How a board becomes a piece.
From the moment a board arrives at the studio to the day it hangs on a wall, every step is done by hand. Here's what the journey looks like.
1.Intake & inspection
Every donated board gets looked over nose to tail. We note its shape, damage, and anything worth preserving — original art, brand marks, repair scars with history. Boards too far gone for a full piece still contribute: fins, stringers, and glassed sections become material for other work.
Timeline: Within a week or two of arrival
2.Cleaning & repair
Old wax comes off, dings get stabilized, and delaminated sections are either repaired or deliberately opened up as part of the design. The goal isn't to make the board look new — it's to make it sound enough to last decades on a wall.
Timeline: One to three weeks, depending on condition
3.Design & paint
Each board gets an original design that works with what the board already is — its outline, its scars, its story. Renée sketches directly on the board, then builds the piece up in layers of paint and mixed media.
Timeline: Two to six weeks per piece
4.Sealing & finishing
Finished work is sealed for UV and humidity resistance — these pieces are made for coastal homes — and fitted with hanging hardware. Every piece is photographed and its board's story is written up before it's listed.
Timeline: About a week
Why this matters
Surfboards are mostly polyurethane or EPS foam wrapped in fiberglass and resin — materials that are close to impossible to recycle and effectively immortal in a landfill. The surf industry produces hundreds of thousands of boards a year, and most eventually end up as waste.
Turning a retired board into art isn't a total answer to that, but it's a real one: every board on a wall is one that isn't in the ground, and its story gets to keep going.
Ready to send a board our way?
Any shape, any condition — even the truly beat-up ones have a future here.
Donate a board