Wooden Surfboard night hits Gold Coast Museum

Surf Culture

Wooden Surfboard night at the Gold Coast Surf Museum

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 13 July, 2012 : - - The weekend kicks off with a night at the Gold Coast Surf Museum with Guest speakers Peter Walker , Tony Crimmins and Peter Mo Moschogianis who will share their experiences with building wooden boards. Sunday is a day in the park across the road from The Currumbin Alley where you will see more wooden boards on display than almost anywhere. So if you are keen to learn more about wooden board building or surfing this is a great opportunity to meet shapers and other enthusiasts in their element. This year we have 3 very talented individuals with very different stories to share.

Peter Walker
Peter studied at the School of Art, University of Tasmania gaining an MFA Degree. He worked in his own studio for 14 years in Tasmania before moving to Adelaide to Head the Furniture Design Studio at the Jam Factory Craft and Design Centre in the late 90’s. Peter also spent five years as Design Consultant for Chiswell Furniture, Sydney, was a founding member of the Designer Makers Tasmania Cooperative in 1985 and a Co Director of the 1991 Hobart Design Triennial. Peter has won design awards in Australia and the USA and has exhibited his work regularly in Australia and North America. His work is represented in public and private collections, including the Australian Parliament House Permanent Art Collection. He is a partner in Dezco Furniture Design llc, a US based company designing ecologically considered furniture.

Between 2001 and 2011 Peter divided his time as Associate Professor of Furniture Design at the Rhode Island School of Design, USA and Adelaide, South Australia where he designs and builds hollow wooden surfboards. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia.

Peter's surfboards are made in Adelaide, South Australia. His hollow wooden surfboards reference the pioneering work of Tom Blake and are made predominantly from Paulownia with a variety of detailing wood. The wood is sealed at each stage of construction, vented and fibre-glassed. Each board is uniquely handmade using a range of artisan techniques, sometimes in collaboration with other artists.

Tony Crimmins
Tony has been building hollow wooden boards for the past 5 years. During this time his efforts have largely focussed on building boards for his own use and as a home builder has settled into a pattern of building just two boards each year.

Tony grew up in Northern New South Wales in Lismore just inland from Lennox and Byron and has had a passionate interest in surfboard design and construction since an early age.  Prior to moving to Brisbane approx 25 years ago he worked at Sky Surfboards in Byron for several summers which at the time was also home to a long list of great shapers/surfers including; Bob McTavish, Chris Brock, Michael Cundith, Rob Fenech, Gary Timperley and Dennis Anderson.

Building hollow wooden boards has allowed Tony to revisit his love of surfboards and working with his hands whilst drawing on the many influences from his youth in Byron and classic designs from across the years to design and construct these beautiful and unique wooden surfcraft.

Peter "Mo" Moschogianis
Peter has a vast knowledge in laminating and building surfcraft of all kinds with a very interesting background working with a number of wellknown shapers through the years. This started with Tom Morey at Morey Pope Surfboards, Ventura, California in 1965. While working at Morey Pope he met and began to work with Bob Cooper, George Greenough, John Peck, Richard Deese, Michael Cundith and Richie West. It was at this time that he first met Bob McTavish, Nat Young, Darryl “Rooster” Dell and Russel Hughes. Mo then moved on to Wilderness Surfboards in Santa Barbara with the original crew of Greenough, Cundith, West. This is prior to them all migrating to Australia in the early 1970’s. Platt Surfboards in Noosa Heads was Mo's first stop followed by time working at Cooper Surfboards in Coffs Harbour and Sky Surfboards in Bryon Bay. He then moved to the Gold Coast in 1977 to work at the Burleigh Surf Co with Dick Van Straalen, Richard Harvey, and a passing parade of up and coming and established shapers. The following years included time glassing for Burfords, Surf More and Kirra Surf. At Kirra Surf in 1988 he set up a busy and successful surfcraft repair business. In 1992 Mo and Neil Decker opened Modek Surf Designs at Currumbin. To this day, Mo can still be found glassing at Modek.

His 47 years in the industry has obviously meant that he has seen it all and worked in all sorts of situations and with all sorts of materials and layups. All the progressions in resins, carbon fibre, kevlar, Inegra and working with PU, polystyrene and wood. A vast knowledge to say the least. He has a fondness for wooden boards himself and would like to share some of his experiences with you. Peter is one on the unsung masters of the surf industry working long days by himself to create beautiful boards by hand.

Join us for a BBQ and a few quiet beers on the deck before checking out our 3 great speakers. When: Saturday 4th of August  Where: Gold Coast Surf Museum 35 Tomewin Street, Currumbin Time: 6.30 for a 7.00pm start (Opp Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary) Phone: 07 5525 6380

Source: Grant Newby

Tags: Wooden Surfboards, Currumbin Alley, Surf Culture, Wood, Surf History,

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