words and photos by Rom Marcucci

D-Structure and Icer Air presented a special body of work last night.

Picture the most beautiful ski shop you’ve ever been in.  Triple it.  Cover the walls in Eric Pollard’s body of work.  Display the finest ski gear mixed with the most stylish artists’ branded clothing.  Stock the booze: top shelf only.  Fill the space with scenesters, hipsters, skiers, producers, and industry insiders.  Turn the DJ’s music up.  Turn the lights down.  Drop the screen from the ceiling.  Show the best ski movie in recent history.  Let the dance party rage all night.  Welcome to what a shop should be.  Welcome to D-Structure San Francisco.

D-Structure San Franscico is the most unique, beautiful, and culturally relevant ski shop of our generation.   Azikiwee Anderson and the people of D-Structure have created much, much more than just a shop.  This is a design collaborative, where the city’s most talented artists garments combine with works from our ski world. It is a place skiers should be proud of.  In Azikiwee’s words, “The idea is not selling skis to people that already ski. What we are really focused on is putting ski companies in a unique setting so that people can feel like they stumbled on something worth finding.  They will want to tell other people about it, which is the best publicity you can ask for.  You have to give people a reason to be a part of something.  We all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.  A lot of shops try to feed the fact that the sports are cool. The reality should be quite the opposite. You need to display the uniqueness and style of the people in the sport.  Once people like the style of those that represent the sport, they can feel a part of something and relate to both the athleticism and the life style.  We just want to showcase the sport and celebrate the things about skiing that make us proud.  We are trying to display the sport so that it improves the overall worth of the sport and sets a tone for the future of the way we should be perceived.”

Last night the shop kicked off a month long show of Eric Pollard’s and his wife Erin Valverde’s work.  With over 600 people in attendance, skiing was on the tip of many more San Franciscan’s tongues than it otherwise would be.  A fortune’s worth of alcohol was given to the crowd as skiers and city folk mingled and observed the pieces.  Later in the evening Eric Iberg and Pollard showed their season’s work: Idea.  The vibe created last night was due to a special melding of circumstances.  It was the one-year anniversary of D-Structure. It was the opening party for Icer and they helped promote and provide the bar. Finally, what skier wouldn’t want to see Eric Pollard’s athletic and artistic work. As the night was a highly visual experience, the pictures below will do the majority of the talking.

www.d-structure.com

The Venue: 520 Haight Street, San Francisco California

D-Structure fills with all types

The Open Bar courtesy of Icer

The venue through the office glass

Brothers T.J and Scott Schiller

The creator of many, many ski graphics, Doug Levinthal, and Matt Connelly, LINE’s California Rep

Azikiwee Anderson, Eric Pollard, and Eric Iberg (behind the pole) present Idea

Eric Pollard closing out an extremely successful first show

Tory Treseder and Azikiwee Anderson, two of the men behind D San Francisco

Touring the shop from the front counter clockwise

Devon Hughs

Eric Pollard’s Work

‘Sitka’ acrylic on canvas

‘Fall’ acrylic on canvas

‘Lone’ acrylic on canvas

‘No Shade’ acrylic on canvas

‘Sixth Dimension’ acrylic on wood

‘Elizabeth Spirals’ and ‘Elizabeth Mountains’ oil on canvas

‘Elizabeth 05/06’ oil on wood

‘Soul Rebel’ and ‘Soul Rebel II’ oil on wood

‘Nimbus’ acrylic on canvas

'P Town in October' acrylic on canvas

‘Wired’ acrylic on canvas

‘Building Blocks acrylic on canvas

Erin Valverde's Work

‘Aquamales’ watercolor

‘Winter Crows’ watercolor

‘Float’ watercolor

‘Lady Crane’ watercolor

‘Woman Tree’ watercolor

‘Dreamland’ watercolor

‘Wave’ watercolor

‘Bamboo’ watercolor