Zeph Car­rigg is a Cal­i­for­nia surf­board shaper and artist known for his inno­v­a­tive resin tints and designs. Raised by “hippy beat­niks,” it wasn’t long before he struck out on his own cre­ative path. Zeph spends a few min­utes to share his life with us.

What was your child­hood like?
I’m the youngest of three chil­dren (two sis­ters) of hippy beat­niks from Olympia, Washington—my father a cin­e­matog­ra­phy stu­dent of the Ever­green State Col­lege who attended in roller skates and my mom, who took care of all of us, cleaned houses for income. We lived in many inter­est­ing “sit­u­a­tions” (includ­ing a fair­grounds, a thou­sand acre beef farm/apple orchard, and also a bread van in the woods). “Nor­mal” was not in my child­hood vocab­u­lary until grade school some time (when I came to the con­clu­sion that it was the antithe­sis of myself). This bloomed into the painfully obvi­ous later in high school.

When did you get your first surf­board?
It took me some time to actu­ally get my own. I had moved to Cal­i­for­nia at 21 and into a house where a room­mate had an exten­sive col­lec­tion of Dick Brewer boards—maybe 15 or 20. I chose a triple stringer nine foot long­board and stuck with it until I bought my own.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
1. That I was about to fall.
2. This wasn’t just like snow­board­ing or skate­board­ing like I had assumed.
3. I couldn’t wait to do it again!

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
All my bud­dies who could actu­ally keep a girl inter­ested in them.

I did have many men­tors who helped me along the way: a teacher (Mell Parse), Scott Sher­bert (the guy that taught me to paint helmets/jet skis), fam­i­lies I hung out with (like the Leerkamps, who were drag rac­ers) and fam­i­lies I raced MX with. All were really pos­i­tive to be around. As a surfer, local guys like Eric Som­mer, his father Bob, Kevin Con­nelly and Joel Tudor. As a shaper, I learned from Den­nis Mur­phy, who is an amaz­ing crafts­man and as can­tan­ker­ous as it gets. I idol­ized D.T. Bing Copeland was and is my all time surf­board hero.

How do you come up with the shapes and color designs for your boards?
Out of neces­sity, I like equip­ment that is really easy to ride. Color designs come from all facets; any and all things inspire me. Some­times it’s just being a good lis­tener. My old room­mate, Jere­miah, used to come up with good start­ing points. My wife, Rosa, likes weird stuff and gives me some good input.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
The East Coast. I’ve been out there a dozen times and I’m blown away by the peo­ple. They always amaze me—such a dif­fer­ent vibe than the West.

Who/what inspires you?
My grand­fa­ther, Jack Car­rigg, is my all time inspi­ra­tion. He has been a abstract artist since the late for­ties or early fifties. He lived in an old fire­house in the Haight-Ashbury in SF then moved to the Islands where him and my grandma stayed for nearly a decade. My grand­mother, Lucille, learned to play the ukulele and became a party favorite for singing and play­ing with the elders. Later, after she passed, Val Ching told me she was one of the last liv­ing aun­ties of the old style.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
To be thank­ful and happy with what I have.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
I wish I would have put my heart into my edu­ca­tion; some­times I like to think I could have been a surgeon.

What are you most proud of?
My soon-to-be four year old son. He’s now rac­ing MX and I get so stoked to see him go.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing is a cre­ative out­let for me; it is very expres­sive and also inspir­ing as a builder. It brought me my other half. She loves to surf more than I do.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
My fam­ily. My super­moto is high on the list though and tools, lots of tools!

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
The Wegen­ers sure changed the path every­one was on in the last few years for sure. Jon is the nicest guy you could meet, as hum­ble as they come. Joel has got to be men­tioned of course. He and Kelly are the two most influ­en­tial surfers on the planet.

What is in your cur­rent quiver? What is cur­rently your favorite board?
Your favorite surf spot?
My cur­rent is about twenty deep but I really only ride a 5’9″ soCliche Isish, a 9’2″ Bing Is Is and a glider I just made that’s 11′. I can’t pick a favorite. My favorite spot has to be Scorps, I’m reg­u­lar foot, so does it get any better?

What’s your favorite meal?
Sushi, mostly rolls. Lob­ster hand roll, eel/avocado, alba­core, shrimp—I love it.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Well today, I lis­tened to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wyclef, The Mis­fits, The Knife, Men at Work, Pix­ies, Willie Nel­son, Talk­ing Heads, Alphav­ille and a few oth­ers. I’ve been lis­ten­ing to a bunch of Racer X pod­casts, mostly heroes of mine from child­hood racing.

What are you most grate­ful for?
That my chil­dren and fam­ily are healthy. That I was blessed with eye-hand coor­di­na­tion and a cre­ative mind. That peo­ple sup­port my creativity.

What causes/organizations do you sup­port?
They actu­ally have first and last names. Last year, I gave away a third of my income to peo­ple who needed surf­boards. My wife is the char­i­ta­ble dona­tor of the family.

What’s next for Zeph Car­rigg?
Last year, I started my third label soCliche. We built a bunch of stock and sold through some batches. This year, I intend to seek more dis­tri­b­u­tion for them. I also have a new Bing brand model com­ing out in the next few months, a board that has been in the works for about a year; it’s amaz­ing and has looks to kill. I also intend to do more of my resin wall art. I really enjoyed the Surfind­ian show I did this last win­ter and intend to get more focused on gallery shows.

For more infor­ma­tion on shaper and artist Zeph Car­rigg, please visit here.