Arbor Skateboards x Artist Henry Hablak

Website: arborcollective.com

Arbor Collective have partnered with Henry Hablak, a tattoo artist and illustrator based in Atlanta, GA to create a signature artist line of skate and longboard decks. His work blends elements of traditional art from around the world into a unique, signature style influenced by folklore, alchemy, and shamanism.

Rooted in a passion for anthropology and art history, he started his career tattooing in Philadelphia, PA, eventually working at Olde City Tattoo. He further developed his aesthetic through constant learning and travelling around the US and abroad. After observing shared characteristics in the art of early civilizations separated by time and space, Henry came to the conclusion that all humans are wired to artistically express themselves in a similar way. His work explores this connection, drawing on symbols, patterns, and subjects that can be found in art from the Americas, Africa, East Asia, and Mesopotamia. He specializes in a variety of mediums, including ink, coloured pencil, and gouache.

For Arbor’s Artist Collection, our boards became the latest canvas for his visual storytelling. Adorned with illustrations inspired by mythological beasts and deities, the attention to subtle detail is what drew us to Henry’s work. The checkered and triangle patterns he’s incorporated appear in early artworks from around the world. His chosen colour palette does as well, with an orange-red tone frequently seen in the representation of vases, gourds, and ceramic vessels. For visual appeal, he contrasts it with cyan to create an iconic colour combination that predates these otherworldly designs.

We sought Henry out because he shares our passion for history, detail, and craftsmanship, and his illustrations proved the perfect match for this year’s lineup. The result of the collaboration is a series of pure style and function that we could not be prouder to release.