Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
Attending a course to make a wooden surfboard is, for many of our customers, the culmination of many months or even years of day-dreaming and either saving up or waiting for a suitable bit of clear space in their diary. During that time some immerse themselves in the anticipation, and a few ask about the options available for customising their surfboard even further so that they end up with a unique surfboard, as well as having had a unique...
New Year, New Model Sometimes we set out to design and make a new wooden surfboard model, and sometimes one develops seemingly organically. The...
As one calendar year clicks over into the next, we like to take the opportunity to pause and reflect on the twelve months just passed so that we can...
"It is the story of how I built a surfboard when I never thought I could, and what it's like to build a company when I never thought I would." In...
As autumn ends here in Cornwall yet more neoprene is taken out of the backs of sheds and garages to help us keep surfing through the winter. We’ve...
This last week we’ve been caretaking a book that is both very rare, and incredibly relevant to what we do here. Tom Blake – The Uncommon Journey of a Pioneer Waterman was lent to us for a week by a gentleman who passed by the workshop, popped his head in to see what we do here, and said “I think I have a book that you’d be rather interested in.” We were!
The community of surfers who have passed through our workshop over the years is a beautifully broad spectrum representing the 21st Century surfer....
Sometimes, one wave is all a person needs. It could be one of many, or the only wave of a session, but if it’s enough to make a memory then we’ll...
Spending a week making a wooden surfboard here at Otter is, for most people, going to be a step away from their day-to-day. The differences between...
Creating anything with an organic material such as wood is both challenging and hugely rewarding, particularly if your aim is to work with and show...
This autumn our friends at Surfers Against Sewage have been busier than ever with a twin-pronged attack on the plastic pollution that blights our beaches. In mid September their Message in a Bottle campaign, in partnership with 38 Degrees and the Marine Conservation Society, culminated in SAS delivering over a quarter of a million signatures to 10 Downing Street to call for action on ocean plastic pollution with a UK-wide deposit return...
Last weekend, we held our Annual Gathering of Makers. It's a special occasion for us, when we invite all of the makers who have joined us over the...
When making surfboards, accuracy, symmetry and attention to detail are essential considerations. Our wooden surfboards use a skin-on-frame...
"The summers passed with each year. I don't seem to remember them anymore. I remember the fall and the coming of winter. The water got cold. It...
Our August Bank Holiday workshop had a little bit of everything in it, and as such was a fantastic representation of what makes our “Make Your...
It feels somewhat counterintuitive to drive away from Cornwall and head up to London in the middle of August, but last weekend that's exactly what we did when James and Liz set off for Seven Dials to run our annual make-your-own handplane workshop at Finisterre's flagship store. The workshop was part of Spotlight 2017, a one-day festival that sees Seven Dials in London's West End (just above Covent Garden) transformed into a traffic-free hub of...
Traffic jams, full car parks and a seemingly never-ending succession of nor'westerly fronts. Welcome, to summer by the sea. Residents can't...
Chris and Rikke drove from Denmark to make their own surfboards with us last week. They took their time and made a road trip out of it, spending some...
Jonny, Andy and Jon arrived on the Monday morning of this year's April workshop as total strangers to one another. Over the course of their week...
