Paul J. Schmidt - Paul Surf

Rockaway Beach, New York

A poetry degree, a carpenter father and a past life making glass chandeliers. Paul J. Schmidt brought an unusual set of tools into surfboard building. At Paul Surf, he shapes, glasses and finishes each board himself inside a converted shipping container in Rockaway Beach.

The chandelier work fed into a gravity-driven resin technique that gives his color gradients their particular control. The rest comes down to curves, hands and time in the water. One maker following the whole thing through, from raw blank to final finish. Quite a lot going on inside that container.