VICTOR MAC MAHON

Hi, My names Victor Mac Mahon. My surnames pronounced 'Mac Mann' but it usually gives people problems so my instagram handle is @victorx which is a nickname a skater friend in Manchester gave me a while back. I'm originally from Dublin in Ireland but I've adopted Manchester as my second home.

Well I think i've always been into it; my dad was a woodworker too and was always building things. He was passionate about sailing and boats and built a canoe and a couple of small sailing boats plus he was always repairing and working on them. I remember helping him at a very young age and him helping me make my own things. I have a love of hand tools, a lot of the tools in my workshop I have been gifted or bought second hand and restored myself. My Dad gave me my first hand tool; a hammer which luckily I still have and some of the tools I use in my workshop came from him after he died. As a kid I built go-karts, ramps and even made a skateboard deck from scratch once. My Dad helped me bend the tail using clamps and I made grip tape from sandpaper. I really wish I still had that board.

I learned a lot just by watching my dad at first but you learn a lot from just trying and failing. It's a bit like skateboarding, really just getting up and trying again till it works. Some of those early ramps were terrible! I was always quite good at drawing and art so I eventually attended art college and studied sculpture. I work freelance for art galleries and museums as a technician building mounts and display items which has helped me practice and develop my skills. I've also picked up bits and pieces from talented people I've worked with over the years. Mostly though I'm self taught and these days I get a lot of ideas from YT, social media and books. I really enjoy learning new skills and with woodworking that never stops: again very much like skateboarding!

Mostly I'm using other peoples waste so it can be from bins, skips even the side of the road. People know I reuse things so they will ask me if I want something before throwing it out. The museum and art world can also be quite wasteful and I try to reuse what I can. The skateboard decks (the wooden bit that you stand on) are usually discarded after they get too thrashed or broken and if someone sets up a new one the decks are sometimes dumped. I will see them at the skatepark or skateshop and take them home. Some of course are my own and I also know a lot of good skaters who have piles of them at home and don't want to dump them but have no space to keep them. They usually give me a call.

I just love everything about them. I actually resisted using them for quite a while because there were others also using them but I'm a skateboarder myself so I have a direct relationship with the material. I also just absolutely love the vibrancy of the colours and the curved patterns when you shape them. Most professional skateboards are made from 7 laminated layers of Hard Rock Maple which is mostly grown in Canada and the north of America. It's a beautiful pale hardwood in its natural state but skateboard manufacturers also add layers that are dyed to help them stand out. Even when boards are painted with graphics they will usually have dyed sections. Usually the more expensive boards have more colours. Saving a waste material and giving it a new life and purpose is really very satisfying in itself but I also think there's a story of renewal and redemption in every piece I make.

That's a difficult question because they can come from anywhere. I have a great love of art history, craft and design so I like to visit art galleries and museums, I read, travel, watch YT and instagram. Also ideas sometimes come from other people: I love collaborating with other artists and lately I've been doing quite a few private commissions. Family and friends also give me ideas and just working with the material itself. Playing around and trying things is a very important part of the creative process.

It can be, I think making anything with your hands is therapeutic but there is also a lot of hard work that goes with recycling used materials. The skateboards go through a whole process before I can use them which can be quite laborious. I think you have to really love the material to go through it. (I have had people come to me before saying they tried to do it themselves but just got frustrated and gave up) The decks (the wooden bit that you stand on) usually come covered in grip tape and stickers which I have to remove first. Next I scrape off all the remaining graphics and sand the varnish down to the bare wood. This is necessary if I am to laminate them, as the wood glue won't work if they are still on. (Don't ask me how I know!) The skateboard decks are all curved so I will cut up the decks according to what I want. For example if I need a long flat area I can take pieces from the centre of the board or when I'm making bowls I will collect pieces from the nose and tails which are all slightly dished. I will sort them and make sure they all fit together nicely before I glue and clamp them. When the glue has dried I will have a block or what's called a 'billet' of timber that I can use. All this process happens before I really start making anything but by that stage I will have a good idea of what colours and shapes I will get from the piece. I like to draw and research designs if I am making something for the first time but the process of making can also bring in new ideas so I try to remain open to that too. I'm very lucky that I share studio space with other very talented artists at Rogue studios who I can always ask for help, if I need it, trashing out ideas. There is always a little bit of serendipity and I'm never exactly sure how something will look when it's finished, which I also really like.

I mean, that's a hard one isn't it? I think most things are possible, anything you can think of that can be made from wood can be made with recycled skateboards. I really love when people approach me with ideas and I get to work and we come up with something I couldn't have thought of on my own. I've actually got loads of ideas for some larger pieces of furniture I plan to make, and I've had an idea for a canoe in my head for a while but I recently saw someone in Canada that's just made one and I think it took him 18 months or something? I'd still like to give that a go. Or maybe if we were taking near infinite materials, money and time a house would be cool wouldn't it?