True pioneers in the world of skateboarding and snowboarding, Martin Sammet and Jogi März started building boards as children. What was still nothing more than a trend in the seventies became a movement in two senses of the word – as a sport and as an attitude to life. The passion of these two trailblazers even gave rise to a company, Pogo Boards. Their products are now known and respected all over the world. Martin Sammet explains what fulfils him, what still drives him and what Pogo Boards has to do with SATA.

In the seventies, Martin and Jogi came up with the same idea – completely independently of each other, as they didn’t even know each other back then. They had seen pictures of skaters and snowboarders from the USA and thought, we can do that here in Germany too. They started building skateboards themselves – from wooden boards and parts of roller skates. They got to know each other while studying production engineering in Heilbronn. They both quickly realised that they were on the same wavelength. Or rather surfed on it.

They founded a company in an old farmhouse in Hößlinsülz at the foot of the Löwenstein mountains – that was in 1983. From the very beginning, Pogo was more than “just” a company. The Pogo Farm became a meeting place for a community, a centre of skater culture. In any case, it was never Martin and Jogi’s goal to get rich. Instead, the idea behind Pogo was to give them the opportunity to live their lives according to their own ideas. Doing what fulfils them: skating, snowboarding and surfing as often as possible. Whether when making their boards – which they do 100% by hand – or riding the finished products, they do it with passion and dedication. There is no series production; each board is unique. It was almost inevitable that a great deal of expertise would accumulate over the years, resulting in a very high level of quality. Pogo boards are known and respected all over the world. Nevertheless, the two friends never felt the need to expand or to set the brand and company up for growth. “Neither Jogi nor I are the type for that. But we had already toyed with the idea of moving the company closer to the mountains or the sea, where there are waves to surf,” laughs Martin.

Martin Sammet describes himself as a “shaper”. He designs the board in its shape and size. This “shape” initially takes shape as a wooden template. Martin also makes “custom shapes”, i.e. individual customised products made according to customer requirements. Pogo now has several hundred of these shapes in stock.

Once Martin is happy with the shape, he starts building the board. A Pogo longboard consists of up to seven layers: a wooden core, a rubber layer, an aramid fabric, a layer of fleece, two layers of Titanal sheet metal and a layer of wood veneer. The materials are bonded for eternity with a special resin used to make skis – the recipe is top secret. And then comes what should really be called the eighth layer: the paintwork. More on this later.

The company offers an unlimited guarantee on its products. Pogo boards are repaired free of charge for life. Martin says this with a matter-of-factness that is astonishing at first. On the one hand, he is completely convinced of the quality. On the other hand, he believes that repairing is always better than replacing. “We believe that anything that can be repaired should not be thrown away. Repairability should actually be a legal requirement,” he says.

There are many old machines in the Pogo production department. The large hydraulic press and the veneer saw are easily several decades old. Only the fully automatic machine for milling and drilling the holes is new. Otherwise, however, Martin doesn’t want to know anything about computers in the design and development process. He draws his shapes by hand with the help of templates and curved rulers. This is the only way he can connect to the form, as he says. Of course, the paintwork at Pogo is carried out by hand. The veneered side of a longboard, for example, receives three coats of paint – using a 2K PU paint from Basler. A SATAjet 1000 B RP is used in the booth. Like the other tools, the paint spray gun has been in service for many years – and has never let the Pogo team down. “What we like about these spray guns is the same thing that our customers appreciate about our boards. Very good performance over a long lifetime.” Apparently, the SATA company philosophy and the Pogo spirit are a perfect match.

In 2023, Pogo celebrated its 40th anniversary with a big party on the farm and invited guests from all over the world. Neither of the two founders is thinking of giving up – neither as a manufacturer nor as an active daily user. Jogi März gets to the heart of the matter: “When I can no longer walk, I want to be lifted onto the board.”