dinner. x shaq collective
It all begins with an idea.
We stand out by being rooted in ourselves.
That is the ethos Shaq Collective espouses on the website. Meeting Shaq this year, its not just some hippy dippy words that sound cool on their socials, Shaq lives this shit and beams its out of his lovable soul. Its not often you meet someone and straight away think ‘I need to be working with this homie”. Shaq works at Becks cafe in Kiama and has the natural ability to make you feel like you’ve been best friends for the last 30 years, (I thought it was just me), but hang out at Becks long enough you’ll see he has a way to connect with everyone that walks through the door. The man has mean style, slinging coffees everyday in array of street, skate or athletic arrangements. It’s hard not to love Shaq and his style.
Shaq Collective is his brainchild and an expression of his being, an ode to his homies and an outlet to share creativity. The man hustles, is fun loving and is for sure rooted in being nothing but himself. We are beyond pumped that our first drop will be collaborated in creative arms. Dinner. x Shaq Collective coming this winter…
Check out Shaq Collective
Creativity is a gift and we’re blessed to share it around this world.
journey crafts
“Basically this year I feel I’ve got a lot of models now really dialed in…”
Jacob crafting - photo by Darcy Smith
Moving back to the Kiama area after 10 years away, I kept seeing Journey Crafts pop up in different settings, the boards I was seeing looked mental, as well as the branding. The strong sense of brand and the detail of craftsman ship it stands for. I was impressed and my mates said it was a young guy from Gerringong. Finally I saw a guy ripping on a Journey Crafts board at the local and asked the rider “who is this kid creating these wicked looking sticks”… Turns out I was speaking to the man himself, Jacob Fryer. Honest, super Knowledgeable yet humble and eager to share his time and chat shop. I picked his brains and man-handled his board out in the water. His curiosity and ability to explore creative pathways was something I instantly picked up on in our first chat in between picking off waves. I also picked up on his ambition to keep improving his craft and grow the brand. I recently asked him to come for a wave and got a response that summarizes this ambition “ahh dude would love to but i’m up the coast learning and getting feedback from some shapers and glassers up here”. Dang! I wish I had the courage and foresight to shakedown industry leaders for their knowledge like that. Mix that two part resin and hardener with Jacob’s easy going likability and you’ve got a pretty good reason to bet on Journey Crafts being a super successful brand in the not to distant future.
Whats next young Jacob? “Basically this year I feel I’ve got a lot of models now really dialed in, I wanna start pushing it hard. Get my website finished. A Mentawais trip coming up in May to Nusa Togat with a few team riders to test some new models and get a heap of content. There will be a big giveaway following that so keep your eyes peeled for that. And building some demo boards and do some demo days latter in the year. And keep making the highest quality boards I can and working with the best craftsmen and manufacturers in the industry.”
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