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On patience
When Levi’s® made and crafted™ first approached us to collaborate on a publi-cation that would tell the story of their Spring / Summer 2014 collection, we were thrilled to envision how the experience of urban surfing and creative practice (the topics of our own magazine) might intersect with finely made clothing. We looked to the clothes for inspiration and were struck by the attention to detail and craftsmanship found there. These things, which take both time and care to develop, ultimately led us to the theme of this publication. after all, aren’t details simply a physical manifestation of the word patience? We, at WaX magazine, know a few things about patience. as new York surf-ers, we practice it regularly. We wait for trains. We wait for elevators. We wait for swell. But all that practice doesn’t make it easy. everyone struggles with the idea of patience (even those of us reluctant to admit this out loud). Waiting, going slow, taking your time, doing things right — these can all be extremely difficult. But, like all challenges, there is a payoff in the end, if only you have the persistence to let it come to you. come it does, in many forms: a hard-earned solo session, the crafting of a beautiful object, the construction of a well-made garment. What you have in your hands is the result of our collaboration: a lookbook (with an editorial voice); a magazine (inspired by an iconic brand). it is equal parts WaX magazine and Levi’s® made and crafted™, designed to celebrate the clothing, the people who wear it, the pursuits they enjoy and the time it takes to reach a place of excellence. after all, as the saying goes, good things take time.
Sincerely,aeriel, David, Zak (Founders, WaX magazine)
creative DirectOrS
aeriel Brown David Yun Zak Klauck
cOntriButing eDitOr
abbye churchill
cOntriButOrS
andy Byersabbye churchillJeff Dinunziorob KulisekJeremy LiebmanJohn Lukepavla nešverováJason Walkercarmen Winant
Levi’S® art DirectOrS
matt Wrightparul Sharma
aBOut the patternS in thiS puBLicatiOn
pavla nešverová is a former organist-turned artist. a czech native, her work
has appeared at numerous galleries throughout europe. to create the patterns, nešverová took scenes from two classic surf films —The Fantastic Plastic Machine (1969) and Sea of Joy (1971) —and manipulated them in the program max (a visual programming language for sound and video).
WaX magazine is a bi-annual print publication exploring the intersection of art, culture and surfing in and around new York city. each issue shares the stories of area surfers, artists, designers, authors and auteurs — all organized around a unique theme. www.readwax.com
One hundred and forty years ago, Levi Strauss invented a simple blue jean that would forever change the way america, and the rest of the world, dressed. Levi’s® made and crafted™ builds on this legacy by designing tomorrow’s classics using today’s best materials and con-struction techniques. www.levismadeandcrafted.com
I LIStENINg
6 MIKEY & LISA by Abbye Churchill
18 IN thE SKYby Jeremy Liebman
24 FIrSt WAvE by John Luke
II WAtChINg
36 INtErLuDEby rob Kulisek
38 WALKINg rOCKAWAYby rob Kulisek with Jason Walker
52 SAND ShOrESby Jeremy Liebman
62 SECOND WAvEby John Luke
III WAItINg
82 turNINg tIDESby Carmen Winant
86 trY, trY, trY AgAINby Jeff DiNunzio
94 SKY MEEtS SEAby Jeremy Liebman
102 thIrD WAvEby John Luke
From Sky to Sea
WAX Magazine spoke with two of Levi’s® Made and Crafted™ designers, MILES JOhNSON and AYLIN BEYCE, about their process and inspiration for the Spring /Summer 2014 collection.
WAXThe inspiration for the collection came from the word surf and the phrase, “where the sky and the ocean meet.” how did the design team arrive on this concept?
AylinSurf is such a wonderful jumping off point, isn’t it? It’s a word that immediately creates an impression, yet it’s still loose and lends itself to interpretation — there are so few words like that. You can go in so many directions. We were all very interested in things like the hypnotic pull of the moon on the earth or the tides or the texture of sand. Interpreting surf this way felt very fresh. This is how the phrase came about.
WAXhow do the designers, as a team, follow through on a concept like this from idea to final product?
AylinWe start by collecting images that define the phrase in our minds. In this instance, we pulled images of the horizon, moon charts, tide charts…
MilESthen, we started thinking about how to incorporate our impressions into the clothes. For instance, we started thinking about techniques like salt-washing or wind-drying or incorporating reflective or iridescent patterns.
AylinFor the fabrics, we looked to light, playful colors one might see at the beach — corals, aquas or ‘sun’ yellow. We balanced those more vibrant
colors with a pallete of silver grey, white and shades of indigo.
WAXAre there specific pieces that stand out for you as being particularly representative of sand, surf or sky?
MilESAlmost all of the pieces have a strong link back to the story, but I particularly like the sun fade effects we’ve done and the dry-textured, handmade feel to some of the fabrics.
AylinThe theme naturally lends itself to a lot of visual expressions. You’ll notice that all of the graphics in the collection reflect waves or the gradients of the horizon. The denim trucker jackets, for example, were constructed with different shades of blue to create an indigo tidal gradient. We also spent a lot of time thinking about about how the various fabrics might react to the elements found at the beach. We asked ourselves, ‘What happens to denim in the sun, sand and saltwater? What elements does fabric let in, what elements does it protect us from?’ We let these ques-tions guide both our washes and how we constructed the clothing.
WAXIt’s funny you should mention the gradated patterns and lines. They are some of our favorite details in the collection. Can you talk about how they came about? What inspired them?
MilESThe gradated pattern and line graphics really summarize the collection. They are — quite literally — our visual interpretation of where the sea meets the sky.
WAXWhen you design, who do you see in these clothes?
Aylinthe collection is versatile. It can be worn to the beach or, when just
daydreaming about the beach while running around the city.
MilESThe clothes are fun and sophisticated. The clothes are just as easy to wear off the sand as on it.
2 3
Introduction Contents
Mikey & Lisa
talking style, surf and the art of
filmmaking while waiting for swell in
Montauk.Photography by rob Kulisek / Interview by Abbye Churchill
Patience
6
Mikey & Lisa
7
AbbyE ChurChill:With homes in Brooklyn and Montauk, how do you divide your time?
MikEy DETEMplE:Lisa’s always out here [in Montauk] on her days off. During the warmer months, I’m pretty much in Montauk full time. In the wintertime, the waves dictate when I’m out here because it’s pretty boring if there aren’t waves.
AbbyE:It must be nice to have a sense of the city life and then this bucolic escape.
MikEy:Oh, it’s the best. Doing what I do would be pretty difficult if I wasn’t able to mix the two.
liSA MyErS:I love going out to Montauk. It lets me do what I want to do in life. Before, I was actually thinking of leav-ing New York in general because I just wasn’t happy. I lost my purpose. having surfing and Montauk in my life is so much healthier.
AbbyE:how do you negotiate those two worlds?
liSA:It’s difficult because I want to be out there so much. I’m constantly thinking about being out being there, looking at the surf report. When I have my days off out there, I have Mikey waking me up at six in the morning. I can’t wait one second.
AbbyE:Mikey, going back in time, how did you first dis-cover surfing? I read that when you were little, you preferred going to the beach but you didn’t want to get in the water. What was the “ah ha” moment for you when it all came together?
MikEy:the beach has always been a part of my life. My parents met surfing in New York in the ’70s. I grew up going to the beach but I hated the water. It was always a terrifying thing to me. I used to spend a lot of time with my mom at the beach. She got me to let go of the fear and go out on my own. I would boogie board every day, all day long; my dad would
Mikey Detemple wasn’t always so enamored with surfing. growing up on Long Island, and raised by a surfing family, the sport was always in Detemple’s consciousness, it just wasn’t something he participated in. But that all changed when he turned twelve. today, he’s a pro surfer with numerous titles and the owner of a film production company, high Seas Films, which explores the luscious imagery and exotic locales of the sport. Detemple has, very firmly, made surfing his way of life. Detemple proudly calls New York his home. Well, his two homes, to be exact. to satisfy his waterfront habit, Detemple and his girlfriend, Lisa Myers share a cozy place in Montauk, right in the heart of the Long Island surfing community. And, to satiate Myers’s lifelong passion for fashion (she is currently at Stella McCartney; previously at Lanvin), the dynamic couple share a second home in Brooklyn. It is a balancing act to be certain — between city and country life, between fashion, film and the surfing lifestyle — but one which both have embraced with open arms.
Patience
8
Mikey & Lisa
9
haze me for it. “I can’t believe you’re boogie board-ing. Why don’t you just stand up?” then I found his first surfboard in our garage. I thought, ‘I would feel pretty cool bringing this thing to the beach.’ I never touched the boogie board again after that.
AbbyE:Were there any pieces of advice that your parents, as veteran surfers, passed along to you?
MikEy:My dad always instilled in me how important style was with surfing. there was a point where I was trying to win everything I could win and he was like,
“Whatever you do, don’t lose your style.” that was something that really stayed with me throughout my entire surfing career and beyond: the importance of style. that’s translated to everything, I think.
AbbyE:Lisa, has Mikey given you any nuggets of wisdom to help with your surfing?
liSA:In the beginning, he would try and push me to go out when the waves were a little bigger than I was comfortable with. he was like, ‘this is how you learn.’ the waves weren’t big for him, but big by my standards. I prefer to go out when it’s my baby waves because I can pay more attention to my technique. Now, I’m selective about when I go out, what the day’s like. Every time I go out I feel like I’m learning. But, I want to learn more. I want to get pushed more. It’s also just fun to be out there with Mikey because he loves it so much and I want to be a part of that.
AbbyE:Mikey, how did you transition from your love of surfing to making films? When did high Sea Films start?
MikEy:It all came together on a trip to the Maldives in 2006. I was there with a couple guys from Australia and a photographer. It was one of the most amazing trips I’ve been on. And, no one was recording. I thought, ‘this would be such a crazy trip to shoot on film.’ I had a video camera with me; I shot video the whole time. And, I just thought, ‘I’ve got to go on trips and start shooting video of all these places.’ the next year, every trip that I did, I brought a video guy with me. I wanted to make a film not necessarily
about what I did alone, but about the trips that I went on and who I went on them with and what we did together. And, that was how my first film, Picaresque, was made.
AbbyE:You shot your first film, Picaresque, on 16mm film and then your follow up, Sight Sound on a combina-tion of film and digital. how do you like working with both formats?
MikEy:visually, I love the feeling that film gives. But now I’m a fan of digital, too. there’s no way I’d be able to make these shorts [I’ve been doing] if I were shoot-ing them on film unless I was getting thousands of dollars every time. Digital lets me actually do stuff, while keeping the cost low and still making beautiful images.
AbbyE:Lisa, have you gotten the bug? have you gotten any desire to begin making films from watching Mikey work?
MikEy:that’s such a good question. I like that question.
liSA:Yeah, for sure. When Mikey is making a film, I stay with him late into the morning. I have become attached to the process. When we went to Costa rica together, he let me shoot some footage. We keep talking about doing it more, but when the waves are good, it’s hard to be anywhere else. I would definitely love to get into it more.
MikEy:She’s a natural at it.
AbbyE:I can’t wait to see the first collaboration.
On Mikey: Parka / Peacoat. Crew Fleece / White Multicheck. One Pocket Shirt / Brilliant White Oxford. tack / Lagoon.
— On Lisa: turnout Blazer Jacket / Blue Sapphire. Endless Shirt / Blue Sapphire Ditsy Waves. Marker / Spirit.
Patience
12
Mikey & Lisa
13
In the Sky
Photography by Jeremy Liebman
Patience
18 19
Delivery One: November – DecemberPa
rka /
Pea
coat
. Cre
w F
leec
e / W
hite
Mul
tich
eck.
Patience
20 21
In the Sky
Bom
ber J
acke
t / Im
peri
al B
lue
Sued
e. B
ow t
ie /
Blu
e St
ripe
Oxf
ord.
O
ne P
ocke
t Shi
rt /
Blu
e St
ripe
Oxf
ord.
tac
k / S
ea B
reez
e.
Park
a / P
eaco
at. B
reak
er t
unic
/ B
lue
red
Wav
es.
Bea
u B
oyfr
iend
/ B
lue
Swel
l.
Park
a / P
eaco
at. C
rew
Fle
ece /
Whi
te M
ulti
chec
k. t
ack
/ Sea
Bre
eze.
tur
nout
Bla
zer J
acke
t / B
lue
Sapp
hire
. E
ndle
ss S
hirt
/ B
lue
Sapp
hire
Dit
sy W
aves
. Em
pire
/ M
otio
n.
Patience
22 23
In the Sky
First Wave
Wom
en’s
tur
nout
Bla
zer J
acke
t / B
lue
Sapp
hire
.r
ever
sibl
e fa
bric
.
Wom
en’s
tur
nout
Bla
zer J
acke
t / B
lue
Sapp
hire
.
Photography by John Luke
Patience
24 25
Delivery One: November – December
Wom
en’s
Bea
u B
oyfr
iend
/ B
lue
Swel
l.M
en’s
Nee
dle /
Spl
inte
red.
Wom
en’s
Bea
u B
oyfr
iend
/ B
lue
Swel
l.h
and
scra
ped
and
spon
ged
finis
h.Patience
26 27
First Wave
Wom
en’s
End
less
Shi
rt /
Blu
e Sa
pphi
re D
itsy
Wav
es.
100%
silk
fabr
ic.
Wom
en’s
Bre
aker
tun
ic /
Blu
e r
ed W
aves
.D
itsy
wav
es p
atte
rn.
Patience
28 29
First Wave
Men
’s B
ombe
r Jac
ket /
Impe
rial
Blu
e Su
ede.
100%
goa
t sue
de.
Men
’s B
ombe
r Jac
ket /
Impe
rial
Blu
e Su
ede.
Patience
30 31
First Wave
Men
’s Pa
rka /
Pea
coat
. Lea
ther
inte
rior
pla
cket
.
Men
’s O
uter
wea
r: P
arka
/ Pe
acoa
t. M
ac C
oat /
Lon
don
Fog.
B
ombe
r Jac
ket /
Impe
rial
Blu
e Su
ede.
Lea
ther
Bik
er J
acke
t / B
lue
Bla
ck.
Patience
32 33
First Wave
6:00 6:30
8:00 8:30
10:00 10:30
7:00
9:00
11:00
7:30
9:30
11:30
Photography by rob Kulisek
Patience
36 37
Interlude
Walking rockaway
the distance from Brooklyn is so
close, it’s walkable, but getting there
takes stamina and a little bit of
tenacity.Photography by rob Kulisek and Jason Walker
Phot
o by
rob
Kul
isek
.
38
Patience
39
Walking rockaway
On Jason: trucker Jacket / Stonebleach. regular tee / Blue Dash. Needle / Splintered. 32oz Denim Bag / Selvedge Denim.
Phot
o by
rob
Kul
isek
.
Phot
o by
Jas
on W
alke
r.
Patience
50 51
Walking rockaway
Sand ShoresA
ngel
s Sho
rt S
leev
e Sh
irt /
Sto
ryti
me
Blu
e.
Photography by Jeremy Liebman
Patience
52 53
Delivery two: January – February
tru
cker
Jac
ket /
Mid
Was
h. W
omen
’s Fa
r Out
tan
k / C
orn
Silk
Dit
sy.
Pool
side
Ski
rt /
Stor
ytim
e B
lue.
haw
aiia
n Sh
irt /
Mul
ti W
aves
. LM
C t
ee /
Star
Whi
te.
Dro
p O
ut P
ant /
Den
im.
Patience
54 55
Sand Shores
Bay
Dre
ss /
Bri
ght A
qua
Dit
sy.
Kni
t Car
diga
n / B
lue
Sapp
hire
. reg
ular
tee
/ r
ed W
hite
Blu
e. S
poke
/ La
goon
. Patience
56 57
Sand Shores
haw
aiia
n Sh
irt /
Mul
ti W
aves
. LM
C t
ee /
Star
Whi
te.
Ang
els S
hort
Sle
eve
Shir
t / S
tory
tim
e B
lue.
Pin
s Cro
pped
/ C
loud
y W
hite
Ble
ach.
Patience
58 59
Sand Shores
Luxe
Shi
rt /
Whi
te. r
olle
r tan
k / S
tar W
hite
. Mar
ker /
Blo
wou
t.
Bla
zer /
Boa
ting
Str
ipe.
But
ton
Dow
n Sh
irt /
Blu
e C
heck
boar
d.Th
umb
tack
Cro
pped
/ r
igid
.Patience
60 61
Sand Shores
Second Wave
Men
’s D
rop
Out
Pan
t / D
enim
. Dra
wst
ring
wai
stba
nd.
Wom
en’s
tru
cker
Jac
ket /
Mid
Was
h. C
ontr
ast s
hade
s of d
enim
.
Photography by John Luke
Patience
62 63
Delivery two: January – February
Wom
en’s
Ang
els S
hort
Sle
eve
Shir
t / S
tory
tim
e B
lue.
Wom
en’s
Pool
side
Ski
rt /
Stor
ytim
e B
lue.
Blu
e M
oon
all o
ver p
rint
.Patience
64 65
Second Wave
Men
’s h
awai
ian
Shir
t / M
ulti
Wav
es.
Men
’s h
awai
ian
Shir
t / M
ulti
Wav
es. M
ulti
wav
e gr
adie
nt p
rint
Patience
66 67
Second Wave
Luxu
riou
s Sil
ks fo
r Wom
en: F
ar O
ut t
ank
/ Sug
ar C
oral
. Bea
ch J
acke
t / B
righ
t Aqu
a.
Far O
ut t
ank
/ Cor
n Si
lk D
itsy
. End
less
Shi
rt /
Bri
ght W
hite
.
Wom
en’s
Luxe
Shi
rt /
Whi
te. S
oft c
otto
n vo
ile.
Patience
68 69
Second Wave
Men
’s Th
umb
tack
/ r
igid
. Cop
per r
ivet
s.
Men
’s Th
umb
tack
/ r
igid
.Patience
70 71
Second Wave
Wom
en’s
Mar
ker /
Blo
wou
t. r
ippe
d an
d re
pair
ed.
Wom
en’s
Mar
ker /
Blo
wou
t.Patience
72 73
Second Wave
Men
’s B
laze
r / B
oati
ng S
trip
e. In
teri
or p
ocke
t.
Men
’s g
radi
ent P
atte
rns:
Bre
ton
tee /
Blu
e Sa
pphi
re S
trip
e. B
utto
n D
own
Shir
t / A
mer
ican
Bea
uty
Wav
es. S
hort
Sle
eve
Shir
t / B
lue
Che
ckbo
ard.
B
utto
n D
own
Shir
t / B
lue
moo
n g
rada
tion
. But
ton
Dow
n Sh
irt /
Blu
e C
heck
boar
d.
Patience
74 75
Second Wave
12:00 12:30
14:00 14:30
16:00 16:30
13:00
15:00
17:00
13:30
15:30
17:30
Photography by rob Kulisek
Patience
76 77
Interlude
turning tides
unraveling the relationship
between the moon and our maritime
experiences.
We turn the tide, are tided over, drift with the tide. These linguistic meta-phors for the continual rise and fall of the ocean have been harnessed by writers the world over to describe romance, life force (or respiration), renewal, temperament, the steadiness of life and also its inevitable disappointments. The Oxford dictionary defines the tide as a powerful surge of feeling, which is perhaps the most astute understanding of the phenomenon I’ve ever heard. Most non-experts are aware of the relationship between the moon and the tide, and they usually agree that it seems almost metaphysical. It’s easy to figure that gravity, proximity, lunar phases, atmosphere, solar system, eclipses, magnetism, relativity, mass, the earth’s axis and its distance to the sun play a part in how the sea rises and falls, but the physics are more uncertain. how do the sea and the sky communicate and transmute energy? Like any dependent relationship, symbiosis is complicated and uneven; they both need one another, but in very different ways. The story is complicated so I’ll make it simple: the moon orbits around earth and together they rotate around the sun. As it rotates, the moon pulls at the earth—like a magnet in search of a reverse charge—trying to draw it ever closer. But the dense satellite is no match for our planet, which is three times larger and exerts ten million times the gravity. We hold on. What the moon can do, the only thing it can muster with its limited gravitational force, is attract the water. Water is harder to hold onto than land (perhaps you’ve noticed that you can’t catch it?) since it’s not rooted and is always moving. Oceans appear to bulge at the horizon line not only because the earth is round, but in fact because they are reaching away from the ground and towards the moon. Another slightly more subdued bulge, called a ‘sympathetic bulge,’ occurs on the side of the earth not facing the moon. And throughout this routine choreography, the earth never ceases to rotate on its axis,
“The tides, when the Moon swung closer, rose so high nobody could hold them back. There were nights when the Moon was full and very, very low, and the tide was so high that the Moon missed a dunking in the sea by a hair’s-breadth.”
—Italo Calvino, “The Distance of the Moon”
text by Carmen Winant
Patience
82 83
Waves take time
causing inconsistencies in the sea level as it reaches shore. These are tides, as we know them: every twelve hours and twenty-five minutes (as the moon is also rotating along with the earth), oceans on both sides of the globe rise and fall, rise and fall as whole oceans are stretched and released, stretched and released. I’ll return to the sun here, which is often left out of the story as it has less gravity than the moon and is also a little less sexy, a little too brassy. When the moon is big and ripe—a full moon, for instance—it’s because it has aligned with the sun relative to the earth and formed a single, straight line in outer space. As a result of level positioning, the moon’s magnetism is combined with that of the sun, which also pulls at the earth with distant gravitational force. On those nights—called ‘spring tides’—high tides are very high and low tides are very low. The sea is wild and bridled all at once. It’s an invisible lure, a pitch frequency, a siren song. Four times a year the sun and the moon stand at a right angle to one another; they are perpendicular to one another with regard to the earth. These are quarter moons and they cause ‘neap tides.’ During these episodes, the “bulges” in the ocean cancel one another out, and the high and low tides are very, very weak. Perhaps you’ve noticed. here’s a story about the spring tide and the neap tide: In the twenty-nine year history of Alcatraz, the water-bound penitentiary, thirty-six prisoners attempted to escape from the island and cross the mile and half of water to shore. Of them, only five men remain unac-counted for, all of whom fled at night. unlike the others who relied on tricks and diversions, it is reported that these men studied the San Francisco Bay. They understood, somehow, that the moon (it’s shape, it’s size, it’s relative closeness to the earth) profoundly affected the water’s swell, and the tides were their only real chance of absconding to freedom. They patiently observed from their cell windows, these old and young men—many of them feared gangsters, though a few petty criminals—that when the moon was full, the Bay was at its most wild. After waiting until the just right evening, the prisoners took their leave of that place only when they could be carried out. The water that held the prisoners captive on that rock was the only agent that could set them free of it. how did they know the time was right? A powerful surge of feelings. An innate sense. A strong attraction. It’s metaphysical that way.
Phot
o by
rob
Kul
isek
8584
Waves take timePatience
try, try, try Again
in a Brooklyn warehouse,
surfboard shaper David Murphy
proves that perseverance (and unconventiality)
pays off.Photography by rob Kulisek / text by Jeff DiNunzio
Patience
86 87
try, try, try Again
That Murphy grew up skateboarding in dried out pools in backyards in land-locked texas is about the only detail of his life that may have suggested a career making surfboards was unlikely. he’s been working with his hands for most of his life. he learned to sculpt in grade school and continued as a student at hampshire College in Massachusetts, worked as a carpenter building frames for homes, and made films and arranged theatrical lighting. utilitarianism is a living doctrine in his life. And Murphy is, most certainly, useful. In 1997, after hopping freight trains across the country to capture scenes for his final college docu-mentary film thesis, Murphy arrived in New York City. “I moved into a
warehouse space in DuMbO for a hundred-fifty a month, splitting it with three guys, no heat,” Murphy remembers of his first primitive home in the city. he then squatted across the East river in Lower Manhattan before returning to Brooklyn, always keeping his hands active — once in a minor fit of protest, building transmitters for community pirate radio stations. Murphy’s functional cunning, however, is not limited to inanimate objects. Nearly fifteen years ago, he blew out his back skateboarding. he tried everything other than surgery and drugs; nothing helped. he limped on. Murphy visited a guy who prac-tices what he does now, “and after one session I wasn’t limping anymore,” a healed Murphy recalls. “I walked
out of his office, got halfway down the block, and sort of rearranged my life. Said, ‘That’s going to be my next career.’” It’s called rolfing, named for Ida rolf, the Columbia university Ph.D. who discovered the therapy method more than fifty years ago. She understood the body as a network of integrated tissue rather than simply a collection of individual compo-nents — and that gravity will eventually exacerbate imbalances in the body, leading to pain and decreased flex-ibility. According to the rolf Institute of Structural Integration in Colorado, rolfing essentially links chiropractic adjustments — which focus on the skeleton — and massage therapy that targets muscles by incorporating
David Murphy is pacing behind a curtain. Throughout his fourth-floor workshop, air constantly swirls in unseen patterns, carrying with it a din of white noise — occasional exhales of a paint sprayer and the hum of the AC in the back corner window that peers south over the rest of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The trim, six-foot-two Murphy applies even coats of clear resin to protect the smoky navy blue deck of a nine-foot longboard. he strides and sprays in equal measure. Another few layers and an hour later, he’ll flip the board over and repeat the same steps on the bottom. Meanwhile, there’s always something to be done. While each clear coat dries, he continues mixing resins. Much like the ocean, where for the last six years his custom, handmade and often atypically shaped surfboards have carved the waves of south shore Long Island, David Murphy is always in motion.
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try, try, try Again
elements of both. Athletes, dancers and children are just some of the estimated one million people who have benefitted from rolfing therapy. And including Murphy, whose back troubles have long inhibited his physical activity, surfers too. rolfing, Murphy told me, also seeks to foster a perceptual change in the way patients observe their bodies in the space they occupy — connecting mind and body. From that, rolfing may ease chronic pain and improve freedom of movement. It saved Murphy’s life. So much so that a decade ago, he traveled to remote north central Washington, slightly east of the Cascades at a bend in the Methow river, to train at the Institute of Structural Medicine. If the few Yelp reviews are any indication, Murphy provides five-star handiwork. he rehabs clients three days a week,
“and the rest of the time I’m in my shop.” As in rolfing, Murphy seeks balance, and for him that comes in the form of building surfboards for repaired bodies to ride. Back at the shop, the faint grays streaking through his burly beard are easier to spot in the bright light, and in the soft shade of a MacBook scroll bar, the cool blue of his eyes is magnetic. The shop noticeably lacks the pungent stench of chemicals — of the polyester often used to glass surf-boards. That’s because Murphy uses the least harmful materials possible to construct his vehicles: recycled EPS foam, repurposed wood, water-based resins. Spray paint is about the worst product in Murphy’s shop. A dozen boards stand in varying degrees of completion along the racks against the wall. the cork-boards catch my eye — as they do many of New York’s surfboard geeks. Not long ago, Murphy’s curiosity drew him to investigate cork as a viable surf-board building material. he noticed northern California shaper Danny hess incorporating cork in his designs, and found a guy in Florida doing the same thing. So Murphy tried himself, binding cork decks to the bodies of his foam boards and sealing them under layers of fiberglass. Now he’s experimenting with exposed cork decks; the resin beneath the cork
seals it to the board, but the top is not laminated. No wax required. “Cork is the ultimate composite material,” explains Murphy. “It’s lighter, it’s cheaper, it’s more impact resistant, it’s easier to work with, it gives a really nice flex pattern.” The boards look like nothing I’d ever seen — much to the delight of his customers. Murphy never set out to make a business of building surfboards. he was dissatisfied by an alaia (a thin wooden board with no fins) made by California’s Jon Wegener. the handyman naturally asked himself the obvious question: why not just make my own? Friends who rode Murphy’s personal boards soon wanted their own, which Murphy sold under the label Inner Circle. As his renown grew, so too did the perceived pretension of his brand name. “New York feels like this weird backwater, where I’m picking it up as I go along,” Murphy, who never worked as an apprentice like other shapers, says of learning the craft. From that attitude came a suggestion from a friend for a more compelling, inclusive label: Imaginary Surf Company. Murphy’s approach landed him a small retail deal in downtown Manhattan. he had been shaping wooden handplanes for bodysurfing at the time he met Josh rosen — one of the three owners of the boutique Saturdays Surf shop in the city. Murphy stopped by, got talking to rosen. rosen remembers seeing Murphy later surfing at rockaway Beach, riding one of his cork-boards.
“We chatted about it for a bit and that’s when I learned that he shaped boards, as well as handplanes,” says rosen. Shortly after, Murphy’s handplanes arrived on Saturdays’ shelves. Murphy’s boards, however, are harder to find. he makes almost all of them to order, although a few exist at a shop in the hamptons and a Patagonia store in Japan. Murphy meets many of his clients like he did rosen. Corey Smith, a lithe, tattooed 22-year old transient who grew up surfing in Florida and moved to New York a year ago, met Murphy at a party in February. The pair hit it off, and surfed together a week later when the next
frigid winter swell arrived. “I surfed one his boards, this egg-shaped quad,” Smith recalls. “It worked really well, but it was a little big for me.” Murphy built a board made of paulownia wood for the shorter, lighter Smith.
“I’ve ridden it three times. It’s going to be a great summertime board, really strong,” Smith says, anticipating New York’s small wave season. Murphy plans to halt his hand-plane production after the summer to focus on making stock board shapes and to continue experi-menting with designs. “I’m hoping to come out with a series of templates based on nACA foils,” Murphy reveals. the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics — a precursor to nASA — was formed in 1915 to help the u.S. compete with Europe’s burgeoning aviation industry. nASA absorbed the agency in 1958, but not before nACA produced a series of airfoil designs to apply to airplane wing construction in the 1930s. Murphy believes he can translate those calcu-lations into surfboards that perform as well as any. It’s that mentality, an unrelenting curiosity, the ability to assemble success from failure and elbow grease, that carries Murphy. Be it sculpting, hardwiring radio transmitters, or healing bodies, Murphy knows his most effective tools are his hands, which can only be powered by his mind. Who knows if in the future surfboards will exhaust him? If they do, there’s little doubt he’ll tackle his next venture with the same precision. When I head for the door, Murphy pulls his mask back over his bristly beard, and returns his attention to the longboard, only a few laps from the finish. The spray gun fires again as I walk down the hall. I make a note to pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
On David: Classic Shirt / Indigo Flowers. Drop Out Shorts / Indigo Big Weave.
—On Chris: Big Shirt / Star White. Spoke / Khaki.
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try, try, try Again
Ang
els S
hort
Sle
eve
Shir
t / B
righ
t Whi
te. I
ndig
o M
esh
Scar
f / In
digo
Dye
.
Sky Meets Sea
Photography by Jeremy Liebman
Patience
94 95
Delivery Three: February – March
Ang
els S
hort
Sle
eve
Shir
t / B
righ
t Whi
te. E
mpi
re S
hort
s / A
fter
noon
Whi
sper
s.
Big
Shi
rt /
Ligh
t Blu
e.Patience
96 97
Sky Meets Sea
Cla
ssic
Shi
rt /
Indi
go F
low
ers.
Spo
ke /
Indi
go W
affle.
Indi
go h
at /
Indi
go D
ye.
Ang
els S
hort
Sle
eve
Shir
t / B
righ
t Whi
te. E
mpi
re S
hort
s / A
fter
noon
Whi
sper
s.In
digo
Mes
h Sc
arf /
Indi
go D
ye.
Patience
98 99
Sky Meets Sea
End
less
Shi
rt /
Blu
e D
oubl
e C
loth
. Bea
u B
oyfr
iend
/ r
ogue
.
Big
Shi
rt /
Ligh
t Blu
e. D
rop
Out
Sho
rts /
Indi
go B
ig W
eave
.Patience
100 101
Sky Meets Sea
Third Wave
Men
’s B
ig S
hirt
/ Li
ght B
lue.
Wom
en’s
Bea
u B
oyfr
iend
/ r
ogue
. han
d sa
nded
, sto
new
ashe
d an
d bl
each
ed.
Photography by John Luke
Patience
102 103
Delivery Three: February – March
Men
’s D
rop
Out
Sho
rt /
Indi
go B
ig W
eave
.W
omen
’s E
mpi
re S
hort
s / A
fter
noon
Whi
sper
s.
Men
’s D
rop
Out
Sho
rt /
Indi
go B
ig W
eave
. All
natu
ral i
ndig
o w
oven
fabr
ic.
Patience
104 105
Third Wave
tye
Dye
Acc
esso
ries
: Ind
igo
Can
vas B
ag /
Indi
go D
ye.
Indi
go t
ie /
Indi
go D
ye.
Men
’s C
lass
ic S
hirt
/ In
digo
Flo
wer
s. In
teri
or p
rint
ed fa
bric
.
Men
’s A
ll N
atur
al In
digo
Dye
s: B
laze
r / In
digo
Waffl
e. C
lass
ic S
hirt
/ In
digo
Flo
wer
s. M
en’s
Dro
p O
ut P
ant /
Den
im.
Cla
ssic
Shi
rt /
Indi
go W
affle.
Dri
ll Sh
orts
/ In
digo
Waffl
e. t
ack
/ Ind
igo
Wav
es. D
rill
Chi
no /
Indi
go B
ig W
eave
.
Patience
106 107
Third Wave
Indi
go h
at /
Indi
go D
ye.
Indi
go C
anva
s Bag
/ In
digo
Dye
. tye
dye
moo
n.
Indi
go h
at /
Indi
go D
ye. A
ll na
tura
l ind
igo
tye
dye.
Patience
108 109
Third Wave
Men
’s D
rill
Shor
ts /
Indi
go W
affle.
Wom
en’s
Em
pire
Sho
rt /
Aft
erno
on W
hisp
ers.
Wom
en’s
Ble
ache
d Fi
nish
es: E
mpi
re C
ropp
ed /
Coa
stli
ne. E
mpi
re /
Clo
ud B
each
. B
eau
Boy
frie
nd /
rog
ue. E
mpi
re C
ropp
ed /
Aft
erno
on W
hisp
ers.
Pin
s Cro
pped
/ C
loud
y W
hite
Bea
ch.
Patience
110 111
Third Wave
Pins Skinny fit, low rise, skinny leg
Pins Zipper fly opening, 7 1/2” front rise,
13 3/4” knee, 10 1/4” leg opening
010
90
010
90
114
Front
115
Back
EmpireSkinny fit, mid rise, skinny leg
Empire Zipper fly opening, 9” front rise, 13 3/4” knee, 10 1/2” leg opening
Empire CroppedSkinny fit, mid rise, skinny leg
Empire CroppedZipper fly opening, 9” front rise, 13 3/4” knee, 10 1/2” leg opening
tenderSlim fit, low rise, bootcut leg
tenderZipper fly opening, 7 1⁄5” front rise,
14 3/4” knee, 18 1/2” leg opening
0114
0
1149
201
092
0114
0
1149
201
092
Pins CroppedSkinny fit, low rise, cropped leg
Pins CroppedZipper fly opening, 7 1/2” front rise,
13 3/4” knee, 10 1/4” leg opening
130
03
130
03
116
Front
117
Back
MarkerBoyfriend fit, mid rise, tapered leg
MarkerZipper fly opening, 9” front rise,
15 1⁄5” knee, 12 3/4” leg opening
Slim ChinoSlim fit, low rise, tapered leg
Slim ChinoZipper fly opening, 10” front rise,
15 1/2” knee, 12 1/2” leg opening
Beau BoyfriendBoyfriend fit, high rise, tapered leg
Beau BoyfriendZipper fly opening, 10 1⁄5” front rise,
16” knee, 13 1/4” leg opening
0181
0
1119
013
090
0181
0
1119
013
090
FluteSlim fit, mid rise, straight leg
FluteZipper fly opening, 9” front rise,
14 3/4” knee, 14 1/2” leg opening
1120
0
1120
0
118
Front
119
Back
tackSlim fit, regular rise, slim leg
tackZipper fly opening, 10 ⅝” front rise,
16 1/4” knee, 14 1/2” leg opening
0508
1
0508
1
120
Front
121
Back
rulerStraight fit, regular rise, straight leg
ruler Button fly opening, 10 3/4” front rise,
18” knee, 15 3/4” leg opening
NeedleNarrow fit, regular rise, skinny leg
NeedleZipper fly opening, 10 1⁄5” front rise,
16 1⁄5” knee, 13 3/4” leg opening
ShuttleSlim fit, mid rise, tapered leg
ShuttleZipper fly opening, 11 1/2” front rise,
16 ⅞” knee, 13 ⅞” leg opening
Cutterrelaxed fit, mid-waist, straight leg
CutterZipper fly opening, 10 3/4” front rise,
19” knee, 16 1/2” leg opening
5910
959
090
0505
559
118
5910
959
090
0505
559
118
122
Front
123
Back
Spoke ChinoSlim fit, regular rise, slim leg
Spoke ChinoZipper fly opening, 10 1/8” front rise,
17” knee, 14 1/2” leg opening
Drill ChinoStraight fit, regular rise, tapered leg
Drill ChinoButton fly opening, 11 3/8” front rise,
18 3/4” knee, 15” leg opening
Thumb tackSlim fit, regular rise, slim leg
Thumb tack Button fly opening, 10 3/4” front rise,
16 1/4” knee, 14 1/2” leg opening
Drop Out PantLoose fit, regular rise, dropped crotch,
tapered leg
Drop Out PantZipper fly opening, 13 3/8” front rise,
17 ⅝” knee, 14 1/4” leg opening
590
7305
131
5912
105
136
590
7305
131
5912
105
136
124
Front
125
Back
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