Rapanui Blog

Rapanui is an Eco-Fashion company from the Isle of Wight, that makes Organic, Ethical clothing using Renewable Energy with award-winning traceability. Rapanui is about making eco-fashion cool.

MENS / WOMENS

Rapanui Blog Latest

Drying for Freedom

Store 1 Officially Open

Rapanui on BBC News

How it's done

Luke Young on Board

Category: Ambassadors

This year we've had the opportunity to team up with Luke Young, one-time winner of Carve magazine's Best Young Surfboard Shaper of the Year Prize

Too often surfshop racks are stocked with one-size-fits-all, mass produced models designed and made on computers on the otherside of the world, flown here, used, then thrown in the bin.

There was a time when it was different though - when a surfer would get his boards made locally, by a shaper who knows the conditions and the way you surf - probably because he was out there with you at the weekend. Your boards would be made by hand, would work the way you wanted them to and were designed to last - when you're done, they'd go to some grom down the beach who's just starting up.

Sustainable Surfboards

Luke's been shaping boards from his Plymouth lockup since his uni days and in 15 years he's managed to rack up a long list of accolades including winning the Carve Best Young Shaper of the Year prize - and he's just teamed up with Rapanui to work on a joint project over the next two years to look at sustainability and surfboards.

His shapes work well, there's no doubt: What we want to do is shed some light on the new technologies that are emerging in the surfboard industry to respond to sustainability, and compare biofoam vs. synthetic foams, bio resin vs. normal resin, epoxy boards and bamboo boards plus some other materials that are being developed. Also we want to think about airmiles and surfboard's carbon footprint - plus the thing that really matters: If boards are made with eco materials, will they still work just as well?

Luke's hand-shaped two boards for us at Rapanui to field test this winter, spiced up by local spray artist Al Manning ... keep your eye on the blog for more soon

Photos: James Ioannou, Spray by Al Manning