When you're checkin' out new boards in the rack, sliding your hands over the rail and deck, the first thing you look to is the measurements and after that, the shapers name. But apart from its shape, who made that board so aesthetically pleasing?
If you're lucky, It was Jake 'The laminator' Bowrey. It's very often over looked, but what can make or break a well shaped board is the glass job, and what separates it's look from any other is its finishing touches like clean work and resin tints. So from behind the curtain and into the limelight we are bringing you one of the guys that puts the class in the glass. Jake Bowrey hails from Westward Ho, North Devon in England. Like most great board builders he cut his teeth at home in the garage….or in these case a lean-too built against the gable end of his parents home. The structure was inspired by a design he spotted after a trip to Bali, quite a number of years back in a backstreet Kuta shaping shack. It must've been a pretty sight! He said "At that time in the UK there was no one making the types of boards I was after, a variety of different craft was something unheard of at the time in England." so he took it into his own hands so to speak. He's come a long way since then, moving out to Noosa Heads, Queensland in Australia and glassing for the prestigious likes of Dick Brewer, Reno Abilara and George Rice. He swapped his 'Scrumpy cider' for 'VB' and his ramshackle lean-too for a fully equipped mini factory. Upon teaming up with a like minded Thomas Bexon, he said "great minds think alike, and work together pretty well too". Their mutual disgust for "white bread thrusters" is shown through in their artistic resin tints, abstract color combos and innovative shapes. When asked why people should pay more for a board like his response was quite succinct "Because I could glass 8 white short-boards in a day, or one hugh end tinted cut lap board." Over five thousand boards later he's developed a skill level well beyond his 29 earthly years. We were very privileged to have Jake here at the Temple, doing what he does best and sharing his secrets with the Deus glassing crew along the way. In their occupation of the Deus glass and shaping bays, Jake and Thomas Bexon were trying out some pretty special stuff. experimenting with things such as taking traditional Balinese Batik fabric and laying pieces into fins and patching them into the glassing process. As well as the fabric based touches they also ditched the decals and screen printing logos straight onto the boards. All in all he busted out 27 boards while here, paying special attention to a few that are destined to end up in the new LA based Deus store. The time Jake spent here was very valuable to us, we are grateful and cant wait to have him back some time in the future!
