Rome Snowboards Graphic Designer Portia Wassick on Her Work and Inspiration

The odds that you land a job with the brand you grew up on is rare, but with Vermont roots, and a style to match, Portia Wassick found herself with an office space at Rome Snowboards’ landmark HQ, 1 Derby Lane, as a graphic designer. Call it a right of passage, but with two designer parents, Portia has generational roots in the snowboard industry, and as she enters her third year working with Rome, she’s already made her mark. - Ally Watson

Hometown: Shaftsbury, Vermont

IG Handle: @port.jpeg and @portwashere

Home Mountain: Growing up, it was Bromley in Southern Vermont. It's where I learned how to snowboard. Now that I’m in central Vermont, I'm at Sugarbush.

Preferred medium(s): Definitely illustrating with pen and ink or screen printing.

How old were you when you learned how to snowboard? I was five. It’s kind of an interesting intro. One of my cousins was very into snowboarding and I thought he was so cool and I really wanted to get into it, and I begged my parents for a snowboard because I hated skiing and wanted to be cool like DJ. So, I got a snowboard for Christmas when I was five. But my parents were working in the snowboard industry for a bit doing design stuff, so they were kind of in the mix. I’m lucky to get a very early in, I guess. Both my parents are full-time career artists and they’ve done everything under the sun.

How did you get into printmaking?
When I was in college I was a graphic design major and I wasn’t really feeling like it clicked. I took a printmaking class and completely fell in love with it. I ended up changing my major and somehow ended up graduating with a double major in graphic design and printmaking.

What school did you go to?
I went to Western Colorado University. Big ski bum school. I rode out the rest of the season after school and moved back to Vermont right during COVID in spring 2020. Lockdown hit and that threw a wrench in everything, but I still made it home.

One tool of your craft you cannot do without:
It’s so basic, but a fresh, plain, black Sharpie. I go through boxes of them. Working at Rome, when we’re doing a snowboard design, we print it out full-size with a wide format printer and I end up kind of just drawing straight onto it with Sharpie, a lot of times, to figure things out.

Favorite subject matter (in general or currently):
I feel like I’ve been really interested in a lot of stuff that’s like American traditional tattooing style, like tattooing adjacent. That really bold, black-work style.

All-time favorite snowboard graphic:
That’s such a tricky question, but I’d say probably the Rome MFR Live Nude Dudes pro model—it’s kind of a controversial one. Either that or any of the Salomon Villains that Dave Banks designed in the mid 2000s. I love those.

Do you have a favorite graphic that you’ve designed?
Tough to pick just one, but it's a toss up between a few 2024/25 boards that are hitting shops soon: The Heist, which I had a lot of fun designing (and hiding easter eggs in); Ståle Sandbech's signature collection, the Stale Crewzer and Stale Fish ; or Rene Rinnekangas' pro model, the Rene-Gade . It was so fun working with those guys to bring their ideas to life on boards.

Do you listen to music when you make art?
Pretty much 100% of the time when I’m working. Mostly 90’s alternative and grunge, always a lot of Smashing Pumpkins.

What is your workspace like (do you create art in multiple places/spaces)?
I mostly work in my office in the Rome building. I have a very cool little office; we have a super cool work space. I’ll even come in here on a weekend or stay late to work on a personal project. I wish I had my own studio setup, but it’s kind of difficult.

For you, where is the intersection of snowboarding and making art?
I feel like in general, the intersection for me kind of lies in the part of snowboarding that relies on developing your style and expressing yourself in a way that you really want to put out in the world and that makes you feel good. I feel like having gear that fits your style and makes you feel the way you want to feel is really a huge intersection.

Do you have a favorite gallery or art space?
Favorite art space is definitely Iskra Print studio in Burlington. It’s part of the Karma Bird House space , which also houses creative entities like Shelter Cultivation Project [editor's note: Shelter Cultivation Project is run by Shawn Dumont, a Rome alum] and Solidarity of Unbridled Labor that have deep roots in snowboarding.

Any upcoming projects?
Yeah, we are actually about to wrap up the winter 25/26 product line. It’s kind of the bulk of my job and a huge undertaking, so I’m really excited for that to be wrapped and have some breathing room. I’ve been doing a lot of pottery lately. I’m still learning. I’m not very good but I’m excited to be able to put more creative energy into that and take a breath. It’s so helpful to be able to step away from the computer and do something hands on.