I moved to Cornwall about 10 years ago and have not looked back since. Cornwall is a great place to live not just because it's got some pretty good surf but also because it's just a bit slower paced down here, which suits me just fine.
I've been shaping since I moved here, and have built boards out of a few different materials now, but have settled on wood. In my opinion its just the best material to build a board out of, technology and modern materials lend more than a helping hand, but its wood that give the boards there strength and beauty.
One of the things that attracted me to shaping was that it was, and still is to a certain extent, a backyard industry, because the people who shape - surf, and people who surf - innovate surfboards, it's the way it should be.
I shape because I love surfing and I love to innovate and make stuff, things have changed a bit over the last few years with more and more boards being made in the far east by people who don't surf, as far as I can see this is unsustainable because there is no innovation going on, with no surfer shaper moments of inspiration, there is a link in the chain that's missing.
I love making boards other people love, and making boards from wood just makes my job easier, because its easy to feel happy when your riding something that was grown and whittled rather than processed from chemicals and petro chemical by-products.
The boundary between work and play is a grey area, although its not grey at all, its far from grey and I absolutely love making boards, and everything else somehow fits around it.
I have no end goal with Glass Tiger Surfboards, what I do I'm passionate about and that's it, everything else falls into its place.
