Luke Griffin Was Born 20 Years Too Late

Sandi Thom wrote a song about it once. Being born too late. She dreamed of being a punk, wrapped in flowers, mourning a time before the media had control of your soul, before computers, before we knew everything. This was in 2005.

What do you think of the modern world, Sandi?

It seems to be the human condition to long for a time that’s passed. We do it in surfing, every single day. The whole industry is currently fetishising the 90s and early 00s Bintang chic, speed dealer sunnies, and tribal-themed tramp stamps.

Are we okay? Are we on the right path?

Luke Griffin romanticises that era, but for different reasons. “All my favourite surfers are from back then,” he says. “I love all Timmy Curran’s stuff and the old …Lost movies. Oh, and my favourite surfer is Kalani Robb.”

His nostalgia isn’t performative, but rather, it’s performance-enhancing. For the past few years, he’s been riding boards that nod to that time — longer, skinnier shapes, built by his older bro. 

“My brother and I have been working on a board for a while called the 2002,” says Griffo. “I’ve been watching all my favourite surfers from that era, and we wanted to make a board that captures the same feel as those old movies we fell in love with.”

Griffo’s brother happens to be Jordan Griffin of Jordan Griffin Surfboards on the Gold Coast. We recently tossed him into our “5 Shapers to Watch in the Next 5 Years” list, where he told us, “There’s nothing better than making a 6’0 blade — and those things are so hard to do properly. Everybody thinks it can’t be that hard. They’re just thumb tail, pointy nose thrusters. But it’s gnarly how hard it is to make a good one compared to a twin fin. As much as I love twin fin riding, I feel like I’m really working on dialling in good shorties. Luke’s been super helpful for that.”

They’ve become quite the team, Luke and Jordan. Brother shapes, brother surfs. Housemates too, having both migrated from New Zealand to the Gold Coast a few years back. It’s not hard to imagine what dominates their dinner conversations.

“It’s cool to have that relationship,” says Luke. “I feel like I can tell him anything. If his board’s not going well, or if it’s going really good, I don’t have to hold back. It’s sick because, obviously, we’re having dinner together, and basically all he thinks about is surfboards — because that’s what he does every day. It’s a pretty sick dynamic. He makes the boards. I surf them. It’s like living with your shaper.”

For those who need a refresher, Luke rides for NZ-turned-London-based fashion-surf hybrid Always Do What You Should Do (read our profile on them here). He doesn’t consider himself a pro surfer, yet. He balances surfing with graphic design.

“Maybe one day I might become a professional surfer,” he laughs. “A real late bloomer. Everyone’s hitting it at 16. I’m fucking 24 now thinking, ‘Fuck, maybe one day.’”

Though the brand always had surfing roots, they accidentally became a high-fashion phenomenon after their cross-trainers blew up, despite their first release featuring a Hawaiian shirt with Kelly Slater’s shining dome painted on it.

Now that they’ve got some momentum, they’re making a play to re-enter surf, signing Kobo Hughes and somehow convincing Bobby Martinez to wear their tracksuit for a shoot.

“The boys texted me that night when the Bobby shoot dropped,” says Griffo. “They’re like, did it blow up on the Goldy? Because fucking no one in London knew who the fuck this guy was. They’re like, ‘Who’s this washed-up guy with 8 thousand followers on Instagram, with a private account?’ But everyone in the surf industry loved it.”

Watch Griffo’s new 00s-inspired edit, “2002 SURF FILM” above.