LONDON.- The Design Museum unveiled its major exhibition on skateboard design — and revealed that London’s newest skate ramp has been built inside the exhibition gallery.

Opening to the public on Friday, SKATEBOARD charts the history of board design over seven decades. But revealed for the first time today is that the show also includes a new, bespoke mini-ramp that exhibition visitors are invited to skate on.

Inspired by California skate heritage, the ramp is a 3.5ft mini ramp, with an 8ft extension. It has been designed specially for the Design Museum by exhibition curator Jonathan Olivares with Betongpark, one of Europe’s industry leaders in skatepark design and construction.

Exhibition ticket holders who have some prior experience of skateboarding (and who must be able to ‘drop in’) are invited to book a free slot to be able to skate on the ramp as part of their visit. There will be two open skate slots available every day, with three on Saturdays. The ramp offers skaters the incredibly rare opportunity to skate inside a major museum and to be part of thousands of people’s exhibition experience.

For non-skating visitors, the ability to see live skateboarding as part of their visit will allow them to see the skateboard design story in a real-life — and live — context.
When not being used for skateboarding, visitors will be able to walk onto the ramp to experience the design environment of these important aspects of skate culture. They are invited to hang out on the ramp and watch a specially commissioned film featuring Converse CONS Riders Diggs English and newly crowned world champion Gavin Bottger. English and Bottger were the first skaters to drop in ahead of the opening to create the film, titled Cereal, that will run through the duration of the exhibition.

Mini-ramps are one of the most recognisable skateable structures. A piece of architecture invented by skateboarders, their simple design and smooth, durable surface have endured since first being used five decades ago.

Both the new mini-ramp and film pay homage to the rich history of DIY skate videography and its evolving impact on skate performance. Their combination in the SKATEBOARD exhibition makes a particular nod to the trick-based films Cheese and Crackers (2006) and Tea and Biscuits (2020) — shown in the exhibition — and which appropriate objects not typically utilized in skateboarding.

Tim Marlow, Director and CEO of the Design Museum, said: “We are really pleased to be unveiling the newest skateable ramp in London, and what we think might be the first mini-ramp the public can skate on inside any major UK museum. This is a really dynamic and important part of our skateboard show as it speaks to the ways in which skaters have long repurposed aspects of the built environment, and poetically reinterpreted the function they were designed for.

“And with the global skate community today reaching 85 million, and with the sport’s inclusion in Paris 2024 likely to push that number even higher, now is the perfect time to be hosting this exhibition at the world’s leading museum for contemporary design. This is a story of design, performance and communities evolving together.”

SKATEBOARD is the first major UK exhibition to chronicle the history of skateboard design, from the 1950s to the present day, and from homemade, humble beginnings to today’s professional and technologically advanced models.

Around 100 rare and unique boards are on display, alongside over 150 other objects, including hardware such as wheels and tucks, safety equipment, VHS tapes, DVDs, magazines and ephemera. Together they show the skateboard technical developmen