General
Last year (2022) skateboarding legend Tony Hawk picked up a skateboard that was hand painted in 1985 by the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who adorned the deck with artwork from Iron Maiden‘s Killers album. The skateboard‘s previous owner, Cameron Ross told the story of the “unicorn” skateboard, a SIMS Jeff Phillips model.
Cameron Ross explained in a new video posted on Hawk‘s social pages, when he was in high school, he gave Cobain $20 and a “chunk of weed” to paint Iron Maiden’s artwork on the platform skating. Kurt‘s sister, Kim, also appears in the new video clip.
This year, Hawk and Birdhouse have just released replicas of the deck, as well as prints and stickers of the design, with the proceeds going to raise mental health awareness and build skate parks.
Extremely limited quantities of “photorealistic” replicas went on sale on Monday (February 20, 2023) on what would have been Cobain‘s 56th birthday.
In an Instagram post, Hawk also mentioned that he was inspired by Kurt’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, to replicate the deck for charity: “In order to better understand the provenance of this ‘unicorn’ skateboard that I acquired last year, I went to Seattle to get the story directly from Cameron Ross (the original owner).
With inspiration from @thespacewitch [Frances Bean Cobain] and the help of @dupedupe, we are offering a photorealistic version of this deck in the form of actual skateboards, prints and stickers. We kept it real with the original Phillips shape and OG truck-holes, and added KC & JP signatures on the top graphic. All proceeds from these sales will be equally split between the Jed Foundation and The Skatepark Project in order to provide resources for those struggling with mental health, and to create more public skateparks in underserved areas.
Kurt and Jeff’s influences still resonate greatly in our worlds, so we hope to honor their legacies with these unique items.”
1/2 In order to better understand the provenance of a “unicorn” skateboard I acquired last year, I found the original owner. Today (Kurt Cobain’s birthday), we are offering photorealistic versions of this deck in the form of actual skateboards, prints and stickers all for charity pic.twitter.com/ZJqqfbkQ4H
— Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) February 20, 2023
Kurt Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994).
