FREAK OF THE WEEK
Photography by: Dane Singleton
As we stepped out of the car the comforting smell of fresh rain on asphalt was in the air. As I took a deeper breath the familiar scent of fibreglass and salt air tickled my nose making the hairs stand on the back of my neck. This was the smell of summer dreams!!
I was excited. A surfer myself, this was an interview I was really looking forward to. Surfboard shapers have always been an enigma to me and I've always been too star-struck and fearful of seeming utterly ignorant of the craft to ever get too nosey. It's like a five-year-old meeting Santa for the first time. So many questions and preconceived ideas. It’s the moment you have been waiting for. Finally a chance to talk to this God-like figure and find out everything you have ever wanted to know. However, an overwhelming instinct takes over you and you want to run but instead, you stand there with a stupid look on your face and can’t even say hello like a normal person.
The front door opened just enough for Terry Glass, Jye’s Dad and shaping partner, to stick his head out, with a knowing nod he motions towards the driveway. As we wrangled our gear past multiple parked cars, we were serenaded by the sound of heavy guitars and drums combined with the noise of power tools that rolled down the narrow driveway. This was the sound of a shapers den.
Knowing there was little point in knocking we pushed open the crooked door and found our culprit looking like something out of an apocalyptic movie… He was masked up, crouched in concentration and surrounded by a white cloud of his current creation. Suddenly the music stopped and the dust-covered figure leapt to his feet in surprise. He ripped off his mask and let out the best “Fuck! G’day... how yaz doin?” Occa as one could expect.
This is Jye Glass: wild-eyed, crazy-haired and grinning like a Cheshire cat.
How long would it take you to shape one by hand?
If you were going gung ho, probably about three hours but it's not something a shaper likes to rush. Good things take time, I like to spend the whole day shaping a board, giving it the attention it needs. I will go have lunch and come back with fresh eyes and might pick up on things I may have missed. So it's good to have regular breaks so you don't
get sloppy.
What impact has the digital era had on the business?
When they started making them in Taiwan and places like that business slowed down a bit, just because you could now buy these really cheap boards from everywhere else. But for the past few years, there has been a real change of pace again. It's like people are getting switched on again to go back to their local shaper and get a real surfboard again. So it’s not falling apart after four surfs or
something.… *laughs.
People like having something special, a custom board that's unique to them. You talk one on one with your shaper and get exactly what you want that is tailored to your weight, height and surfing ability. Get to put your own little artistic spin on it through the spray job or if you want a special design on it. Anything is possible these days.
It’s pretty amazing to read the back story about Glass Handcrafts and its origins. 65 years of combined shaping time between you and your Dad is not a very common story. It's really quite incredible. Tell us a bit about how you got into it?
Well the shaping bay has always been here in the backyard since I was born. Never knew anything different and it always seemed like the coolest thing in the world. Dad was amazing at what he did and I saw so many of these incredible shapes come out of this room. They were the most beautiful things I had ever seen, so it's only natural I felt to gravitate towards it. So basically, I started just hanging in the bay with Dad watching him and frothing out. It just seemed so cool, the smells, the power tools, the noise just all seemed so rad. Eventually started off by fixing dings. Then we started designing my boards together, I'd put in my two cents worth and he would shape it up. This progressed into me wanting to shape and him showing me all the steps and tricks. I remember him writing down the steps… wish I still had it. Then there would always be rad surfers, older dudes coming down the driveway and there was always a cool buzz in the backyard I'd feed off. That kinda vibe is what I've always wanted. Just a good crew of team riders coming over and seeing what's going on with their boards and just keeping up the froth of a rad community.
When it first hit me, I'd already been making boards for years but I wasn’t taking it too seriously at all. Then I was living in Byron Bay and this guy Steve ‘Dairy’ (who is actually from down here) came up and just got me frothing so hard to surf and shape. He was one of Dads best riders in the ’90s from down this way and he made a shaping bay in a tiny fucked shed to use. Then that moved into me renting a factory out of town, from there I have made a shaping bay in every house I’ve ever lived in. The board blanks kept coming and more ‘n’ more people wanted one, now it's all that I do and I am doing it with my old man… it's sick.
Looking back at old photographs, I think there is one of me as young as four with the goggles on, going hard at a blank.
But I think it wasn’t until I was about 13 that I became dedicated to churning out as many crap boards as I could. And from memory, they stayed crap for ages! *laughs
It's funny how for years you keep making these terrible things but you don't care. You're just amped and frothing to go again and sure enough, another shit board takes its place in the shed, it's a beautiful cycle. The more crap boards you make the more determined you become. I reckon it probably took at least 20 or so before I got one to go alright in the water.
You are famous around town for being an insightful inventor with your unique board shapes. Where do you get your ideas from?
Well recently I designed one off an old ‘80s Zorlac skateboard. I just see interesting shapes around and go off what I think looks cool.
That's basically how it is, it's pretty simple. I will picture an outline in my head and think that will just look sick and get into it.
So you don't start your ideas with how the board would perform in the water, it's more visual inspiration?
Yes definitely, the performance ideas come into play, but generally by the way it looks you can tell how it would go.
I think that comes down to your professional intuition, that's definitely not a common skill.
Well yeah I guess, sometimes I will use Mathematics for a design. For example, I made this one called the Golden Ratio, it’s based around Pi. The 1:3.142 ratio, the Golden thirds rule. So whatever the width is I create the rest of the board by using that ratio of 3.142. It ended up such a perfect little equation and the board went sick. That design actually worked and it turned out really well.
Didn’t the band Tool have a song that was written using a similar principle? The number of syllables followed a
mathematical equation?
Yeah they did… which is what probably inspired me as I was really getting into Tool at the time. I was getting deeper and deeper into them and started thinking this golden ratio thing is pretty cool. It just all made sense. I even painted the board gold! The deck has a material inlay in it that has all gold and spirals in it too.
Have any of your inventions failed at all?
Fuckin heaps! *laughs
What is the craziest of them?
I made this 8-foot mal, but I wanted to turn it into a spoon with a flex tail. I based it on one of Greeno’s Kneeboards. Basically, you just hollow the whole foam out and half the board is just fibreglass on the bottom. I thought that would make it all flexy and you could ride it deep inside the wave like a longboard. But the fuckin thing just sank! You couldn't even paddle it.
Have you still got it?
Yeah it's in the garden now as an ornament. It looks good there. I mean it looks great, it just didn't float very well.
Another stand out benefit to getting one of your originals is the amazing colours and artwork you do. Can you talk us through the creative process of finishing your boards?
It all depends on what style you are going for. If you want a straight-up pigment bottom that's pretty basic. That's an old school kind of thing that everyone is into at the moment. I like to incorporate the ideas of whatever the person ordering the board is into. I mix my own colours. You buy all the primary colours and mix them according to what you want. So no two tints are ever the same kinda.
Do you use a paintbrush?
Depends really. Because there are a lot of standard ways to do things and a lot of different ways to do things. Like with the marbles designs… you don't know what is going to happen. You mix the resin up in a bucket and pour it on and kinda hope for the best, it does its own thing. But generally, they always turn out pretty good. You just have to be careful not to go too burko on the colours or they will mix and it will turn brown. If that does happen and things don't go to plan and it's looking a bit rank, I will put some artwork over the top and just go with it and make the most out of it. Like I will draw some barbed wire down it and try to make it look even grungier. Or something along those lines, so it looks like you were meant to do it.
I guess that means each board definitely ends up being a one-off?
Yeah and that's sort of my go-to because I don’t really like perfection. I have never been that way. My style is kinda sketchy and cartoonesque and a bit raw. The shape of the board itself is so tight and on point that having an artwork over it that is really loose adds to the magic. Yeah, so if I do some crazy marble thing and it's all mayhem, I will put a perfect pin line around it and that just seals the deal and makes it look like it was meant to be.
The Deadly South: What’s your go-to spot in Ulladulla? If you need some time away from it all to clear your head, where do you head?
Your happy place?
Jye Glass: If it's not out in the water it’s in here, the shaping bay. When you shut the door, it shuts the world off, it’s cool. Especially when it's raining, it's like my little cave.
I would love to know your favourite surf spot too? But I understand that can be against the surfer’s code.
Laughs… yeah, well that's right. Let's say Racecourse beach and don’t follow me. I am going fishing.
For those that don’t surf can you tell us why publishing an answer about that is such a breach of the code?
Yeah, it's taboo mate. You don't want blow-ins coming in and blowing up your spot.
Surfboard shaping by hand is a dying art form as manufacturing has become computer-driven. Do you think this has affected the quality of modern-day surfboards? Has this affected you and your business?
I wouldn’t say it affected the quality at all in a bad way. In some ways, it's improved them as it takes away the risk of human error. But it's taken out the soul of it a fair bit and given away the trade to anyone with a computer. The years spent refining the art of knowing how to achieve a perfect shape is gone, it's now up for grabs for anyone. You can have a board that pops out from a machine and just clean it up a bit, which takes about 20 minutes. It’s all a bit too easy. Whereas, when you have to hand shape a board there is a lot more that goes into it. So it takes away the whole skill from it.
Freak of The Week is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Apart from your Dad Terry, are there any other shapers that have been an influence on you?
Yeah for sure. I always go back to the MP boards, that’s Michael Peterson from the ‘70s, he was a game-changer back then. He was in Queensland, Coolangatta. His boards were designed to get barrelled on. So it inspired me to revamp the single fin a bit. Then there is Ozzie Wright. He wasn't a shaper or anything but the boards he rode always looked so sick to me as a grommet. Both the shape and the artwork on them and that kinda influenced my style. Also, the way he surfed was how I wanted to surf so that's why I went that way.
Do you make boards for people outside the area or interstate?
Yeah I have had heaps lately. I just sent two to WA, had a heap go up to Newcastle and I am always taking boards back to Byron… This past year has been pretty widespread.
Maybe with COVID and everyone in lockdown being stuck at home, they have had more time to surf. Do you think that's why?
Yeah pretty much. Lately, it's been pretty cool, there have been a lot of people I have never met before, they have been reaching out on Instagram or wherever. A lot of the time its mates that you’ve got all around the world wanting one.
We live in a fairly busy and niche location in terms of the surf industry. Has being based in Ulladulla been difficult for business?
I reckon it's better. If I was on the Gold Coast I would have a lot of competition. When I was living in Byron I was making pretty average boards in my mind, I was still just learning how to make them, but it was ok. Whereas now there are so many people up there selling boards, there is not really any chance you are going to be able to keep the ball rolling. Whereas down here it is special because you know everyone and there are only a few shapers. You have the overlords down here like dad, Bruce, Mick and Vern but there are plenty of surfers needing boards so
it’s all good.
Has there ever been a time when you wanted to quit?
Yeah… I tried doing Uni, that sucked! Graphic design… the whole idea about that was learning how to do posters and decals and learn how to do my own marketing. Always with the intention of using it for my boards, but at the time I had got a bit dried out on it as you do. But after a while, I wasn't into it and I came home and started frothing on my boards again. I never really set out to become a shaper or made that decision, it just kinda happened.I went up to Byron not really knowing what I wanted and was just stuffing around in the shaping bay for something to do and people kept wanting boards.
I know you were born here and obviously spent your young years here as Terry has always shaped in this area… but have you ever spent much time away from Ulladulla?
Mainly here. I spent a fair bit of time up in Byron and apart from that, I would travel overseas etc for a couple of months at a time like Indo, America and New Zealand. I had a great experience in America in San Clemente, California with the guys at the Lost Surfboard Factory which is a well-known brand. I met this guy who put in a good word for me. He was like “I have this dude from Australia who is a pretty good glasser and is looking for some work”... they were like “sweet righto” and I got some work. But I never actually got the tick of approval from Mayhem the boss. So anyway, I am in there glassing a board for a week and someone called him up and dobbed me in and he went off. “Who is this Australian in our shed? What’s he fucking doing here?” So the head boss from Lost is on the phone to the head glasser asking who this bloody Aussie spy was in his glassing bay. And the glasser was like “Nah it's all good, don't worry about it he is doing a great job and I need him”. He wasn't having a bar of it and said get rid of him! Yeah, so that was my great overseas work experience.
But he wasn't wrong *laughs …I was taking photos of all their shit and their set-up. You don't miss an opportunity like that! It doesn’t come along very often. It was pretty funny having the biggest shaper in the world blowing up about you.
Then, later on, I was hanging with the sander from the same place, this young bloke and he needed a hand glassing these boards for Hawaii. So we sneak into the Lost headquarters at 10 o’clock at night with a carton of beer and glassed all these boards through the night. We did that three nights in a row. I so wasn't supposed to be there, but we were having a ball, drinking beers on the roof and making all these boards in the enemies quarters. The next day we went to go surf Trestles which is a famous surf spot over there. There was this Lost board some of the local boys had pinched out of the skip bin that had a big stain on it. It was a dud but we definitely were not allowed to have it. Even though it was in the bin it had essentially been stolen, not by me though. Anyway, we were surfing at Trestles and it turns out that Matt the big boss of Lost surfboards was surfing out there too. My Mate said, “whatever you don’t let him see that board!”. I didn't have a leg rope on it or anything and was doing my best to stay away from him. But anyway, I took off on a wave… all good and then lost the board and it was washing in toward the rocks. I looked up and Matt was suddenly there running along the rocks to go get it and I was swimming my arse off as fast as I could to get it before him. We both got to the shore where the board was at the same time and I pretty much grabbed it out of his hands and paddled off out the back. It was pretty punk rock, I was loving it. I flew out from America the next day and never saw him again!
Thanks for your time today, it's been great hearing your story but would love to know what’s next for Jye Glass?
Well I just made a new shaping bay at my new place down the road. So I am finally going to have my own private little bay where I can work on my own things late at night or whenever. It's great sharing a bay with dad but it will be awesome having my own space.
I have so many orders I need to do, so it's time to get serious and start churning them out. Eventually, it would be good to have someone working for me. I don't want to sand anymore, I just want to shape and finish them so it would be great to have someone helping me out. I really want to grow the brand, I have a heap of merch and have been doing all my own screen printing. Knocking up t-shirts and hoodies and would eventually like to start doing some shows. Get a few bands together and have a few Glass Handcrafts nights to get the hype going
... most of all don’t stress out.