{"id":1924,"date":"2009-09-07T10:28:15","date_gmt":"2009-09-07T09:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/driftsurfingmagazine.driftdigital.co.uk\/?p=1924"},"modified":"2010-05-10T18:39:32","modified_gmt":"2010-05-10T17:39:32","slug":"keep-it-local-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/driftsurfingmagazine.driftdigital.co.uk\/index.php\/archives\/1924","title":{"rendered":"Keep it local: Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"siebert_opener2\"I first stumbled across Felipe Siebert<\/a> during Floripa Cine Action <\/a> in April this year. (Words by Luciano Burin <\/strong>\u2013 read this article in its original Portuguese on Luciano\u2019s blog www.surfecult.blogspot.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The classic beauty of his longboard and double-fin wooden fish showcased at the event captivated me, and made me think about how difficult it is to pigeonhole surfing as either a sport or an art form.<\/p>\n

In theory, the act of gliding on waves can reach the level of art, as each surfer has the freedom to express himself on a board in the same way that a musician is free to compose, play and sing whatever he wants. But in Brazil, things don\u2019t always work that way. You need only take a quick look at the standardisation that prevails on our beaches and you\u2019ll soon be puzzled by questions like: \u201cWho determined that all surfboards should be 6\u20192 squash-tail thrusters?\u201d \u201cWho decided that all surfboards should be made from polyurethane?\u201d \u201cWhy is every surfer trying to perform the same manoeuvres on every wave?\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a real absence of freedom as a result of this standardisation of surfing. What would happen to music if all musicians were obliged to play rock, with only bass, guitar and drums? Or to art if painters could only produce pictures with a limited colour palette?<\/p>\n

\"surfer-felipe-siebert-foto-fabio-siebert8\"Fortunately, change is on the horizon, with the advent of new forms of surfing and the revival of old practices, as evidenced by the popularity of tow-in surfing, the SUP phenomenon, and the resurgence of interest in classic boards and alaias. This broad mix of approaches to surfing has freedom of expression on a board as its common denominator.<\/p>\n

When I first discovered Siebert Woodcraft Surfboards I thought I had bumped into a vintage California surf brand. But to my surprise, the person responsible for this nostalgia was a 31-year-old fellow here in my hometown Florianopolis who, in 2006, began producing handcrafted hollow-wood style surfboards.<\/p>\n

\"img_1017\"Academically trained in biology and engineering, Felipe is a self-taught shaper who combines a respect for the past with contemporary technology. The results are works of art in their own right, but they also inspire surfers to experiment with new ways of expressing themselves on the waves. To me, Siebert\u2019s work offers a way to escape the sameness and the capitalist stagnation of the surf industry \u2013 he combines a respect for the environment with the recovery of ancient forms of shaping.<\/p>\n

How would you define the spirit of surfing?<\/strong>
\nThis is a very complex issue. Nowadays it is fashionable to be a surfer, but surfing\u2019s roots are as an underground culture \u2013 from its birth in California in the 1950s and 60s to the beginning\u2019s of its popularity in Brazil a little later, it was a mark of rebellion against society. So I believe the true spirit of surfing is to get something creative and different \u2013 the opposite of what happens today, where almost everyone wants to be Kelly Slater. If it were possible for us all to be Slater, it would be interesting, but that is certainly not the case.
\nAvelino Bastos of Tropical Brasil<\/a> (one of the top shapers in Brazil) said recently<\/a>: \u201cIf our strange desire to surf like everybody else went away, I think the future of design would be much better.\u201d I couldn\u2019t have put it better\u2026<\/p>\n

\"img_4842\"What\u2019s the market for classic and longboards like in Brazil?<\/strong>
\nThe longboard scene here is regionalised, being concentrated in Rio de Janeiro, Santos, and Balneario Camboriu. Here in Florian\u00f3polis this culture doesn\u2019t exist \u2013 surfers here think longboards are for beginners or surfers who lack the physical prowess to use short boards.
\nEven though in California, Australia and Europe alternative models like hollow-wood longboards complete a surfer\u2019s quiver, here even surfers with little ability insist on only surfing with the same board they see a WCT pro-surfer use. They forget that we don\u2019t have three-foot plus, offshore clean waves everyday, and that they will eventually spend most of the summer struggling to ride their thin shortboards on the inside section.<\/p>\n

\"img_1025\"How do you see Brazil\u2019s surf culture evolving in relation to the traditional centres of California, Hawaii and Australia?<\/strong>
\nIn California, where classic longboard is big, championships are completely ignored. I follow several websites and magazines and never hear the names of some longboard world champions such as the Hawaiian Bonga Perkins and Brazilian Phil Rajzman, surfers with a more progressive (modern) style.
\nOutside Brazil it seems that surf culture has split into two camps. There\u2019s one set of people who worship the stereotypical surfer of the 1990s: bright, baggy boardies, waxed blonde hair, logo\u2019d-up with all the major brands that sponsor the World Tour. Then there\u2019s this new perspective, with a focus on surfing\u2019s art and culture, which began in Hawaii and was nurtured in California from the 1950s, and has been distorted and developed over these last decades. This new segment emphasises the small and important things in surfing. The surf shops that follow this new trend value local products that can\u2019t be found in other stores; products with soul, for want of a better word, designed by individuals, as opposed to the industrial products manufactured in China by large corporations. This enhances and develops a singular style of surfing, peculiar to each region.
\nIn my experience, though, the majority of people lack the personality to follow their own line, and instead want to be like everyone else. It is easier to go with the crowd than to challenge yourself.<\/p>\n

What or who inspires your work?<\/strong>
\nOne of the things that excites me is to discover more about boards both past and present, and I love the movies and everything else to do with classic surf culture. Films like \u2018One California Day\u2019, \u2018Sprout\u2019, \u2018Lines From a Poem\u2019. I find inspiration in books like \u2018Greg Noll: The Art of the Surfboard\u2019, \u2018Leroy Grannis\u2019, \u2018Stoked\u2019, \u2018Eddie Would Go\u2019. There are so many incredible shapers that influence me: Tom Wegener, Greg Noll, Bing Copeland, Rich Harbor, Hobie Alter, Dale Velzy, Hap Jacobs, Dewey Weber, Gordon & Smith. And the new generation of shapers too, like Robbie Kegel (Gato Heroi), Dave Allee, Paulo Jacinto, Michel Junod, who are marrying functionality and classic style. Then there\u2019s the surfers, like Alex Knost, Tom Wegener, Rasta, Joel Tudor, Tyler Warren, Jimmy Gamboa, CJ Nelson, Dane Perlee, among many others.<\/p>\n

\"img_4161\"You\u2019re one of the pioneers in the manufacture of wooden boards in Brazil; what are your plans for the future?<\/strong>
\nActually, I\u2019m only a pioneer \u2013 or one of them \u2013 if you consider the \u2018post-foam\u2019 generation. In Brazil, even before the arrival of PU boards, we already had wooden models called Madeirite and hollow boards based on designs developed by Tom Blake.
\nThis past year we have had a huge number of orders for boards. We\u2019re also creating a new line of skateboards that should be ready for release in a couple of months.
\nWe\u2019re currently testing some lamination techniques that utilise less-harmful materials as an alternative to resin and woven fibreglass, but I suspect it will be some time before we can stop using the ordinary resins completely. In order for us to use these new materials on a large scale, we must be certain that they have strength and quality that\u2019s at least equal to the materials already in use.
\nI believe that our path will be defined by the choices customers make when they invest in a new board. New techniques and materials invariably come at a higher cost to the consumer \u2013 but hopefully many people will be willing to invest in a clean material as long as it performs as well as those already on the market.<\/p>\n

Felipe has recently collaborated with American artists Jesse Ledoux and Dustin Ortiz, and Brazilian artist (and Drift US blogger) Jair Bortoleto to release a limited-edition surfboard \u2013 it’s the first collaboration between an shaper and an artist in Brazil to create an artist signature model. Find out more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

www.siebertsurfboards.com<\/a>
\nwww.surfecult.blogspot.co<\/a>m<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I first stumbled across Felipe Siebert during Floripa Cine Action in April this year. (Words by Luciano Burin \u2013 read this article in its original Portuguese on Luciano\u2019s blog www.surfecult.blogspot.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,6,3],"tags":[453,454,628,332],"class_list":["post-1924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-angela-rivers","category-goods","category-interviews","tag-brazil","tag-felipe-siebert","tag-luciano-burin","tag-wooden-surfboards"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t