Merry Christmas!

So much food... so many presents... what an excellent haul for the holidays! :) I finally got an art tablet, and I'm excited to see where it'll take me in the design department. Here's what I came up with via some preliminary doodling:

"By the fire"

 

 

Because it's Christmas, check out this pic of me at Kirkwood with my Sparrows (just before their inaugural run) and ugly holiday sweater (courtesy of Goodwill and lots of fabric glue):
 

 

Annnd another one (here I'm actually being pelted by icy winds of death that gave me terrible windburn): 

The Sparrows, by the way, were awesome! The early-season conditions (read: rock, ice, random pockets of creek) weren't exactly ideal, but they flew wonderfully nonetheless. Even in the moguls! I seriously can't wait for the fresh, deep pow that will let them really, really shine. 

Anyway, time to go check on the cake -- Merry Christmas, everyone! :)

The day has come: my Parlor Sparrow!

At the start of 2013, I, trapped miles and miles from any semblance of decent skiing (see Sugar Mountain), began dreaming of something that seemed incredibly silly and farfetched: designing and skiing on my own pair of skis. Now, as 2013 draws to a close, I have to keep pinching myself as I sit and stare at the pair of purple/yellow Sparrow Parlor skis sitting in my SF apartment.  

These birds, my friends, are mine in a very special way -- in a months-long process, I brought them to virtual life in Photoshop, and the Parlor guys brought them to real life in their Boston workshop. Pretty surreal. They're so beautiful, and in all honesty, I'm kind of scared to ski on them for fear of ruining them! I am, after all, a fairly reckless skier. Ack!

I can't really recall many other occasions that caused me to feel much prouder than I am right now. Being able to create something like this has been so different from anything else I've done (which, granted, isn't much, but still), and it's just been ridiculously rewarding! AHHHH! Thank you Mark, Pete, and Jay at Parlor for taking on Sparrow and Heron -- it's been a true pleasure. And I haven't forgotten about you, Mary! 

If I see anyone with either of these babies (or any of the other awesome Parlor skis available) on the slopes, rest assured that I will chase you down and proceed to, how shall I say this gracefully... lose my shit! In the best way possible, of course. :)

Sparrow

Finally, they're alive! It's weird to think that I've managed to design two pairs of real skis... what happened?! Ha. 

Can't wait to check my birds out in person!

 

 

 Thanks again, Parlor!

Processing...

Thanks for the kind messages -- I can't wait to crush it out on the slopes with my very own pair of Parlor skis this upcoming season! :)

I wanted to share some of the Heron and Sparrow iterations I went through before we decided on the final designs. I got overly-attached to some (ok, maybe all) of these... I figured I'd showcase them so they'd at least live on in the internet world. 

Man, I really thought I'd barf if I had to look at another heron or sparrow graphic again, but I'm already getting a bit nostalgic for those days of design-induced hair pulling and forehead pounding. Ha.

Parlor Skis

When I first started this blog, I had vague notions about becoming a mega-successful, ultra-powerful, real-life ski designer (ok, maybe not as vague as they were pompous). I always tend to get carried away when I start out on a promising project or endeavor (e.g. when I started re-learning how to ice skate at age 17 and got complimented by the instructor on my "great sense of balance", I immediately had visions of competing in the next Olympics). However, these farfetched imaginings have inevitably faded as time after time, I realize that I don't have the ginormous resolve required to make them come even a little bit true. 

This time, things haven't taken the usual, fizzling route. A few months ago, thanks to a series of fortunate events (such as meeting my dear friend MARY!), I was put in touch with the guys behind Parlor Skis. Parlor is a small, passion-driven company that's new to the ski game, and its attitude toward the skiing experience really coincides with my own. 

Blah blah blah, I'll get to the point: One fine day, the Parlor dudes, for one reason or another, decided to give me a chance. They had recently decided that their demo fleet for the upcoming ski season would be based on birds, and as such they asked me to do some bird-related mockups. At the time, I didn't know if this would amount to anything, and I decided to treat it as a fun (and immensely exciting!) challenge. Then I got super panicked because I had never actually done real design work before. And because I was in the thick of my Surgery Rotation, notorious for its 4 am mornings. Yeah, I felt really dumb. 

In any event, a zillion man hours and panic attacks and revisions later, I've completed two designs for Parlor, and they are both in production. Yes people, I've managed to design some real skis!!! I wanted to wait until both skis were completely finished to announce this project, but I just couldn't help myself anymore. 

Dun dun dun....

Meet Heron: 

And its real-life counterpart: 

Meet Sparrow: 

I don't have any photos of Sparrow IRL yet, but will share when one becomes available.

My deepest gratitude to Mary and the Parlor guys for making this gal an OFFICIAL SKI DESIGNER! WHOOOOOOOOOOT!

Party party party. 

Have a great weekend, 

Dr. Quinn, (Ski-Designing) Medicine Woman