Surf Craft: Design and the Culture of Board Riding (Mit Press)

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A quick rundown of this product’s key features:

The evolution of the surfboard, from traditional Hawaiian folk designs to masterpieces of mathematical engineering to mass-produced fiberglass.

Surfboards were once made of wood and shaped by hand, objects of both cultural and recreational significance. 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. Surf Craft maps this evolution, examining surfboard design and craft with 150 color images and an insightful text. From the ancient Hawaiian alaia, the traditional board of the common people, to the unadorned boards designed with mathematical precision (but built by hand) by Bob Simmons, to the store-bought longboards popularized by the 1959 surf-exploitation movie Gidget, board design reflects both aesthetics and history. 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. He views board design as an exemplary model of mingei, or art of the people, and the craft philosophy of Soetsu Yanagi. Yanagi believed that a design’s true beauty and purpose are revealed when it is put to its intended use. In its purest form, the craft of board building, along with the act of surfing itself, exemplifies mingei. 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.

Surf Craft is published in conjunction with an exhibition at San Diego’s Mingei International Museum.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: L. Berger
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: This is a wonderful book. I bought it for my son who …
Review: This is a wonderful book. I bought it for my son who is a surgeon, and also an avid surfer. The illustrations are beautiful and the book is very informative in a pictorial way, rather than wordy. I noticed he has it on the table in front of his sofa, easy to pick and look at when he watches TV.I would recommend this book as a gift for any surfer who would enjoy the illustrated history of all the different types of boards.

Reviewer: SC John G.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The boards are the stars here…
Review: 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… the boards (and their shapers/history) are the stars here.

Reviewer: GraceSlick17
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Surfs Up🏄‍♂️
Review: Gave this as a gift & it was a hit! Contains a lot of info. Including board measurements!Great for surfers that want more history onThe development of surf boards!🏄‍♂️

Reviewer: Ollie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Wonderful reference book
Review: This book was a Christmas gift for my 14 yr old grandson. He is an avid and accomplished surfer. He was thrilled to add this to his surfing library. He shares it with his Dad. He also gets ideas for surfboard designs and recognizes the classics when he sees one.

Reviewer: Melissa
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Surf enthusiast coffee table book
Review: Great book for the surf or water enthusiast who has everything! Also great coffee table book for a beach house near great surf!

Reviewer: Fernando Melendez
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Wealth of ideas inside!
Review: Bought as gift for someone who not only surfs, but just started shaping his own boards. The content of the book is basically a wealth of ideas and history for the reader and was well received by the crew at the surf shop.

Reviewer: JohnPaul T.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Must have!
Review: Incredible book, high quality photos, perfect for the coffee table.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I am not a surfer, but I purchased it …
Review: I am not a surfer, but I purchased it for someone who is. I found the book very attractive, and I felt it covered much history of the surfboard – both handmade and commercial. This was purchased as a birthday gift, so I’ll have to wait until September to get the surfer’s take!

Reviewer: Mrs Gillian M Clark
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Perfect.

Reviewer: Alisdair
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This book rocks!

Reviewer: JBU
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Pour les passionnés de surf, de shape, ce livre permet de comprendre dmanière chronologique nottamment l’évolution du ou plutot des shapes… avec différents objectifs.Par ailleurs vous aurez des noms de shapers pas forcement médiatisés ms qui méritent d’etre connus…

Reviewer: Cliente Amazon
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Un libro para los amantes de las tablas de surf y el shape. Un recorrido de la evolución de las tablas de surf mediante fotografías de gran calidad. Está en ingles, el libro es más de imagen que de texto. Tapa dura y muy bien presentado. Igual un poco caro pero es un libro que no pasa de moda, es la historia del surf mediante la evolución de las tablas.

Reviewer: Antony
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Very beautyfull book…but arrived with ten pages dameged.. shame about that cause it is very special book

Price effective as of Jun 30, 2025 11:10:24 UTC

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