MATT BIOLOS
Designer/Shaper
How would you characterize Mayhem as a surfboard brand?
Chief designer of Mayhem-Lost Surfboards,
Or, at Apple, someone like Jonathan Ive.
If you ask Matt Biolos this question,
The answer came back: "Performance-driven."
This has two implications.
The Mayhem board is characterized by its "performance-driven" design, which means that it is a product that will help anyone to improve their riding ability.
For good surfers, nothing is more satisfying than a well-designed board.
Matt Biolos has a lineup ranging from his signature Rocket to his RNF (Round Nose Fish), which helped spark the renaissance of smaller boards over the last decade.
Mayhem Board Supporter, Carissa Moore of Honolulu
It's a brand whose team boasts Mason and Coco Ho at Sunset.
Also, members who are going to become world stars are using the Mayhem board.
I'm dying to see what it can do.
Second, the term "performance-driven" has become very popular.
Its subsequent popularity continues among a fickle crowd that follows trends.
The brand has been performing since its inception.
It will at least be recognized as part of your brand story.
Lost Surfboards, the company behind Mayhem boards, is all about making a bold statement with a rebellious attitude.
Its marketing message [e.g., scruffy, controversial, or as Biolos describes it: "core, aggressive, radical"] is as consistent as anyone in the surf industry.
Its edgy ads, bold graphics, and unfiltered portrayal of the Orange County surf lifestyle are Lost's trademarks. Its bloated categories sell clothes, videos, photography, and even energy drinks, but they do so with a rebellious attitude that reflects its roots in San Clemente, California, a particularly dusty part of the state.
"We like to think we're on good terms with the public through good surfing and design.
"I like to think there are some interesting combinations of edges," Bioros says.
"It may come across as pranks or recklessness, but I think most people understand that pranks are substantiated by hard work and a quality product. I'm not a guy in all that bling, and neither are the athletes I work with."
The quality of the product is undeniable thanks to the close relationships between Biolos and his team riders (especially young surfers Moore, who is ASP Women's World Tour champion Kolohe Andino of San Clemente, who is known as a surfing prodigy at just 16 years old). Biolos calls Andino "my muse," describing him as a teenager with boundless greatness and value.
"The work we've done together (along with Kolohe's father, Dino) has been the most thorough, passionate, and rewarding I've ever done," says Bioros. "Dino is with me so often in my shaping room and office that people assume he works here. I've known Kolohe since he was born, and to have worked so closely with a talent like Kolohe, whose mind is as sharp as his surfing, is quite unique. His feedback influences my designs more than anyone else's."
Mayhem is everywhere: in the pros' quivers, in magazines, in stores, etc. Mayhem boards are now selling themselves (on their own merits).
"In the early days, Lost's branding and marketing supported the board business. I was a young shaper whose artistic skills were better than surfing, business, or shaping. Mike (Leola, Lost co-founder) and I started making the original Lost videos, and board-like things (if you can call them boards) started to take off. Our marketing hype and antics really pushed the board beyond what would have been appropriate at the time," he says.
But that doesn't last, because essentially what a board tester [Biao Ross himself] needs is feedback. "Surfing in my late 30s, more than any other time in my life, played a vital role in making boards that define the Lost brand," he says.
"Staying in the water and shaping for recreational surfers plays a huge role," he explains. "I rarely ride the same board more than twice in a row. I rotate through over 20 quivers at Trestles at any one time (not counting guns). I over-design my own boards and try lots of weird stuff. I'm very nerdy."
His work validates a new paradigm in surfboard construction: the shaper as designer rather than the tinkerer. Today's machine-operated blanks are cut with magical contour concepts and drafts. Because of these efforts, Mayhem boards are the best.
"I know this: design leaders don't ask what you want next; they show you what you think you'll want next," says Matt Biolos.
This is an announcement.
Wednesday, April 13th 19:30~ At the cafe space at the entrance to T's Housing, Tsujido Beach, Kanagawa Prefecture With the cooperation of Shonan surfing photographers Moriyasu Aoki and Hayato Masuda
We are pleased to announce the holding of a charity slideshow to support the recovery efforts following the Great East Japan Earthquake.
