Board building has always been at our core. Co-founded by a shaper, our brand continues to honor the craft and the people who carry it forward. Ashton Pickle embodies everything we stand for, hand-building alternative shapes from start to finish, thinking outside the box, testing his own designs, and collaborating with friends and artists along the way.

This project opens the door to the full process — from concept to design, shaping to glassing — honoring traditional methods while exploring new ideas in form and aesthetics. A quiver of asyms ranging from 5’10 to 9’4, the waves and surfers equally as varied. We were stoked to support the project along the way and hope it offers a look at the time, skill and satisfaction behind bringing one of Ashton’s boards to life.

Photographs by Ethan Jolly
Words by Ashton Pickle

“This project stemmed from new ways to grow in shaping and surfing. Collaborating with friends, sharing ideas, keeping a loose grip on a single perspective. Positive dissonance is intentional discomfort that can lead to favorable outcomes. Putting yourself in situations that challenge assumptions. Finding ways to play a new melody contradictory to a present tune, trying things on for size. For this film, I didn’t want to film the surfing over a lengthy period, stacking the best possible clips. I wanted to film everyone surfing the boards for their first and second sessions, watching them learn the board as the session carried on. Positive dissonance through confirming if the newly presented variable (surfboard and glassing schedule) yielded something better or worse. You can see some initial discomfort that quickly faded as the sessions carried on.”

“This project was a long time coming. I met Josh last winter and he graciously let me take over his shaping bay for a few days. I had heard Josh was an amazing board builder doing everything start to finish, but seeing some his work in person it was obvious. Loosely throwing around the idea of collaborating on something together in the future, it’s cool to see where everything ended up a year later.

Josh is a great shaper and has his own thing going so he doesn’t need to glass anyone else’s boards. His glass work always stands out so it was a privilege to have him dress up these boards in resin for me. He’s meticulous and most people don’t know what goes into building a surfboard, never mind the amount of steps it takes to do what he did with these.”

“At its core, this project was about staying open and not getting too comfortable with what I already know. Sharing these boards with friends and feeling the early discomfort turn into flow was the whole point. I’m always grateful for guys like Jimmy Thompson and Gunner day who are obviously talented on a surfboard, but surprise me when it comes to knowledge of boards. Able to articulate what’s happening beneath their feet post-surf. That information relay is lost on most. Taking that information and weighing ideas together, figuring out what works for them is the best part of the process. This was just another chance to be reminded that growth comes from letting go and trying something new.”