Head Shaper:

Matt Biolos

Behind the Brand:Currently one of the most widely ridden—and recognized—labels on the market, Matt Biolos’ …Lost Surfboards has been a San Clemente institution since 1993. Biolos, who began his shaping apprenticeship in 1987, learned the craft amid a motley crew of designers and riders that were known to frequent Herbie Fletcher’s surf shop during that era, a list of names that included experimental pros like the Fletcher brothers and Matt Archbold, icons like Mike Hynson, manufacturing luminaries like Timmy Patterson, and, of course, Herbie himself. Building on the image of his label during the early-’90s, Biolos assembled a surf team spearheaded by progressive and upcoming talents like Chris Ward and Cory Lopez, and began to release a series of low-budget surf flicks throughout that decade that captured the highflying performances of his team’s riders and their equipment. These films also seethed with counterculture and humor, and those elements—coupled with Biolos’ shaping skills and marketing savvy—helped to propel the …Lost label to global recognition. Today, …Lost is still firmly entrenched in the San Clemente scene (Biolos’ shop is appropriately embedded in Herbie Fletcher’s old location) and it remains one of the most dominant labels in the production of high-performance shortboards and modern hybrid Fishes with a team of test pilots that includes Chris Ward, Mason, Coco, and Michael Ho, Aaron Cormican, Chris Davidson, Kolohe Andino, Cory and Shea Lopez, Ian Walsh, Carissa Moore, Luke Davis, James Wood, Balaram Stack, and other surfers around the globe.

About ...Lost's Most Popular Models: “Kolohe’s Scorcher model is all the rave for the SoCal and East Coast contest scenes,” says Biolos. “It’s designed to work in marginal surf. The Whiplash is still getting the most competitive results when the waves are curvy or big. Three of the four finalists in the 2009 ISA World Games in Costa Rica were riding Whiplashes. Eddie Guilbeau, who just won the 2009 Sebastian Inlet King of the Peak and the Oneill Coldwater Classic, is said to have won on a Whiplash as well.”

Shop Talk: “Speed while retaining control is the most important quality to have in your surfboard. If you don’t have speed, you don’t have nothin’. But if you can’t control the speed, then you still have nothin’.”

What makes your label different from the other surfboards in the market? “Innovation, creativity, and a sense of humor.”

Tell us about the changes you’ve seen in recent years in the shaping realm, and how it has affected your craft. “CAD design and pre-shape machines have gotten more dialed. We’ve been able to fine-tune the designs and make minute changes to boards at levels never before achievable.”

How do you think surfboards and shaping/glassing boards will change in the next decade? “I have believed for years that if you can snowboard Alaska on a 5' snowboard, and ride Jaws on a 5' tow board, then conventional surfboards should, and will, be shorter.”

What is the one key component of your company or your surfboards that you’d like us to emphasize in your brand’s profile? “We put the fun in ‘surfun.’”