—Mackenzie Eisenhour
I’d been hearing folklore of softer, cuddlier, friendlier companies and always wondered how much of what I heard was actually true, but when I went to the Element offices for the first time in 2001, it was a breath of fresh air; I was pleasantly surprised with my experience. Element is a company that has walked the walk since its inception and helped pioneer the industry by being one of the few to do things first and embrace change. I’m not sure if Element has hammocks in their cubicles today, but if they don’t, they should get them. At any rate, the first time I met Johnny at Element my post-Gen X cynicism was hard to keep lit. Schillereff has a near electric energy when he talks about his visions: past, present, or future. He speaks honestly and his enthusiasm is contagious. Element’s brand philosophy, from their humble beginnings as a niche skateboard company, to the truly limitless, all encompassing cultural Petri dish that the global brand has since become, was almost preordained in the very first tree logo that he created. Here was a company founded upon co-existence, making a positive difference, and organic corporate growth on a level far deeper than simply adding the color green to their product packaging. Element grew from a small warehouse/living space in the early ’90s, where Johnny slept on a futon couch next to his desk, to an almost-half-block of multi-storied buildings in Irvine, California. The Make it Count film premiering this year is going to be an incredible story if what I know about Johnny is even halfway true. The ride from an Alva-endorsed, New York street skater to a corner office in Southern California will certainly answer some of my larger questions. In the meantime, whether you are seeking to take over the world with a giant laser, or simply create a thriving business that just might save us from destroying it, the following is Johnny’s take on finding his Element. Read on.
Every story has a beginning, what is yours?
I guess mine begins at the age of four when my sister Jackie gave me her hand-me-down board and I fell in love with skateboarding. It was around this time that my dysfunctional family began moving all over the world and I experienced some pretty turbulent times. Because of this, I submerged myself deeply into skateboarding and the lifestyle that surrounded it for an escape, and I haven’t stopped since. Things became more serious in the late ’80s and early ’90s, while I was living on the East Coast and skateboarding nonstop. It was at this time that skateboarding began to open doors and I began meeting more and more people with a lot of good contacts. I’ve always been fascinated by music, art and design, and as time went on I began to develop an interest in the companies I rode for, beyond skateboarding. I began to market and design product for these brands. Like most serious skaters, I got injured one too many times and I knew my career was coming to an end. I began to hustle, use my creativity and imagination; and got real serious about making a business career in skateboarding.
After some tough times you ended up sponsored by New Deal; how did that come about?
In my early teens I was living in New York, traveling all over, skating in contests and doing demos. I was in the right place, at the right time and received some of the first coverage in New York City, which was very rare and a total honor. From all this, I eventually got recognized and picked up some solid sponsors and support: Spitfire wheels, Thunder trucks, Vans shoes, Alva and Circle-A skateboards. Sometime in the late ’80s, Andy Howell, who was an amazing artist, professional skater and good friend of mine, called me from California and said he was starting a company called New Deal and asked me to be one of their first team riders. It was a huge compliment and opportunity, so without question I accepted. A critical part of this is, I was still a teenager and heavily into art, music, marketing and being an entrepreneur. At the time New Deal was a small start-up company and thanks to Andy Howell, Steve Douglas and Paul Schmitt—beyond just being a team rider—I immediately helped out with everything: from team management, to marketing, art and graphic design. I was deep in the trenches learning the ropes, straight out of the gate. I quickly became a serial entrepreneur and tried to materialize everything I thought of. I helped form a hip-hop group and started a creative studio which specialized in graffiti, music production and graphic design and I even opened up a hip-hop nightclub downtown. All the while, I was still going to college and working on New Deal. We were passionate, hungry and full of fire.
Did New Deal transform into Underworld Element or was it, excuse the pun, a separate deal?
For the most part Underworld was a separate deal. The New Deal team was getting too big and the creative individuals behind the brand wanted a fresh project. The answer became to start a new company and move a few team riders over from New Deal and add a few more. It was that simple. At that time, the company was most commonly called Underworld; it wasn’t really referred to as Element.
