Words by Mike River

Welcome to the first in a series of product features. Here we take you through the history and development behind the boards we make. First up, the legendary KILIMA!

The Kilima was born in 2002, the second Lush board to have concave and the first to have camber. It was 46 inches long, made from birch.
One year later we started making it in two more sizes, a 42inch, and a 49 inch. I owned two 42 inchers, I snapped both of them.
Check out the pink graphic, sorry girls, we wont do it again!

2004-2005 Birch Kilimas

2005- Following a trip to the Chamrousse freeride, 9km of twisty mountain fun, we begin experimenting with drop through ideas on the Kilima. We used standard Kilimas, and simply cut holes in them. The results blew us away, so we decided to put them into production. The first drop through Kilimas were a limited edition of ten Vlam snowboard core composite boards. Very, very, very rare...

2006- Our first Bamboo Kilima hits the public! With an eyecatching inovative shape, and 'classic' graphic, it was a big hit! Lush unleashed the first drop through carver ever!  But it was not without problems, as we later discovered, bamboo is not the best material for making skateboards...

2006 Bamboo Kilima

2007- The increasing problems with bamboo manufacture led us to a good compromise, we substituted some of the bamboo for maple, leaving a bamboo veneer on the bottom. The new maple and bamboo boards were stronger and livelier than the previous model, along with a shape revision, we were happy with the result. We also made a limited edition run of top mount Kilimas, after receiving countless requests. They sold out quickly, but as Rich says 'They were a bit horrible' I have to agree, its difficult to pinpoint exactly why, but something about the top mount bamboo/maple Kilima just wasnt quite right.

2007 Bamboo/Maple composite Kilima - top mount

2008- Major changes at Lush, change of location, change of staff, and intensive rebranding work went under way, the mission- to pull Lush out of the old surfer-student stereo type, and place us firmly where we actually are, which is hooning down a mountain somewhere in the Alps (our favourite skate spot)

2009- Two years of product development, testing, tweaking, more testing, breaking prototypes, more tweaking, testing more prototypes to the point of destruction and presto. the 2009 Kilima! We just had to accept that bamboo isnt suitable for making skateboards, the eco- ideology went out the window, we wanted a board that would be reliable, with a predictable flex, and long lifespan. We discovered that maple and walnut wood work very well together, walnut maintains the 'classic' look that the Kilima has always had, and our new artist embellished the deck with a fine graphic, capturing the spirit of big hill skating. Its kind of battle-like, but at the same time very civilised. The Kilima was originally intended as a big pintail for cruising about and bombing long mountain roads. Seven years of Kilimas have finally brought us to this point, and we are more happy with the Kilima than we ever have been before.

Mike, backside speedcheck at a local spot on a 2009 Kilima

The new 2009 Kilima - stiffer, stronger, wider, faster, with extra gnar. Cult wheels and Sabre trucks finish the 12th incarnation of this board off as the ultimate mountain slaying setup!