Matthew Allen

Matthew Allen is a surfer / artist who is the cre­ative direc­tor of The Ryde and was instru­men­tal in the redesign of Surfer Mag­a­zine. Multi-talented, he is equally adept at graphic design, illus­tra­tion, and pho­tog­ra­phy. We caught up with Matthew to find out more.

What was life like grow­ing up?
I had a pretty nor­mal sub­ur­ban child­hood. I played a ton of base­ball as a kid. Then I started surf­ing, and base­ball wasn’t as impor­tant anymore.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were young?
I think my par­ents and grand­par­ents. Also, I was really into his­toric fig­ures in base­ball. I really dug the way that Jackie Robin­son played and the things he stood for. So he was prob­a­bly a sort of hero too.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
Well, I taught myself to surf when I was 16 and I was attempt­ing to learn on a 6′ 8″ gun at Doheny. So I prob­a­bly won­dered why I was sinking.

Where did your inter­est in art and design come from?
Nei­ther of my par­ents are artis­tic per se, but they both are cre­ative in their own way. I think they rec­og­nized that I had some tal­ent so they gave me the tools I needed to pur­sue my pas­sion. As a kid, I would ran­domly get the inspi­ra­tion to draw at night and I’d stay up late draw­ing my favorite base­ball and hockey players.

Tell us about your asso­ci­a­tion with The Ryde.
On the last day of design class at junior col­lege I fin­ished my final project early and I began work­ing on some t-shirt designs for a surf com­pany called The Realm. Mike Figueroa came up to me, intro­duced him­self, and asked if I’d like to do some art for a com­pany he was start­ing. That com­pany didn’t pan out, but we became friends and a cou­ple of years later we started The Ryde. I do nearly all of the art and design asso­ci­ated with The Ryde. I have my dream job.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out? And why?
In col­lege, I trav­eled to Aus­tralia for two months with a church group. It was just a bunch of col­lege kids and we went to Bris­bane to help some peo­ple set up a min­istry at the col­lege there. We stayed in a bed and break­fast that the own­ers moved out of and they allowed us to take over. There were about 12 of us and we did every­thing together. We walked wher­ever we had to go, had group meals, it was very com­mu­nal. The thing that really sticks with me though is that I was with­out all of the things that I hold onto dearly, and I was hap­pier than ever. I wasn’t surf­ing or mak­ing art and I didn’t see my fam­ily, but I was in a lov­ing com­mu­nity with a shared pur­pose and I met and befriended some won­der­ful people.

Who/what inspires you?
I’m inspired by peo­ple who over­come dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tions and come out bet­ter peo­ple because of their strug­gles. Cre­atively, the pho­tog­ra­phy of Ron Stoner is a big inspi­ra­tion. He really cap­tured the pure joy of surf­ing. Any­one who is doing some­thing to make oth­ers smile is an inspiration.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
That the God of the uni­verse cared so much for me that he sent his only son to Earth to suf­fer and die for my sins so that I can have eter­nal life. It might sound crazy to some people—sometimes it seems a bit crazy to me—but I’ve seen God move in my life. I truly believe that if you earnestly seek after God, the evi­dence points to Jesus. That said, I’m not one force my beliefs upon oth­ers and I totally respect peo­ple that believe dif­fer­ently than me.

What are you most proud of?
I’m proud that I have put the gifts and tal­ents that I’ve been given to good use.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing makes me happy. After col­lege, both of my jobs have come about because I surf and under­stand what it is to be a surfer. Surf­ing mel­lows me out. When I’m dri­ving home after surf­ing, I tend to be the guy going too slow on the freeway.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
My fam­ily brings me the great­est hap­pi­ness. From my grand­par­ents to my aunts, uncles and cousins, I have an amaz­ingly close fam­ily of truly won­der­ful peo­ple. I am blessed to be able to say that my best friends are my par­ents and my sisters.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
I hon­estly don’t know. When I worked at Surfer Mag­a­zine, I was so entrenched in the surf scene that when I left, I kind of left that all behind me. I haven’t paid much atten­tion to it for the last year. I do know that peo­ple seem to be rid­ing all shapes and sizes of boards these days. So, prob­a­bly those peo­ple who are using their imag­i­na­tion to take the joy of rid­ing waves to new places.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
I have a Rich Pavel fish that I broke a few months ago. That board was my all-time favorite. I rode it for five years. He is shap­ing me a replace­ment now. My favorite spot is prob­a­bly Church’s. I can go surf there on my lunch break and, if I have a fish or a long­board, I’m pretty much guar­an­teed to have a good time.

What’s your favorite meal?
I have an açai bowl for lunch every day. The girls at Juice It Up take good care of me.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
M. Ward, Bon Iver, The Mid­dle East, Light­ning Dust, Edward Sharpe and The Mag­netic Zeros, The Dodos, J. Till­man, Luke Top, The National, Phoenix, Vam­pire Weekend.

What are you most grate­ful for?
My fam­ily and my creativity.

What’s next for Matthew Allen?
I’m work­ing on design­ing some board­shorts, sweat­shirts and hats for The Ryde. That’s new for us. I’m going to get a Grain surf­board kit and build myself a new wood board. I’ve been hurt for a cou­ple of months and unable to surf so I’ve been work­ing on a photo project. I just got some great shots down in La Jolla this past week­end. I get my cast off the 19th, so rehab­bing my hand and get­ting myself back in the water is next too.

Find out more about Matthew Allen here.