Hi Dani, how are you today? Can you tell me a little about yourself and Project ROAR?
Hello Taryn! I am good today, thank you for asking. My name is Dani Lipsky, my pronouns are she/her. I am 28 years old and I am from New York. I am an industrial designer, and love to build/fabricate with as many materials as I can get my hands on. Project ROAR is a 501c3 Nonprofit I cofounded with a wonderful team of people where we provide access to adventure sports and action sports to people with disabilities. ROAR stands for Reimagine Outdoor Adaptive Recreation. We create custom equipment, gear, and fund access to adaptive education, lodging, and travel, to give people everything they need to introduce adventure into their lives.
What got you into building adaptive sports equipment? How long have you been building?
Kanya Sesser | Photography by: @jeffantonsphotography
In college, I studied prosthetics and activity specific devices for people with limb loss. I think prosthetics are very cool because they combine anatomy and physiology in fabrication terms while holding a lot of value to someone's livelihood. Although, when I graduated college I moved out West to explore a bit, and started building custom skis and snowboards in Portland, Oregon - so that move was a little tangential to my passions. I managed the woodshop for a company that made custom skis and snowboards in-house, so there was a lot of direct control over what came in and out of the shop. We received a call one day asking if we could build a snowboard for someone with no legs - and although at the time we were swamped in our preseason orders - I knew this was my calling coming back for me and I begged my boss to let me take on the project. Those people who called are now the other cofounders of Project ROAR - Jacob, Michele, and Mike! Since then, I've been building adaptive equipment for many different athletes in many different environments. So it's been about 5 years!
What inspires you to create your boards?
The boards are inspired by each athlete, we work collaboratively to create equipment that will work for them and their needs. Most people know what they need better than any designer or engineer can imagine, it just takes asking the right questions. The communication we have with our athletes creates a pretty strong bond and we essentially build the boards together. It's always a magical moment when someone makes their first turn on a snowboard.
Kanya Sesser and Dani Lipsky | Photography by: @jeffantonsphotography
How do you use Roarockit products in the making of your work? How did you find out about us?
For our adaptive snowboards we use Roarockit's bamboo veneer to fabricate a Top Deck that gets mounted onto the snowboard. The bamboo is great because we are essentially making a custom longboard skateboard, sized a little wider and with more concavity because our athletes sit on these boards, and the canter on the sides gives them the leverage to make frontside and backside turns. But since these are used in snow, and temperatures fluctuate around freezing and below, the bamboo is really stable and hydrophobic. It also has a bit more spring that helps with absorbing impact. We press them with epoxy and fiberglass, and they work beautifully. The bamboo we buy from Roarockit is super long and high quality! I was turned on to Roarockit when I was in college at the Rhode Island School of Design, where there was a lot of woodworking and other types of fabrication.
Nick Santonassasto
What has been your favourite build to work on, and what were some of the challenges associated with it?
Every snowboard is an opportunity to build a new piece of equipment that lets someone experience the freedom that snowboarding offers. Since they are all custom, they are all slightly different. I am not sure I can point out a favorite, but the second snowboard I made for Nick Santonassasto is special because we made so many improvements to the first board and the end result was so exciting. The first snowboard was too big for him. Some snowboards are sized to a person's height or weight. In Nick's case, those two options were very different and he had a hard time creating enough leverage to manipulate the snowboard to control his turns, and overall it was just too heavy for him. He is an amazing athlete, so when we got back on snow with a smaller board and a new bamboo Top Deck, he was ripping turns so smoothly it was hard to keep up with him. He's had his snowboard for several seasons now and goes out on the hill independently.
What types of other projects do you do and what do you have planned for the future?
Project ROAR will be in Colorado in March with our new athlete, an awesome guy named Dan, so we are also in full swing with this upcoming adventure experience. Another very fun project has been creating prosthetic rock climbing feet for rock climbers with lower extremity limb difference. The goal is to make feet that are stable and can withstand multiple pitches, but also to make a lower cost option for people to get into rock climbing or for children who want to rock climb, whether that is outside or in the gym.
Any advice for aspiring designers, creators, board builders, and woodworkers out there?
The only thing stopping you from creating something is you! You have the power to build what does not exist. Even if you do not know everything from the start, don't get in your own way - you will figure it out. There are so many moments that I do not know how I am going to achieve something, or find the right solution. I will iterate and iterate and iterate, over and over again until I find something that works. Often it isn't the first, or the second, or even the third one that gets it right. But that's not failure, that's just a really exciting design process! So my advice is to not focus on what you don't know, focus on what you know and your ability to solve problems will teach you along the way.
If people wanted to find out more about your work, where can they see your creations and contact you?
theprojectroar.org is where Project ROAR and the amazing work we do can be found, donated to, and applied for. We are also on Instagram @project.roar and Facebook. My own Instagram is simply @danilipsky where I can be reached.
Thanks again for your time Dani, any last words for the readers back home?
Thank you so much for having me! It is a gift to share what we do, and companies like Roarockit are making it possible for dreamers, makers, creators, skaters, and organizations like Project ROAR to think outside the box and make the impossible possible! If anyone reading this wants to get involved with Project ROAR and helping the disability community, you can donate to our adventure fund at theprojectroar.org/donate or email us at info@theprojectroar.org to find ways of supporting us.
Looking to build your own snowboard? While Roarockit’s Bamboo is currently out of stock, 1/16" Birch veneer offers many similar properties.
Taryn O’Grady,
Roarockit Skateboard Company