Handcrafted
Something we don’t see very often in this sport are innovative designs that stray a bit from the norm. Japanese designer Taro Tamai has been designing hand-made boards for over a decade. An answer to the homogenization of board shapes that happened as snowboarding gained mainstream appeal.
Tamai’s goal is no less than to “perfectly blend into the terrain miraculously made of snow and wind, just as if birds flying in the sky or fish flowing in the stream.” The end product of his philosophical approach to the sport is a line of boards renowned for their flexible fins, oversized sized fish tails and ride-ability in almost any snow condition.” More information on these special boards at Gentemstick Snowboards.

Image source: Selectism

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“Don’t worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright”
As with every season, Burton doesn’t fail to sprinkle exciting collaborations among its already impressive array of shreds. We’ve seen official collaborations with the Warhol estate, Futura, Ducati, and most recently for 2011, legendary singer and cultural icon Bob Marley. The Marley Whammy board was made possible with a blessing from the Marley Estate and it should give you some good vibes and easy feelings on the mountain for sure. Available at Burton Flagship stores next season.

Image source: Rad Collector

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Live Series Boards & Bindings
We gave you a first look at Endeavor Snowboard Design’s 2011 lineup the other day, now we have a better look at the Live Series, done up by Bristol artist Mr. Jago. The Live Series has always been a show piece for Endeavor. In keeping with this style, they chose to use the Live as Mr. Jago’s canvas for 2011. Having worked with such brands as Addict and Rossignol, and having exhibited his work around the world, it’s clear that his collaboration with Endeavor is a great match. Going to his studio in Bristol, Endeavor selected nine pieces of work from Mr. Jago’s portfolio and photographed them to be used as the graphics for this series of boards and also as the inaugural graphics for the forthcoming Live Series binding.

Image source: Endeavor Snowboard Design

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Since 2002
One of the brands that I am most interested in seeing year after year is Vancouver Canada’s own Endeavor Snowboard Design. Coming into their 8th season in 2011 and looking to drop an impressive catalog of both hardware and softwear products, Endeavor is still hitting strong with their attention to detail and collaborations with some of the world’s best artists. Mr. Jago, Hydro74, Vince Chan and Derek Stenning are only a handful of the artists that have done work with Endeavor for 2011. New for next season are two models of bindings to round it all out and complete your kit. Keep your eyes out for these!

Image source: Endeavor Snowboard Design

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YES, you want a pair!
Independent snowboard brand YES Snowboards, backed by riders David Carrier Porcheron (DCP), Romain de Marchi, JP Solberg and Tadashi Fuse, have now partnered with premium headphone brand Aerial7 to collaborate on a co-branded headphone that will feature premium acoustics, signature styling and superior functionality.

Available in Tank (over-ear) and Sumo (in-ear) models, the limited edition Aerial7 x YES headphones will be available at YES retailers worldwide beginning August 2010. They will make their official debut at the SIA Tradeshow in Denver, CO, which kicks off on January 28th.

Image source: Aerial7

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Spotted at Agenda
Radcollector brings us some photos from the Agenda trade show in Huntington Beach, we get a first look at the ongoing collaboration between snowboard power house 686 and long-time sneaker manufacturer New Balance. This time it looks like a hybrid boot/sneaker is in the works, or some type of hi-top complete with a massive 686 branded tongue. More information on this to come, something is bound to surface at SIA.

Image source: Radcollector

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Now With More Betterness
Automaton has gone through some major hardware retooling to make their 2010/11 line of awesome award-winning snow swords even better. Their goal was to create the world’s finest and most fun freestyle snowboards. The end result are two new models for 2011 from Automaton, the Babble and the Manimal,with the graphics side of things held down with designs from Alex Funderburk and Eve Duhamel, giving some unique flavor to each. Keep your eyes out next season for these bangers!

Image source: Automaton Snowboards

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Making snowboarding a leisurely lifestyle.
To add some flavor to their already impressive lineup, K2 Snowboarding got together with clothing brand Original Penguin to work on a special offering for the 2010 season. A freestyle-oriented board, boot and binding were done up in Original Penguin’s distinct vintage styling and K2’s high-performance technology. Refreshing design, clean and simple. Available at select K2 retailers this Winter.

Image source: John Simon Daily

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Artist Series
K2 Snowboards and Matt W. Moore of MWM Graphics collaborated on a 2010 K2 Astar snowboard. The deck is a European only exclusive and is based on a 4 Seasons theme that focuses on nature, geomety, pattern and the flow of a perfect pow turn. Lots of detail has gone into the topsheet graphics, which use metallic ink, die cut knock-outs and hologram detailing.

Image source: MWM Graphics

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Everybody loves the Weekend
Weekend Snowboards debuts its highly-anticipated snowboard line this season. Weekend’s introductory “Lodge Series” features one all-mountain board in three sizes (153, 155, 157) with intricate hand-drawn graphics by Steve Nazar who is best known for his illustration work in the ’80s for T&C Surf Designs. Made in Austria, only 450 boards are available worldwide this season and each is hand numbered.  When the three LTD ”Lodge Series” boards are put side-by-side they reveal a gigantic graphic that’s packed with Steve Nazar’s signature characters. MSRP: $449.95 (USD). Find out more at Weekend Snowboards.

Image source: Weekend Snowboards

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