3D Printing has been around for over a decade and one particular range of product that would benefit the most due to strength and reliability factor of a 3D printed product, are those of surfboards. A dedicated team from Australia, “Disrupt Surfboards” have been using this technology to make attractive range of 3D printed surfboards and now news is on that they might open their branch in California.
Entrepreneur and surfer from Australia, Gary Elphick who owns “Disrupt Surfboards” provides a range of 3D printed customized surfboards for his customers and recently he’s been experimenting with 3D printing technology to see the possibilities of creating customized surfboards.
“Our mission is to help you create and share your own customized surfboard,” explains Elphick. He adds, “You tell us all about yourself, your ability and what you’re trying to achieve with your surfing. We use 3D printing design technology to make a digital set up of your board, you direct the art, finish and design and we finish the rest. We only use the best quality, long lasting, eco-friendly materials.”
In his Linkedin profile he told that in his recent visit to California he was overwhelmed by attitude of the crowd at the beach. This inspired him to bring Disrupt Surfboards to USA, as well. “I saw, spoke about and discussed with partners the opportunity for Disrupt and the our mass-customisation platform for sports equipment,” explains Elphick. He continues, “I can’t wait to open Disrupt to US market and take a big swing, but it won’t be without being a solid foundation, happy customers and a well-structured base in Australia.”
“I found that everyone was pitching some idea or startup and were genuinely interested to hear what you are working on, they are always optimistic, all hyper-connected and all appreciate the power of networking. There are meet-ups on every night of week; in every coffee shop there are people working on their start up, collaborating, meeting or pitching.”
Customers are everything for any business and if you can come across an enthusiastic crowd who show interest and enthusiasm on your work then consider half of your work to be accomplished. San Francisco is already known to be among the happening cities in the world for outdoor lifestyle of the majority of the citizens.
3D printing technology is surely disrupting the conventional manufacturing systems and “Disrupt Surfboards” might be able to introduce new method of manufacturing strong-build surfboards to this particular genre of products.
Considering one of the advantages of this technology that of creating smaller prototypes for the approval of your client saves a lot of time and material used for printing. This factor has proved to be beneficial for Elphick who consults their client by showing a prototype before going for the final design.
Information source: Disrupt Surfboard website.