Hi, I’m Eugenio Celli, Italian shaper and surfer, founder of No-Made Boards, and i want to tell you how wooden surfboards are made.
A journey between art and craft that tells the secrets of making a custom surfboard, totally made of wood and made entirely by hand.
The story of a workshop at the foot of the Gran Sasso open to all, where you can learn and build your own wooden surfboard.
A project conceived by me, Eugenio Celli, and Federica Ciarrocchi, directed and filmed by Valerio Di Filippo.
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Alessandro Piu, an Italian pro surfer, after two years of lockdown moves away from the world of competitions for a few days to embark on a solitary and introspective journey in search of himself.
An off-road vehicle, a tent and two wooden surfboards accompany him to the discovery of an unspoiled Sardinia.
A project born in the No-Made Boards laboratory, conceived by Eugenio Celli, Alessandro Piu and Gianluca Fortunato.
Directed and filmed by Gianluca Fortunato.
It looks like an Avocado Sartorial, but making this wooden surfboard was a big challenge.
It was the first shape with Bottom Vee Channels and it was also the first time I experimented with the Twinzer fin set up. I tried it a few years ago on a friend’s fish and I was surprised how it was able to generate speed with small waves.
Choosing the right board to try this set up again was not easy. The choice fell on Avocado because it’s a really multipurpose board. Despite being short, it has a good width and a volume of 32 liters which together allow you to surf any type of wave.
Channels are a design tool for creating a path for the fastest passage of water and air, with forced direction. Similar to concave, but more concentrated.
The downside is that in order to work properly the channels need to slide on a surface as homogeneous as possible, therefore on clean waves.
The final result in surfing is that of a very fast and precise board in maneuvers, as long as it is used on glassy waves.
Dimension
5’3″ x 17 1/2″ x 2 1/16″
Details
Flat deck, Single concave progressive on the bottom, rail tucked under edge and swallow tail are the main features of this board.
This planing hull is the result of a tailor-made workshop.
We shared with our friend Giacomo the lab and the experience in building wooden surfboards to help him transform a board he designed into a Hollow wooden surfboard.
We spent a week together immersed in tools and resin to build a 100% custom board together.
Dimension
5’3″ x 17 1/2″ x 2 1/16″
Details
– graphic made with a bamboo fiber fabrik
– engraved phrase with the pyrograph on the rail
– resin tint bottom lamination
– pin lines
Never like this time the challenge fits perfectly with our philosophy and completes it! The objective it was to take inspiration combining the use of natural materials and it’s structures to the forms of nature to create a unique wooden surfboard, with a particular attention on its design.
How was the idea of doing workshop born?
We started to make wooden surfboards because we combined a passion for surfing with that for woodworking. Our laboratory has always been open: to friends, to those who passed with the curiosity to see this “strange” reality on the slopes of the Gran Sasso, or to those who simply passed for a greeting. The curiosity to see how to build a wooden surfboard was immediately contagious!
This custom egg surfboard is the latest custom wooden surfboard we made in 2017, suitable in a big variety of waves from knee to head height. Inspired by the outline of our Macaco this board is made out of pauwlonia with poplar frame inside.
We can’t miss the Soul Hands Art & Surfskate Festival! At this event you can breathe the true surf culture and the desire to share the passion for surfing and skateboarding.
Making the first diy wooden surfboard workshop was tiring but exciting at the same time. The guys who participated are very different from each other but they share the same passion and each of them has given us great satisfaction.