
The recent decades have seen a decline in handmade goods being sold on the large scale. On the whole, man has been replaced by machine and the unique swapped out for the accuracy of a template. However, James Mitchell and his Sunset Shapers are reviving the art of handmade through surfboards.
“It’s more artistry. It’s more of a craft. You get an idea in your mind’s eye and then be able to create it by hand is a lot more fulfilling. I can scrub out 10 CNC boards and it’s never as satisfying as one really good hand shape,” Mitchell told WIRED magazine.
Mitchell opened his San Francisco custom board shop in 2010 and has been perfecting his boards ever since.
To read more about Mitchell’s board shop and the work of other board shapers in the area click here.