07 . 03 . 14
Trees and their products can be used for any number of things. We turn timber into wooden surfboards whilst others turn wood fibres into paper, and it is paper and the printed word that we want to celebrate this week. Thursday March 6th was World Book Day, so what better time to share with you a few of the key titles that we have on the bookshelf at the workshop.
Wood – Modern Practical Joinery is one of those wonderful mid-century hardback publications. James’ Grandfather gave him a big box of volumes like this on a variety of practical subjects and it contains, within it’s fragile binding and slightly yellowed pages, everything that you might ever want to know about traditional joinery, illustrated with exquisite pen and ink technical drawings. If you ever see this book or one like it on the shelves of a second hand book store then they’re great points of reference for classic craftsmanship.
Surfboards – Ben Marcus’ compendium of surfboards covers, in 250 colour pages, the history of the surfboard from the ancient Hawaiian olo through to Kelly and AI’s 2005 contest thrusters. If you share a similar fascination with the key item that defines our obsession then this is one for your coffee table.
Design – Cradle to Cradle, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, has plastic pages. It’s a wonderful design text that challenges the reader to look differently at the accepted “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” model that softens the negative impact of the cradle to grave manufacturing model, and instead think about how to design for perpetual use.
Business – Let My People Go Surfing should be essential reading for anybody who runs a business, it really should. Part autobiography and part business textbook, it tells the story of how Yvon Chouinard stuck to his principles, flew in the face of accepted good practice, and built Patagonia into a highly successful and responsible company.
Surfing – Gerry Lopez is one of surfing’s most iconic figures. He is also a very engaging author with an awful lot of great stories to tell about some of the most defining moments in modern surfing. In Surf Is Where You FInd It he writes eloquently and with a great deal of humility for someone who has played such a significant role in surf culture over the past fifty years.
