SURFING AND SKATING
Bear Walker grew up on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where he spent many afternoons hitting the surf.
“I learned to surf in Hurricane Floyd, and after that, I was hooked on it,” Walker says. “My best friend and I would go surfing before school, then go to school and, a lot of times, go surfing afterward.”
Growing up, he spent a lot of time working with his dad, who ran a construction company that specialized in custom homes. Walker says he got his foundation for woodworking doing the framing for the large homes and developed his early craftsmanship, detailing and finishing, by making cabinetry for projects like outdoor kitchens.
When it was time for college, Walker already had Clemson down as his dream school. His sister had gone to Clemson, so he was already familiar with the campus. “Most of my friends were [U of SC] fans, so I guess that’s probably what made me a Clemson fan,” he adds with a chuckle.
Closing his eyes and putting a finger down on a list of majors — that’s how Walker ended up in the graphic communications program. He says, “I ended up falling in love with it.”
For his senior design project, Walker was tasked with creating an innovative printing technique. Walker and his partner decided on applying a holographic film with a print overlay to a skateboard — the origin story of his first custom skateboard. With the project idea in hand, Walker spent a whole night designing, and the next morning, he had almost 40 designs, despite only needing one. He had stumbled upon a passion.
The final design sported a honeycomb pattern and was complete with a bear jaw, an ode to Walker’s nickname. “It’s a really hard thing to do, printing colors on top of holographic film,” he explains. But the pair pulled it off.
The finished effect: “Imagine like a holographic Pokémon card, yeah?”

KICKING THE HORNET’S NEST
Surfing, pop culture, nostalgia, the ’90s — all are inspiration for Walker’s designs, the fuel for his work. So, when Pokémon Center approached him for a special collaboration, he felt like he’d just been gifted the holy grail. The five-board collection, featuring the Pokémon Umbreon, Toxtricity, Rayquaza, Togepi and Mew, sports bright colors and carved out elements.
“Pokémon kicked the hornet’s nest,” Walker says. “Basically now, because of that project, I can make meetings with whoever I want to make meetings with.”
Soon after, Walker was hearing from the NBA and launching his NBA Collectors Series. “The NBA is still in the pop-culture realm,” he says, “but it’s on the other end of the spectrum.” Walker is also making plans to expand his workspace along with his brand through more online merchandise. He’s taken on some special projects as well, like helping build a custom Porsche for a cast member from the “Fast and Furious” franchise.
“Two years ago, I made about 600 boards a year,” he says. “As of 2021, we’ll be doing between 30 and 50,000.”
The cherry on top has been Walker’s most recent deal — something of a bucket list item, he says.
Following the success of the Pokémon Center collaboration, Walker thought it would be a good time to reach out to Marvel and see if he could snag a job with one of his favorite franchises. They said yes.
As an avid Marvel comics reader, Walker has had a pretty significant creative foundation to work with in creating the new collaboration. The plan is to launch a series of small capsule collections over the next year, featuring the likes of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.
“Iron Man is going to be awesome, and I’m really looking forward to the Punisher,” he says. “Spider-Man is a huge one, too.”