My Way: Daryl Dominguez

Daryl Dominguez is a London soul boy and skateboarding Renaissance man. He has done it all because he loves it all. 

An instantly-recognisable presence at every skate event from the early 2000- era Crossfire Jams onwards, Harrow born-and-raised Daryl has skated every corner and terrain London has to offer in his two decades in the skate game, scoring covers of both Sidewalk and Grey magazines, as well as filming for countless video productions all the while.

When not filming, you can find him developing skate culture in Asia through Push Philippines, working with skatepark builders King Ramps, teaching kids or offering creative input to his London- based sponsor Baglady Supplies. As we say, Daryl is immersed!

As someone who has forged a skateboarding lifestyle for himself like few others, we thought Daryl would be able to shine a light on how he leads a skating life less ordinary- and so we barged a window in his schedule to find out how he has made skateboarding work for him, London’s scene evolution over the years, and what inspired him to travel through skateboarding.

Here’s what he told us about…

… coming up within the UK skate scene:

“ I would have started skating… 2002. Harrow skatepark was essentially like where I got into skating transition. Harrow was the fist skatepark I ever skated- it was Harrow and flat ground out the front of my house. I started skating Playstation* around 2003, like a year later; that basically had everything  and that’s what broadened my horizons. That was my whole thing. The way I got into the skate industry was during a time when there were a lot of grassroots UK skate events- from Crossfire Jams, to the very beginning of the UK Champs series, annual skatepark jams were happening all over the country… there was a different climate, back then. That was definitely how I got noticed.”

…getting sponsored, and hitting the road:

“My first sponsor was a shop called Halfpipe on Goldborne Road; that was, like, 2005. So I’d only being skating for around 3 years, or something- that was after one of the Crossfire Jams, actually. That sort of sums it up, for me: I skated one of those jams and got picked up by the local shop after that.

Right now, (my life) is very grounded, but for the last ten years I would say it was around 50/50 travelling, for me. I would sub-let my place in London and travel for six months at a time, sometimes more.”

…formative influences:

“Ross McGouran was a big inspiration for me. He was one of the only other skaters I knew in Harrow and was my first real role model in skateboarding. He definitely instilled something in me about travelling and that’s something I wanted to do as soon as I got sponsored.”

…how the skate scene in London has evolved within his era:

“I feel like there is a lot of things happening in London now- but in a different way from before; whereas before, it was only ever in the way of contests, there’s a lot more, today, in terms of creative ideas for events. It’s hard to say, really, because although we are seeing more skateparks being built- say, as a result of the Olympics- there’s also a lot more going on at grassroots, community level: we’ve had The Grove being built, Hackney Bumps for example- and it is really interesting, because there are more, like… happenings.

In my era, you skated contests and jams and demo’s- but today there are many more facets of the skate community in London that can branch out way outside that.

They’re self-organising and, in the climate we are in today, very often they are taking the lead in terms of the ideas that are being perpetuated forward, and then a lot of brands are basically supporting that.”

(*Editor’s note: ‘Playstation’ was the first sponsor of what is currently known as Bay 66 Skatepark underneath the M4 flyover in Ladbroke Grove, West London.)

PHOTO CREDITS:
Fs flip in Taghazout Morocco is by Joel Peck
All other photos are by James Griffiths