Joaquim Guigo-Méndez | December Fingerboards
Joaquim Guigo-Méndez, a French-born artist based in Buenos Aires, blends his love of art and craftsmanship through December Fingerboards. A former Blackriver pro, he now hand-builds high-quality decks from scratch, even designing his own machines. With a stacked international team and a new budget-friendly brand (Merci Fingerboarding) in the works, Joaquim continues to push the creative and technical limits of fingerboarding.
Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Joaquim Guigo-Méndez is a French-born artist, inventor, and fingerboarder. With a creative background in drawing, painting, and filmmaking, Joaquim blends his artistic roots with a growing passion for manufacturing and woodworking.
Joaquim began fingerboarding in 2007 and quickly gained recognition for his skills. By 2011, he had joined the Blackriver team and released multiple pro models with the brand. In recent years, his focus shifted toward craftsmanship, leading to the creation of his own brand—December Fingerboards.
The idea for December was born when Joaquim took a break from traditional art and immersed himself in woodworking. Surrounded by tools, he became fascinated with the challenge of crafting a fingerboard entirely from scratch—including the mold. After nearly a year of research and obsessive prototyping, he launched the brand with a 30-minute video documenting the process. The decks were impressive from the start, and with time, they’ve only improved. Joaquim has even designed his own machines to perfect tricky production steps and continues to experiment with techniques like reusing scrap decks to press new veneers.
Today, December Fingerboards boasts a loyal following and a tight-knit team of riders including Ivo Avila, Pipo Donnadio, Ian Mulet, Mauro Lopez, Anita Ceballos, Emi Lemos (Uruguay), Ben Allen (USA), and Ryan Giray (Philippines). While there are no official pro models yet, the team is stacked with talent.
Joaquim’s most unforgettable moment was being flown to the Blackriver Christmas Party in 2010 at age 17, right after joining the team. Another highlight: team rider Ian Mulet placing 4th at the Fast Fingers World Championship—an event Joaquim supported with both gear and good vibes.
Currently, Joaquim is also developing a new, affordable brand called Merci Fingerboarding for the Argentine scene.
Links
Website: www.december.ar
Instagram: @december.fb
YouTube: FrenchMeFrenchYou
Merci Instagram: @merci.fingerboarding
Images
-Please attach following images as attachements by email
to info@usafbl.com
-Self image of yourself
-Fingerboarding shot of yourself
-Images of your logo, promodel, obstacle, etc...
