Designer vs Shaper

I was noticing in ad, that featured a legendary shaper, stacks of preshaped blanks fresh off the machine. If the machine does the shaping and the “shaper” creates the board in some sort of CAD program doesnt that make him/her a "Designer: as opposed to a shaper?

As Shakespeare said, “A rose is a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet?”

Or

Calls yo-self anyting yous wants. You is watt chew is

I would agree bud

I think I consider myself a “designer” first, shaper second.

Most of the boards I do, I design on the computer, then shape.

On occasion I have them cut.

That’s why I think of myself as a designer first.

To me, the designer produces the mental concept. (S)he may manifest the concept on the computer, a scratch pad, or another communication medium.

The shaper attempts to manifest the designer’s concept in 3-D reality. If there’s a machine involved, the machine shares shaping duties with whoever finishes the blank prior to glassing.

i consider myself a journeyman “boardbuilder” i think glassings harder then shaping anyway

close tolerence blanks makes shaping pretty easy if you can handle a planer and have a craftsmans eye

a boardbuilder should do it all and do it good

shapers are guna go the way of the dodo

same as other industrys staff have to be able to diversify

I could go on for days on this topic instead I’ll post some pics. A craftsman designed and shaped this board…

Pictures?

A shaper can be a person or a machine.

A designer is always a person.

A shaper can be a person or a machine.

A designer is always a person.

Well said!

Check out the rest of the images on www.surfysurfy.net.

Love the great use of diction haha

well said though

Quote:

I could go on for days on this topic instead I’ll post some pics. A craftsman designed and shaped this board…

Wow, that is mental! Please don’t tell me that any of those curved line on the deck are wood and even if they aren’t how in the hell did he/she get the paint to match the stringers/stringer? On second thought never mind my ignorance is my bliss.

All of those curvy brown bits are wood. The red and blue are pins and black is gloss rails. We have some pics of the board in production but Jim has to get them out of the camera. Come on Jim!

It was interesting to read an interview with Kelly Slater after his Pipe Masters win. The design of the surfboard was a point of discussion and the interviewer asked Mr. S about the board and the rumor that he had shaped it himself.

Kelly replied that he had indeed done the shaping. Turns out all of his “shaping” was done on a computer. I guess, in his mind he shaped it, but I would call that designing. Shaping involves foam dust, and itching.

Doug

WHAT!!! I guess I should stop crying about poor wood grain orientation on a single 1/8" bass stringer. Sorry to hijack but I would love to see the pictures.

Maybe this is the difference between a shaper and an artist!

I guess the terms “shaper” and “designer” have never been distinguished from one another before, because a person has always done both. But now that your ghost shaper (who was never a designer, but is a shaper nontheless) is essentially a non-reasoning robot, you really do have to make the distinction.

Designer- The EYE

Recently I started designing my templates with APS3000. With regards to the computer shapes, not much really changes- you still need a good eye and an understanding of the function of all the curves and volumes. In my opinion only a good “shaper” can design a good board on the computer. You’re designing SHAPES, one way or the other. You need the “eye.” I think some people have it (the eye) from their first board. Other’s don’t have it after 100’s of boards.

Shaper- The HANDS

On the other hand a non shaper or bad shaper can certainly mess up a computer/machine shaped board during the scrubbing process, either by not having the “eye” or the “hands” (craftsmanship). I think a designer can lack the hands if he teams up with good craftsmen, capable of translating what he sees in his mind or screen (what Kelly is doing?). But to be a well rounded shaper you need both eyes and hands.

It is necessary to keep one’s compass in one’s eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute,

but the eye judges.

I try to tell the guys who take my class (trying not to sound too corny) that when you’re working, the tool becomes part of your hand… that you are constantly feeling the shape of the board through the tool. Every bump, dip, curve… becomes a tactile sensation felt by and through the tool. So the tool becomes part of your hand.

Your hand becomes part of your eye. Every time the tool touches the foam, it changes it. So you never touch the tool to the foam without a deliberate goal for every stroke… never mindlessly scrub away at the foam. Every touch has a purpose. Your eye tells you what that purpose is, and sends your hand to do the task.

Your eye becomes part of the vision in your head… the shape you see in your mind even as you look at the unshaped plug. All the “designing” you did beforehand, talking to the customer, or thinking about what it is you want the board to do.

So it becomes one, single, zen-like interconnected being… tool, hand, eye, vision. One entity.

the lights go down in the arena.

the spots illuminate the square .

the man in the tuxedo steps to the center of the square .

divided in two,the square has a desk and a laptop on one side.

the other side has a set of racks , a tool bench, a cornicopia

]spilling tools not fruit] ,quite cluttered by comparison.

the audio’s teltale archaic pping echos days gone bye…

ladies and gentle men in the main event we have in this

rectillieeene the challenger from Angora learned to swim well

summers in lake mead…winner of innumerable

diving and drag racing

competitions,managing 37 acres of almonds,father of two,

teeaches sunday school…Bit Nimbledigits.

in this rectilieene we have

the belt of 38 winters on the north shore

survivor of the swels of 69 ,74,82, 88,94,97,and

2002,2004,2006 and just in from honohulihuli

for tonite’s event on his way to S.A.for the lumber auction

Shape… ANshapesommore.

the two figures make their way to the center of the ring.

the mega screen starts it’s zoom

and stops at the hands as they clasp.

gentlemen the international rules of shapeatition apply

as handed down from the marquis of dunesberry.

no rebbatt punches,no punches to the kidneys

and as the ref drones on the conspicious diffrences

in the hands is glaring…the strong stocky callused palms

of ANshapesomemore almost radiate heat .

the elongateed fingers of Nimble didgits with a ring in three out of each

hand’s five conspiciouslycalloused only on the tips of the fingers…

the judges at ring side have head phones

and personal screens to range their pespective from

audience body teperature to rectilinear plotting of continious curve and

instant relationship to traditional computer scans of

historic shapes…

the winner will aquire the gold belt

with matching speedos

a lip lock from miss whatshername2009

and a check written in some currency currently

worth a darn,and a tank full of gas not to exceed 24 gallons.

the air is is so thick you could cut it with a knife…

the big money is on the promoter to win…

what else is new…

all the real surfers are surfing

or eating or sleeping

to rest up for their next go out.

…ambrose…

real surfers …ha.