Femo Factory: surfing and design

Founders of Femo Factory, Giulia Bartolucci and Andrea Masini, talk about how they have combined their passions for surfing and design to create hand-crafted boards that are tailor-made for the user.

It was once the sport of kings. Around the mid 15th century in Hawaii, it was only royalty who were allowed to ride the waves.

High-ranking leaders challenged one another, playing for honour and personal property as well as maintaining the physical fitness demanded by their social position. Using boards therefore was a royal prerogative, as was having one's own personal 'shaper', designers ante litteram, who created surfboards that could weigh as much as 70 kg and extend over 5 m in length.

Nowadays, surfboard design has made giant leaps forward: it exploits the principles of hydrodynamics, use and knowledge of new materials –no longer the redwood of the 50s but recently also carbon – and the secrets handed down from designer to designer, who have transformed a passion into a way of life.

Just under a year ago, two young designers from Tuscany, Giulia Bartolucci and Andrea Masini, founded the brand Femo Factory, “based on design, a passion for surfing and for art, concentrating on the power that a simple form can have”. They tell us how “the first board was inspired by Bob Simmons, an American engineer and surfer who while studying naval engineering at university came up with the concave board. This curve on the underside of the board was a revolution because it provided greater acceleration and in a certain sense changed the way one moved on the waves”.

Before launching their project, the creative duo carried out some market research to ascertain what brands were already present on the Italian market. “Most of the artisan makers of surfboards are concentrated in Tuscany, Lazio and Liguria although there is also a brand in Milan with a south-American shaper”.

Surfboard design, as part of product design, needs to transmit the objective value of the product itself and the system of skills it has emerged from, with continual reference to the great masters.

“Here in Tuscany we have Dr Ank alias Marco Rizzo, who is very well-known in Australia and California. We turn to him for advice and suggestions of all kinds, to resolve errors and setbacks. Dr Ank trained in California with one of the top makers, Donald Dakyama, a surfer born in Hawaii who has come up with some highly innovative boards and has become something of an icon for the shapers”.

The idea for Femo was born in Australia, where Giulia and Andrea spent a year-long sabbatical after graduation and was turned into a brand at the end of 2012, putting into practice what they had learnt through studying the history of design. “The passion for surfing was very strong, in addition the idea was to get into the world of design, understand how to make boards and repair them”, describes Andrea. “This was already in my DNA as I practically grew up in the family furniture factory. Giulia meanwhile, brought out her artistic side combining it with the more rational one with a degree in architecture. Together we began to think about the aesthetics of the surfboard, noting how the level was quite low from a graphic-design point of view”.

As well-trained designers, they didn't skip anything, even workshop experience. “On the Australian Gold Coast we went to study the work of the artisans in a surfboard workshop, in particular to learn about being a shaper, whose average age is 45. It is a question of manual skills and experience, there we could see how the boards were made and note every detail. We were also lucky to be able to spend time on the waves teaching ourselves”.

Each board is different and tailor-made for the surfer: the outline and curvature depends on various factors such as height and weight but especially the waves where you surf. Finally there is the core of the board, the stringer that is the central strip that gives it strength and rigidity.

Giulia describes the early stages of the project, also prepared thanks to the thesis project for a Masters in Graphic Design from IED in Florence. “We designed the website, given that internet is a primary and fundamental means of communication and we studied and applied strategies linked to social networks. The next step was e-commence and the Buru Buru platform, a start-up where contemporary artisan goods are sold. It was very important as a launch pad for taking part in events and trade fairs without focalising on a single product. Femo Factory in fact also makes indoboards, a training tool – as well as skateboards and t-shirts. Each item communications our eclectic philosophy where different worlds and personalities come together in a single project. We have identified our target market in the surfing tribe, those who share our passion and have the same ideals about life: pure, dynamic, active but free from stress”.

With a ticket booked for California – to continue to discover the oceans of the world and to export the brand – the founders of Femo talk about objectives that go against the tide with respect to today's design world, in the depths of economic recession. “It is not important just to sell. Of course we would like to live off our brand but above all we want our boards to be fun. This spirit is applied to our idea of design, where everything is hand-crafted, with distribution channels that also function simply by word-of-mouth”.