**Thames: How a High School Art Project by Blondey McCoy Turned Into a Skate Legend**

In 2013, Thomas Eblen Hage was 16 and his art assignment was up for grabs at Slam City Skates, a cult shop in London. The assignment was called Thames. Twelve years later, the brand had a shop in Soho, and it was Mark Gonzales in person who handed the kid—now Blondey McCoy—his first pro board.

Between those moments, there was a 14‑year‑old sponsor, Burberry, Supreme, a photo book, and a break at 21. So how does a graded art project turn into a brand that Gonz signs by hand? It all comes down to one precise rail. And that rail ended up being left behind.

Kingston upon Thames, 1997: the kid who drew, signed by Palace at 14

Blondey was born on May 23, 1997. He spent his early school years at Rokeby, a private prep school in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London. Then he moved to Westminster School, one of the country’s top secondary schools. He didn’t finish there: the school asked him to leave because of his repeated absences.

Kid, he was drawing all the time. What pushed him toward skate was Slam City Skates: the windows, the stickers, the ceiling covered in graffiti. The shop has since closed.

And the name? The brand never explained it in black and white. But the river that runs under Kingston’s bridge, the one from his childhood, is the Thames. Thames, in English.

Palace Skateboards was founded in 2009 in London, built by Lev Tanju, Gareth Skewis and Marshall Taylor. In 2012, Blondey was 14 when Palace brought him into the team, alongside names like Chewy Cannon, Karim Bakhtaoui, Danny Brady and Rory Milanes.

At that age, most riders only have one goal: a board with their name on it. He’d say later that he wanted it “when he was ten or eleven.” But he already had something else in his school bag. An art project that carried a river’s name.

Slam City Skates, 2013: the day duty turned into cash

The project, it’s his GCSE in fine arts. The classic exercise of a 15‑year‑old English kid. Blondey, though, turns it into pieces. In 2013, he just turned 16 when Slam City Skates put him on the shelf. The shop that made him dream becomes his first reseller.

That’s when I realized my fine‑arts project was a brand. — Blondey McCoy, on the Thames MMXX site

The next year, 2014, Thames starts working hand‑in‑hand with Palace. The team kid now has his own line, carried by London’s most visible brand. He’ll describe that period as when Thames found its identity.

Palasonic, Burberry, McLellan: the three doors that changed everything

On November 8, 2017, Palace drops Palasonic, its first full video. Blondey has his spot. For skate, it’s an identity card: he’s no longer just the kid on the brand, he’s a rider on the team that gets the whole of London talking.

Meanwhile, fashion takes an interest in his head. He poses for Supreme, Burberry, Valentino, Adidas. Photographer Alasdair McLellan follows him for years, up to the book Blondey 15‑21, released in June 2019. In 2018, he also publishes Us and Chem, a series of collages on youth mental health.

Here’s the answer. A job turns into a three‑tier brand. First a shop buys it, Slam City in 2013: that’s when the piece drops out of the classroom. Then a rail, Palace from 2014, that gives it customers and street cred nobody can snag alone at 17. Finally the hype, which turns the rider into a face: Burberry’s crowd learns the kid’s name, and behind him the name of his brand. The sketch talent launched Thames. The network made it cult.

September 2019: at 21, he cuts the cord

Except a rail takes you where you’re headed, not necessarily where you want to go. In 2019, at 21, Blondey announced on Instagram that he’s leaving Palace. He also drops the partnership and closes the deal as it was. He knows where he wants to go, and it’s no longer going through that route.

End of 2019, wrapping up his first collab with Adidas, he revamps everything. The name changes: Thames MMXX. Three goals on display: build connection, feed his creative itch, and bring fresh vibes to UK skate. He becomes the art director. It’s the same path as Mike Carroll leaving the brands he built: at one point, the name matters more than the rail.

Palace gave him an audience. Leaving gave him his brand. — The 2019 deal

Brewer Street, 2025: the Gonz drops a board on Blondey McCoy

Today, Thames MMXX has a storefront at 53 Brewer Street, right in Soho. And by the end of 2025, before a showcase of Gabriel Summers’ new parts, a video message from Mark Gonzales pops up on screen. Gonz explains that with the Thames crew, Al Boglio and Gabbers, they spent months in secret prepping a pro board in his name. Gabbers hands it over in front of the whole room.

Le premier réflexe de Blondey : demander s’il y en a plusieurs, pour en monter une tout de suite. La planche dont il rêvait à dix ans, il l’obtient sur sa propre marque, signée par un des pères du street. Un Anglais qui se fait adouber par un Américain, ça rappelle Tom Penny et sa cassette de 1993. Sauf que cette fois, le gamin de Kingston n’a eu besoin de personne pour fabriquer la scène.

Blondey a eu raison de quitter Palace à 21 ans, ou Thames aurait été plus grosse en restant sur le rail ? Dis-le en commentaire ↓