as I go and realizing that everything takes longer than you think it will. Patience is usually the answer.
Nothing turns out perfect immediately, and most lessons come from mistakes. Over time, I’ve learned to trust my instincts more, worry less, and just keep moving forward.
Overall, I’m really happy with how everything is going.
Thanks a lot Lenart, good luck with that! Where can people follow your journey?
Instagram is pretty much the only place for now. @Lenart_oblak
