Stab Magazine | The Continuous Groove: Welcome to the world of Mollusk

Live Now: Cheat Codes With Coco Ho

2207 Views

The Continuous Groove: Welcome to the world of Mollusk

Words by Jed Smith It is a testament to the times that the modest, independently-owned, San Francisco surf shop, Mollusk, has become what it has. That is, an internationally renowned beacon of life and personality in the surfing community. The enterprise is tiny, a classic ‘ma and pa’ set-up founded by local San Franciscan art […]

style // Mar 8, 2016
Words by stab
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Words by Jed Smith

Location-sfIt is a testament to the times that the modest, independently-owned, San Francisco surf shop, Mollusk, has become what it has. That is, an internationally renowned beacon of life and personality in the surfing community. The enterprise is tiny, a classic ‘ma and pa’ set-up founded by local San Franciscan art and surfing enthusiast, John McCambridge, back in 2005. Today, collaborators include Tom Curren, Rob Machado, Thomas Campbell, Jack Coleman, Ryan Burch, Tyler Warren, and many more.

“I’ve been surfing since I was a kid and I’ve been really obsessed with it,” begins John. “I had an art background, and have a lot of varied interests like everybody else, in art, and film, and everything, so when I thought to open up the shop it was a natural thing to combine all these interests into one and not be so segmented about everything.”

Together his “loosely associated” team are forging a brave new world for surfing. One where the founding tenants of the sport – personal flare, eccentricity and humour – are at the forefront. We took a trip through Mollusk’s many contributions with the owner and founder.

Stab: Strong vibes you’ve got going on up there!
John McCambridge: (Laughter) Excellent, appreciate it.

What are the key ingredients to the Mollusk mix? It just started off just being a fun project and getting stuff together to give surfing a bit more interest to us. But really it was about different surfboards because really there weren’t a lot of interesting surfboards around at the time. We started in San Francisco and realised a lot of people like to ride them, people who were friends of mine, who were good artists, so we were able to create a double shop experience from the beginning. We used to have art shows and stuff and people were contributing in one way or another. It was just a good feeling because it was something that maybe hadn’t been done for a while in a surf shop. And it was just interesting to people so we kept it going, getting more people interested and involved. At the end of the day it’s all about the community up here, and surfboards is what it really comes down to.

Rob Machado, Tom Curren, Tyler Warren, Ryan Burch, Bryce Young… you’ve got some serious talent attached to your little enterprise. Yeah, I mean it’s pretty loose associations. From the get go, who we associate ourselves with, all comes from an honest place. It’s not like we have marketing meetings where we go, if we get so and so involved… It’s more along the lines of, we’re stoked on what this person is doing, we have these other people who are doing cool shit involved, let’s hope they see we’re involved with them… So it feels like a good thing, it’s a loose association. We never try and hold onto someone, like, oh you’re ours. We’re like, whatever.

What’s brought your filmmakers and surfers together? A lot of the time I wait for someone to pitch me a cool idea and then say ‘yeah, go for it.’ For the most part we just filtered at the beginning whether someone was good at something, either filmmaking, taking photos, surfing or shaping surfboards, we just say, ‘we’ll work with you on anything you want to do.’ It’s not like I’m the one who’s dictating what they’re up to. They do whatever they’re gonna do and then we showcase it.

You must have a favourite film or surfer from the journey so far? Oh man, I really like the, shit, what was the one we just did? Dos Hermanos. That was fucken sick. So good. Those things show up in my inbox and I’m like, I can’t believe this! This is fucken sick!

Byron’s most cooked, the Browne brothers, Ari and Raf – they’re really something. Dude, so good! They’re the best! It’s so insane. It’s just straight up fun, not serious at all, just a great vibe.

And Tyler Warren. What a talent… Tyler is amazing. He’s multi-talented, his heart’s in the right place. He’s another guy where we’ll order boards from him or feature him in videos and I’ll never dictate what I want him to do, I’ll just be like, dude, make us six boards. I don’t tell him anything just because I trust he has good taste and he’ll make some cool shit. So I think that’s really what it comes down to: the way we work with almost everybody, not dictating to them. We prefer to work with talented people and see how it works out.

Some of the go-to filmmakers you’re working with. It’s all about Jack Coleman right now. He’s doing insane stuff. He’s just so good. He’s got the right vibe, works really hard and pumps stuff out that’s insane. We’ve worked with tonnes of filmmakers over the years, people are at different places at different times. You’ll catch someone when they’re being super productive and it’s the right time for them to make stuff and you just ride it out and a lot of the time it doesn’t last forever but if you catch them when it’s good for both of you, it’s a good thing, right?

What is surfing’s future as you see it? I have no idea. I kinda live in a bubble. What I think surfing’s future is? Finless surfing and stupid shit like that. I dunno what surfing’s future is. It’s probably got 18 different futures right? Like, the whole world is getting more and more segmented, where people can focus in on whatever their particular interest is. There’s probably tonnes of parts of surfing in the future that I don’t really have any interest in or any idea what it’s gonna be.

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

From ‘Blue Ribbon Cross Country Runner’ to Vogue – How Steph Again Is Back With A Rip Curl Remix

Everything we know about the she-GOATs sponsorship boomerang.

Mar 18, 2024

Stab Interview: Darren Handley On Why You Can’t Buy The Winning Stab In The Dark Model

And his decades-long standoff with Slater.

Mar 17, 2024

Griff Embraces Portugal’s Eternal Time Loop To Vanquish Medina + Ewing, Defay Delays The Inevitable

A redeeming closing act at Supertubos.

Mar 16, 2024

The Secret Behind Lungi Slabb’s Inconceivable Greenmount Funnel

Six broken boards, one leaking forehead, and five days of Superbank mysticism.

Mar 16, 2024

Cheat Codes: 2,000 Hours Worth Of Travel Advice From Coco Ho

Hard-earned wisdom from 989,000 miles in the troposphere.

Mar 15, 2024

Dane Reynolds On The Best + Worst Surfboard He’s Designed, Why The ‘Neckbeard’ Is A Misnomer, And How To Appear Cultured When Sizing Up A New Stick

Plus, an introduction to the newly-minted CI Dumpster Diver 2.

Mar 14, 2024

The Most Cinematic Surf Film Since ‘View From A Blue Moon?’

The best wave of Noah Beschen's life at sinister Chopes and 540s with Tyler, The…

Mar 13, 2024

Watch: ‘Vacation 2’ Presented By Monster Energy

Stab Highway Europe winners visit House of Somos, Costa Rica.

Mar 13, 2024

DHD Wins Stab In The Dark With Kolohe Andino

Plus, which Orwellian Premium members best prophesied our Stab In The Dark winners?

Mar 12, 2024

The Shortest Day At Supertubos

Early bird gets the skunk.

Mar 12, 2024

Watch: Kelly Slater Bails On Onshore Portugal, Gets Supertubed at Kirra Instead

“No ski. No runarounds. No snaps.”

Mar 12, 2024

Rumor: 8x World Champion Stephanie Gilmore To Leave Roxy For Another Legacy Surf Brand

The woman who Kelly Slater called 'God's gift to surfing' ignites a bidding war.

Mar 12, 2024

The Longest Day At Supertubos

Much to love, little to hate.

Mar 12, 2024

Joel Parkinson, Jay Davies, And Mark Zuckerberg Jog Into A Jingoistic Surf Biathlon…

An American's POV of the Australian Boardriders Battle.

Mar 11, 2024

No SuperToobs Today, But We’ll Never Turn Down A Rippable Wedge

Any port in a storm.

Mar 10, 2024

The Serendipitous Tale Of A Barnacle-Encrusted 10’0” That Survived 300 Days + 700kms On The East Australia Current

Paddy Power’s big wave gun was lost at Wedding Cake Island, Sydney and collected (by…

Mar 10, 2024

Was Fiji Last Week As Special As The Thundercloud Swell Of 2012?

“I’ve never seen so many people get so many good ones,” said 2023 SSOTY Nathan…

Mar 9, 2024

SEOTY: Hughie Vaughan Discovered A New Wave In Indonesia — But He Doesn’t Know Where It Is

Watch 'Nibbler' — the 17-year-old's bite-sized 2024 Stab Edit of The Year entry.

Mar 9, 2024
Advertisement