The Story Behind Recycled Skateboard Jewelry

Every ring I make starts the same way — with a broken skateboard that someone almost threw away.

From the Skatepark to the Workshop

I grew up around skateboards and jewelry. My dad, Christoph Malzl, is a master jeweler trained at Koppenwallner's in Salzburg, Austria. I spent my childhood watching him turn raw metal into something beautiful. But my other love was skating.

When I moved to the North Shore of Oahu, those two worlds collided. I started collecting broken decks from local skaters — boards that were snapped, delaminated, worn through. Boards that had lived a full life on concrete and were headed for the trash.

I looked at those boards and saw seven layers of Canadian maple, each one dyed a different color. I saw patterns that no machine could replicate. I saw potential.

Seven Layers of Maple

A skateboard deck is made from seven thin layers of maple, pressed and glued together under extreme pressure. Each layer can be a different color — and when the board breaks, those layers are exposed.

When I shape a ring from a broken deck, I'm working with those layers. Sanding reveals the cross-section: stripes of color that curve and flow in patterns unique to that specific board. No two rings look alike because no two boards break the same way.

Community-Donated Boards

I don't buy skateboards. The local skating community on the North Shore donates them. Riders bring me their broken decks instead of tossing them, and I give those boards a second life.

There's something meaningful about that exchange. A board that carried someone through kickflips and grinds and slams becomes a ring they can wear every day. The story doesn't end when the board breaks — it transforms.

The Making Process

Here's how a broken board becomes a ring:

Selection: I sort through donated boards and choose sections with the best color patterns and wood integrity
Cutting: I cut ring blanks from the deck using a hole saw, working with the grain direction
Shaping: Each blank is turned on a lathe, slowly sanded into a smooth ring shape
Finishing: The interior is sealed with a thin coat of CA glue — not polyurethane — for durability and a glass-smooth feel
Quality check: Every ring is inspected for structural integrity, comfort, and finish before it ships

The whole process is done by hand in my workshop. No factories, no assembly lines.

Why "Rebirth"?

The name captures everything this project is about. Broken things becoming beautiful. Waste becoming wearable. A board that lived one life getting a second one on your finger.

Embrace Change.

Find your ring. Browse the collection →