Snowboard made by Aleksey Ostatnigrosh of GROMEL

Object Details

Ostatnigrosh, Aleksey

Description (Brief): Snowboard made by Aleksey Ostatnigrosh of GROMEL is multi-colored with art deco circular designs throughout. The board is fabricated from an ash vertical laminated wood core, carbon fiber, fiberglass, rubber, stainless steel and a P-Tex racing base. Each of GROMEL's boards are hand made, by the donor of the board, Aleksey Ostatnigrosh who emigrated from Russia to the United States in 1994. Ostatnigrosh was one of two founders of the first Russian snowboard production company, GROMEL, in 1986. Working in their parent's apartments, Ostatnigrosh and Alex Melnikov were pressed for space and after several moves ended up renting a store front on Gorky Street, in the heart of Moscow. According to the donor, in 1993, after the fall of socialism, private companies were "advised to buy protection" and GROMEL wasn't big enough to afford it. They sold their company to a bigger, better protected company but no snowboards were ever produced. Moving to the US allowed Ostatnigrosh to forge a career as an IT developer and continue to craft his custom made snowboards. In 2008, Ostatnigrosh began crafting his snowboards as a piece of sports equipment but also as works of art, using a unique top sheet created from exotic wood veneers and hand painted elements and refusing to use computer equipment in his graphic designs. he is heavily influenced by early 20th Century art styles such as Constructivism, Cubism and Art Deco.
Location: Currently not on view

2017

Physical Description: wood, ash (overall material); P-Tex (overall material); metal, stainless steel (overall material); fiberglass (overall material); carbon fiber (overall material)
Measurements: overall: 57 1/2 in x 11 3/4 in x 1 1/2 in; 146.05 cm x 29.845 cm x 3.81 cm

See more items in: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure; Sports & Leisure

National Museum of American History

GUID (Link to Original Record): https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b4-54e0-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa