Product Blog – Enso Fingerboards – Blue Circle
May 22, 2020 by MartinB. | 9:12 am
Today we will take a look at a more spiritual company of the fingerboard scene. Enso Fingerboards! You haven´t heard about this company yet? Well, no problem, we will change that now. Justin is the owner of Enso. He is a deck maker, aspiring artist, father, friend, spiritual adventurer and psychonaut. Everything behind his brand is made with a bigger sense behind. The circle around is a japanese cirle. These are called Enso. It symbolizes the absolute enlightenment and the void. The circle is executed with a single fluid brushstroke, and in one breath, representing a reflection of the artist in the moment in which it was brushed. It is said that only someone who is inwardly collected and in equilibrium is capable of painting a strong and well-balanced enso.
We will come back later in this post to the company, let´s check out this wooden fingerboard deck made by Justin:
Shape:
This shape and mold is called the Roshi. The Roshi is the heart of Enso Fingerboards.The mold itself is the third revision of the original Roshi mold. To be honest, Justin told me this shape came up more like accidently. One night he was forcing a Shoshin molded deck onto a Roshi shaper. This was quiet a mistake but with the result at the end Justin was really happy and so this is now the next step in the evolution of this mold.
Not only this mold is available at Enso. You could get four different molds:
Roshi: The Roshi is the original design. This is the shape that introduced ensofb to the community and is designed to be a technical board. This is a low shape and was originally designed as a 34.5mm deck. The kicks also have a slight concave to them which creates a sort of pocket that can be felt and adds to the maneuverability on ledges. So as I said the Roshi was recently updated. Those who have favored the Roshi in the past had given feedback on what they would change if they could and the feedback perfectly matched my own thoughts and feelings. The adjustments made to the shape are so slight that a side by side comparison may even be difficult to differentiate but the improvements to performance and overall feel are substantially noticeable.
Shoshin: The Shoshin is the street shape of the lineup. Having a more realistic skateboard look and feel, this shape has become a popular favorite for many of EFB’s customers.
Shaolin: The Shaolin shape was originally designed by a friend who wanted a particular shape that EFB was not offering at the time. I ended up liking the shape enough myself that I decided to make a couple small adjustments and am now offering this as part of the EFB line-up. It has more of a boxy kick and tail. Finger positioning and stance make more of a difference with this shape, but in turn offers an additional level of control.
Buddha: The 35mm x 95mm cruiser/bowl shape. The shape itself was designed by Koi Decks, a colab of sorts. This is a rare shape that will not be offered often but is always available as a custom option.
More:
Footage:
And one more:
About the decks: In general all decks are 95mm in length, and width options are 32mm, 33mm and 34.5mm. The kicks are mellow and the concave is medium. The nose is slightly longer and more steep than the tail as is the industry standard. All decks are pressed with a high quality polyurethane glue, machine shaped, hand rounded and buffed, coated with a brush-on polyurethane, and the bottom is finished with a thin layer of spray poly and polished to a shine with carnauba wax for smooth slides right out of the package.
Justin uses monoprinting, laser engraving and ink drop techniques to create every deck as a one of a kind deck. On this deck you can see the combination of these techniques really good. The engraving is really clean and the ink drops look like cherry blossoms on the plys. Good job Justin!
And as I told you in the introduction of this post, everything done behind Enso is done with a sense.
The idea behind ensofb is feeling. Over the last few years of Justins life, he has gone through quite a journey of self discovery and healing. Justin learned that feelings are in the body and feeling has become the major focus in the crafting of these fingerboard decks. Justin celebrated this inward journey with his first tattoo, a tattoo of an enso on a lotus with four zen stones inside the enso. Each stone radiates the color of one of the four core feelings. Yellow for joy, blue for sadness, red for anger, and black for fear. The enso represents zen, enlightenment, and being in the moment. The stones represent balance, and the lotus represents perfection of form. This tattoo is a reminder that Justin is perfect the way that he is, that he can be at peace with his emotions, and that while they don´t define him, they are still a part of him and it is up to me to accept them and balance them through meditation, and practice.
One of his earlier decks, the first one he ever made actually, had a hand painted enso (a genuine enso, painted with one continuous brush stroke) with a lotus in the center with five petals. Each petal was painted in a corresponding color for one of the four core feelings and the petal in the center was painted white to represent all colors, all emotions, all parts, as one, personal truth if you will. Today, the simple enso with the white, five petal lotus is the image that best represents everything that enso fingerboards is. It is an idea, an ideal, and a concept. Feelings are in the body after all.
Feel is the focus. It really is that simple. Justin never looked for a deck that made tricks easier, he always looked for a deck that felt great.
That last sentence is a great quote to close this product blog. A good fingerboard is made with passion as we all now. A good company is not only founded to create stuff and sell it, it is founded for a reason. Justin is living his life free and creative and thats something I really appreciate.
Now you have heard the story about Enso fingerboards. You are interested now? Hop over to the Enso Instagram page at first: @ensofingerboards just follow and give some likes. More decks are featured on his page. You´re even more interested in this company? Then check out the website as well: Click! And now have a great shred!
THANKS a lot for this deck and for your vision behind Enso. I can really feel you. I will keep an eye on you ;-)
All Images are hosted on my flickr: Click!
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