How do you fancy owning a pair of skis or a snowboard that no-one else in the world has? Now is your chance. And not only is your gear unique, it has been designed by you. With our fantastic new competition in partnership with KaOrigin Design, you can find out just how it feels to ride the slopes and have the rest of the world looking over in envy.
KaOrigin Design is the brainchild of Jacques Lacroix, who previously worked as an engineer for Salomon and Rossignol. He works with commercial brain Jean-Marie Martin, who was born on skis in the French resort of Valloire. They work in partnership with several of the world’s leading ski and snowboard manufacturers, including Rossignol, Dynastar, Blacksmith and Zag, to produce custom-made versions of these companies’ equipment.
To make this highly covetable gear, KaOrigin uses a unique patented technology to create custom designs that can be applied during the production process. It is not just about applying a printed sticker as an afterthought either. The process involves creating a 0.5mm thick plastic sheet which is decorated with the custom design, and inserted between the ski or board and the topsheet. The design is as hard-wearing as a standard pair of skis or board from the manufacturer but with the added attraction of being totally unique to you.
This clever concept won an innovation award at this year’s ISPO festival in Munich, where ski and snowboard makers launch their new ranges for the coming season.
Each piece of customised gear gets its own brass plaque, guaranteeing authenticity and naming the designer who created them. And that name could be yours.
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So how do you win pair of custom-designed skis that would normally cost you up to 750 euro? Well, we want you to unleash your creative juices. Come up with a ski or board design that visitors to Ski Times think is the coolest on the planet and the prize could be yours.
To enter, you will need access to a graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or the freeware Gimp.
You need to start off by creating a blank document with the following characteristics:
Size: 2,677 pixels x 15,354 pixels
Resolution: 200dpi
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Colour mode: CMYK
Now use your imagination to come up with a truly bodacious design. Please don’t use any images in your design for which you don’t hold the copyright. For skis, the design will be split in two as shown in the rather fetching black crocodile skin examples at the top of this article. For boards, the whole miage will be used.
When you have finished your design, you need to do a few things. First of all, save it at the original size as a file in the TIFF format. You can usually do this from a menu entitled Save As. PLEASE DO NOT SEND US THIS FILE AS IT WILL BE TOO LARGE FOR US TO HANDLE. We will only need this file to create your customised gear if you win.
Next, resize the image to 1,600 pixels x 279 pixels and with a resolution of 72dpi. In Adobe Photoshop, you can do this from the Image Size menu. Next, change the colour mode from CMYK to RGB (in the Image>Mode menu in Photoshop). Finally, save this small image in PNG format.
You should send this smaller image to us by email. Next, go to the Kaorigin website and register. Once registered and logged in, click on Upload my own design. Upload the small version of your design here. Choose your ski or board type and you can preview what your gear will look like using your own design. How cool is that?
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Don’t forget to keep the large version of your file. We will need it to make your gear if you win.
The closing date for entries is Friday 11 December. We will then ask Ski Times readers to vote on their favourite design. The one with the most votes will win this awesome prize.