beats by dre designers create line of handcrafted luxury surfboards

beats by dre designers create a line of handcrafted luxury surfboards
all images courtesy octovo

developed as a series of special collaborations for octovo, ammunition, the design firm responsible for products at square and beats by dre, worked alongside master surfboard builder jason tilley to design and build a limited collection of boards and custom tailored carrying bags. the series includes five individual board shapes built using tilley’s method of combining custom milled wooden skins and components with hand-shaped foam.

video courtesy ammunition

‘the collaboration was intended as a creative expression of octovo’s mission to provide beautiful tools for connected travelers,’ said the designers at ammunition. ‘because we wanted the boards to represent octovo’s commitment to beautiful travel tools, we worked with tilley to test and select a range of board shapes that could be useful in the many types of environments and conditions a surfing traveler is likely to encounter.’

octovo fish surfboard with green ombre fade

the core of each board is made from a hand cut and shaped blank. the deck and bottom skins are custom milled from solid wood between 1/8 inch and 1/16 inch thickness depending on wood species and board shape. skins are then bonded to the blank, resulting in an unusually strong composite sandwich. solid wood noses, tail blocks and rails are also added to prevent the damage that commonly plagues these areas. the resulting boards do not dent or pressure ding like conventional boards.

octovo fish detail

octovo longboard with black ombre fade

‘in keeping with tilley’s low-impact, locally sourced practices, we specified the port orford cedar found in his hometown on the remote oregon coast,’ the designers add. ‘and in addition to creating graphic and paint schemes for each board, we designed and oversaw casting of a range of custom leash cups made of bronze or titanium.’