PHENIX 182 cm L.E. Prototype
MODULAR TAIL, offers a primary and secondary support area that emphasizes the importance of modular design flexibility.
I see snowboarding as a tool to discover nature and feel free, I build elegant boards to slide on the snow, and let myself be inspired by nature that surrounds me!
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My story begins in Turin on 9 April 1963:
A passionate record collector, he works as a DJ and creates some pioneering video art installations.
At the beginning of the 90s he dealt with graphics and image processing.
He experiences the transition from analogue to digital firsthand.
Understanding the importance of the ongoing transformation, he decides to focus on the world of multimedia..
In 2012 he founded PLP Custom Snowboards, an innovative snowboard brand dedicated to the construction of handcrafted snowboards with large performance!
Back in 1978, Playboy Magazine published some photos of Dimitrije Milovich, a boy who traced large snowy slopes riding a device similar to a surfboard. He was the first snowboard (swallowtail).
At the time I practiced off-piste skiing and windsurfing, but I had never seen a board for sliding on snow. A dear friend, Gian Marco Peri, accompanies me to Jimmy Sport in Turin, where I purchase a Wintersurf Pin Tail 160 complete with aluminum central fin… WONDERFUL
There were no shoes dedicated to this new sport, so I removed the inner shoe from my pair of LANGEs. I cut the toe and heel and put the shoe inside a pair of high Timberlands, the fashion of those years.
I created a first rudimentary BOOT, which I used for 8 years
He remembers well that day in Sestriere, a sunny day and snow-capped mountains, ready to try that new tool. Despite a few falls and wet jeans, a great lust!!!
That day the love for snowboarding and my story as a snowboarder was born
I love snowboarding, especially SWALLOWTAILS. As you can see from the photo, my board collection consists of several brands: Nitro, Winterstick, Gemtenstick and Apo. I would like to mention their exceptional shapers: Drew Hicken, Dimitrie Milovic, Taro Tamai and Regis Roland, who I consider my true “masters”.
I am a great lover of the history of snowboarding and the birth and evolution of sliding boards on the snow
I had the pleasure of trying every single board with great passion, both on different types of snow, and to understand the differences, the strengths and also any imperfections of each. The history of PLP Custom Snowboard was born from these boards!
It was 2008, we were on one of our favorite descents, the old Grange slope on the Sestriere hill. We used 200 cm swallowtails, with a width of 32 centimeters, but we wanted something more: a 230 cm long snowboard with a 38 cm nose. Gionata Craviotto and I thus decided to create the first design of an asymmetrical swallowtail .
The goal was to design a snowboard with characteristics of superior buoyancy to existing common boards, to make the most of those splendid slopes full of fresh snow.
In 2012 with Dario Zaramella we designed a wooden press modular, which allowed us to create POWDERSNOWBOARDS with sizes from 220 cm to 160 cm, also being able to modify NOSE AND TAIL ROCKER and CAMBER.
The PLP CUSTOM POWDER SNOWBOARD was born, which subsequently
will transform into today’s PLP CUSTOM SNOWBOARD
brand
After inspiration, however, it was difficult to find someone who had presses large enough to print snowboards of that size. Thanks to Paolo Nelzi who allowed us to give life to our first hand-built prototype thanks to his skateboard ramp laboratories.
We experimented with new shapes with handmade prototypes, produced in small series of prototypes , without edges and without p-tex, reaching up to 220 cm in length and 45 cm in width at the nose.
About 5 years ago we started making series of 10 snowboard performing in carving as well as off-piste (all mountain), thank you to the use of p-tex sheets and insoles.
The realization of such an ambitious project requires great passion for the mountains, for nature and for this wonderful sport.
“I see snowboarding as a tool to discover nature and feel free, I design elegant boards to slide on the snow, and I let myself be inspired by the nature that surrounds me”
Ettore PLP
© Copyright 2024-25. All Rights Reserved. Ettore Barabino, con sede legale in Str. S.Martino 9 – 10090 Castiglione Torinese (TO) - Italia | P.IVA 08120580017
©Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved. PLP Custom Snowboards
©Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved. PLP Custom Snowboards