Surf Craft: Design and the Culture of Board Riding (MIT Press)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.53 (768 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0262027607 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 176 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-10-06 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Surf Craft maps this evolution, examining surfboard design and craft with 150 color images and an insightful text. In its purest form, the craft of board building, along with the act of surfing itself, exemplifies mingei. The decline of traditional alaia board riding is not only an example of a lost art but also a metaphor for the disintegration of traditional culture after the Republic of Hawaii was overthrown and annexed in the 1890s. In his text, Richard Kenvin looks at the craft and design of surfboards from a historical and cultural perspective. Surf Craft pays particular attention to Bob Simmons's boards, which are striking examples of this kind of functional design, mirroring the work of postwar modern California designers. He views board design as an exemplary model of mingei, or art of the people, and the craft philosophy of Soetsu Yanagi. Today most surfboards are mass-produced with fiberglass and a stew of petrochemicals, moving (or floating) billboards for athletes and their brands, emphasizing the commercial rather than the cultural. From the ancient Hawaiian alaia, th
John G. said The boards are the stars here. Watching my father lovingly turn page after page and remark, "Hey, I used to ride with him!" or, "He shaped my first board!" or, "My brother rode one just like this in '68!", and turn with tears in his eyes to remark it was one of the best birthday gifts an old shaper/surfer could get, well, that made the whole purchase pretty much perfect. Don't expect bikinis and two-page spreads of The boards are the stars here Watching my father lovingly turn page after page and remark, "Hey, I used to ride with him!" or, "He shaped my first board!" or, "My brother rode one just like this in '68!", and turn with tears in his eyes to remark it was one of the best birthday gifts an old shaper/surfer could get, well, that made the whole purchase pretty much perfect. Don't expect bikinis and two-page spreads of 30'+ reef breaks t. 0'+ reef breaks t. "best gift for a surfer!" according to joe. I bought this for my father in law who is a surfer and he was impressed with all the new information he was looking at in this book, and he was able to identify every single type of surfboard on the cover! best gift for a surfer!. "Two Stars" according to Amazon Customer. Bought several for friends. Kinda weird dialog. WEED??
Richard Kenvin is Director of the Hydrodynamica Project. He writes for The Surfer's Journal and is the guest curator of the Surf Craft exhibition.
High-quality photographs of the exhibited boards, both traditional and modern, are accompanied by Kenvin's thoughtful commentary on the history of surf board design. It's worth buying simply for the photos alone, but Surf Craft also includes a thoughtfully-written 40-page introduction by Kenvin that traces the evolution of surfboard design, and also explains how meticulous handcraftmanship can inform modern high volume commercially-made surf craft; it's a well-reasoned take on how ramping up surfboard production in the '60s didn't necessarily kill the beauty and art of surfboards. (John McMurtrie San Francisco Chronicle)Richard Kenvin traces the history of surfing from an exclusive pursuit of Hawaiian royals -- the 1% scored the most bouyant boards -- to the post-Gidget era of big-money competition. Where long or short, wood or fiberglass -- all gorgeously photographed here -- surfboards have r