About

Alexander Lewis-Hughes (aka le_tranq, Rowdy);
Head board and graphic designer "Rowdy", as he's affectionately known by his peers grew up on the North Coast of NSW Australia deeply rooted in the Surf and Skate culture proliferating the 90's and 00's.
The first Kiteboard he ever owned and rode was one that he built himself from a piece of plywood he borrowed from his High School wood class, whether out of necessity or curiosity it was practically inevitable that one day he'd be making his own boards for others to ride.
Originally making pro model shapes with Eric Groenewoud of Catapult Kites and later partnering with Adrian Roper of Axis Kiteboards, Alex apprenticed underneath two of the most critical thinkers of their generation. Taking what he skimmed from both Eric and Adrian Alex created a range of boards that are understated yet complex both in board design and graphical representation.




Pawel Kiczka:
Enigmatic Polish Kiteboarder and entrepreneur "Kiczka" as he's known fondly partnered with Alex to co create OASI and deliver the market something that was sorely lacking. Kiczka provides a lot of the feedback that goes into both the shapes and artistic designs alongside helping with much of the logistics involved with operating a brand. Without Kiczka OASI likely wouldn't exist.

Words from Alex on Board Design:
"Only what's needed" is something that really stood out to me from working with Adrian, he really helped me understand that when you design a board you need to have a reason for adding certain design elements, simply adding a ton of channels or bottom features (like so many brands do) doesn't make any sense if it's not adding something to the design. I only add what I think is needed to my boards to get the "feel" which I desire. Every bottom feature or curve you add to a board is really just adding drag, drag is what's giving you this "feeling" and I think that's really what I'm playing with most as a board designer, Adrian helped me to see that more clearly.
My shapes are made as efficient as possible in order to have room to leverage the extra rocker I add to most of my boards as I know that a decent rocker line is really the basis of a comfortable and high performing board. So many boards on the market are basically flat noodles and this is why so many of them aren't at all interesting to ride, there's a fine line between too little or too much. Designing with efficiency in mind foremost helps me be sure what I'm creating won't be a dog.

Words From Alex on Graphic Design:
I take a lot of inspiration from many places but I think Skateboard graphics really are my biggest draw, you can see such a range of ideas and aesthetics over the decades and across different brands, you can almost be certain if you have an idea that someone's already done something very similar. That said my designs for Oasi thus far have been a blend of the two aesthetics I personally enjoy the most; simple understated and psychedelic, somewhat opposing genres much like the board designs themselves.




Euan Boyd:
A big part of my graphics has also been imagery and inspiration I've taken from a high school friend of mine Euan Boyd, without his help and designs a lot of my ideas also wouldn't have turned out as well as they did. Check out his instagram if you get a chance - @euan_boyd_art 

Katie Potter:
A special mention must also be given to Katie Potter, long time friend, graphic designer and world class Kiteboarder (amongst other accolades) who helped me with the original "Tranq" font which was an adaptation of the font used for Quasimoto one of my favourite artists.