Artist Focus: Zoe at Salt, Paper, Scissors

creations taking shape in the Salt Paper Scissors Studio

Its coming up to Christmas so we are starting to think about present buying and as usual we want to support local artists and artisans with our spending.  We caught up with one of our favourite makers, the lovely Zoe Greenhough at Salt Paper Scissors for a wee chat.

As well as being an avid surfer and mum of three, Zoe is also pretty handy with a needle and thread as you can see from all these surf inspired delights she produces in her studio in Brighton.  The best thing for us is that Zoe is super eco-conscious, sourcing great recycled fabrics and packaging so that her gifts are easy on the eye and easy on your environmental karma too ..

Surf girl lavender bags by Salt Paper Scissors

Hi Zoe, we love your products, what has been the motivation behind Salt Paper Scissors?

It started out from one simple idea to make a gigantic surf/ocean inspired lampshade that I could hang above my bed to remind me of sunny days surfing. Then I started making gifts for friends. I got sick of shopping for presents because everything seemed to come in tonnes of packaging. Living near Brighton, and having grown up in a seaside town, I've always been inspired by the sea. I decided to make eco-friendly gifts from recycled materials.

ocean inspired teal and mustard purse 

How long have you been a maker? What advice would you give to us wannabe crafters?

Probably since I was 4! I think crafts are a brilliant way to bring out your inner child. The internet is awash with beautiful websites that can help you make anything from gift cards to dog coats. It's worth trying anything. Be prepared to make mistakes and learn from them. Never waste anything - you'll find a way to salvage it and turn it into something unique and useful.

Cute make up pouches by Salt Paper Scissors

Whats on the horizon for 2014 from Salt Paper Scissors?

I'm so excited to have had some great collaborations with artists this year, and have more lined up in the near future. Plus, 2014 will see more Salt Paper Scissors gifts stocked in small boutique stores across the South East and perhaps spreading. Who knows! Finally, the long-awaited website will be launched in the Spring, just in time to get beach-ready and surfed-up!

We can't wait to see what you have in store! Check out Zoe's work in her etsy shop and give her facebook page a like to stay up to date with Salt Paper Scissors news.

A New Addiction

A new addiction was born at Surf Sistas HQ last week when Demi Taylor at Westering offered to lend us a couple of handplanes to play with on our White to Green Course in Cornwall!  Demi lovingly hand crafts each hand plane from reclaimed FSC certified redwood, oils them with 3 coats of linseed and then air dries them in the rafters of her cornish cottage ..  she scoops up the colourful offcuts from our friends at Neon Wetsuits to make adjustable straps that will work for your tanned and naked summer hand and also its frosty and gloved winter sista.

Now I have never been one for reading an instruction manual so its no surprise that I found myself out in the sea loving my pink fins and my cute hand plane but having absolutely no idea what I was supposed to be doing .. How hard can it be?   mmm kinda hard it turns out..

I think I probably got 2 waves that felt like I was actually doing the right thing ..  if you knew how long it took me to even stand up on a surfboard you will understand why I am pretty chuffed with that .. my hand planing career is already on a speedier trajectory than my surfing one!

I had some questions as I experimented in the ocean; when do you stop kicking, what do you do with the arm and hand not attached to the hand plane, why is that guy on the short board dropping in on my every wave,  why didn't I even watch a youtube video before I got in, and why didn't I pay more attention when I watched Come Hell or High Water?

Back on dry land I have been doing some online research to find out more about the art of hand-planing and try and see what I was doing right or wrong ..   I found this useful explanation from Slyde Handboards, worth a look just for the demo photo on the skateboard with a human wave..  and it answered my arm question, seems like you can let it freestyle aerodynamically behind you or plonk it on top of your leading hand,  I tried the latter with good effect so maybe thats my style!

More on this new journey is surely to come but in the meantime to spread the stoke here's a little wave backlit with gold & hand planed by Cyrus Sutton:


Cyrus filming for "Stoked and Broke" from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.

Surf Artisans: beach to board bag with wyatt & jack

Photo by Oliver Harvey

We first met Georgia at the London Surf Film Festival last year and we fell in love with her range of bags recycled from the fabrics of the beach, old deck chairs, marquees and parasols .. just fling all your childhood summers over your shoulder and go.   This creative lady has just relaunched her brand as wyatt & jack with a lush new website and a wealth of new products including recycled board bags, so we asked her to talk us through the process and what inspires her ..

"I love the stretch of water that separates the island from the mainland. It makes it feel like a proper adventure every time you leave (even when you have to wait a couple of hours because you've missed the ferry).  Which we have. Once again.

We're going to see Rik. Going to see Rik is very much like being a borrower or Hobbit .. everything in his workshop is ginormous (including him and his grin!).  Theres a 10 man inflatable SUP board hanging from the ceiling and two cutting tables that I can only just see the top of .. then theres the machines .. the machines.. he's got all kinds of special machinery that do the jobs we spend ages doing in half the time. Its my stainless steel equivalent of a chocolate factory!

wyatt & jack bags .. the yul, the tote, and the frank

This is the bonus of having our stuff manufactured in Britain. We’re looking at it...being made. When I first starting making the bags a couple of years ago, I knew that whatever happened to the business and however it grew, I didn’t want to export the fabric and have our bags made abroad. Aside from anything else, the minute you put it on a plane or a boat, the carbon footprint instantly counters the recycled nature of it. We don’t want to lose that, we’ve recycled over 4 tonnes of beach material so far!  Plus, we’ve got some of the best manufacturers in the world in the UK and we wanted to hunt them out and use them.

The struggle has been finding someone flexible and enthusiastic enough to join us. The materials are difficult to work with. They come to us, after living a previous life on the beach, then we wash them all back and reveal their original colours before they arrive at the manufacturers in assorted shapes and sizes.  We knew the person who took on the job would have to be into what we’re trying to achieve as much as we are, and with a sense of humour, some of the pieces we send him are probably not much larger than a pair of pants and a pretty similar shape!

The marquee pvc, previously a host to a Bollywood production and countless British festivals, is perfect for a boardbag. Its really durable and easy to keep clean, plus its not black!   Its nice to have a bit of colour for a change, the stripe at the end is from the deckchairs of the London Parks, thats my favourite bit!

board bag in the workshop

I don’t think I’ll ever stop enjoying seeing an idea turned into a tangible object, especially by a professional, they make it look so easy.  Months and months of planning and talking, yet in 20 minutes, theres a finished bag, its unreal really. I'm very lucky.

Heres a little film about the Boardbag Process, sorry about the grey tinge, but if we waited for sunshine, we’d never have had them made!"

process the boardbag from wyatt&jack on Vimeo.

wyatt and jack's board bags are already out and about being road tested by UK surfers, heres what Ernest Capbert of cold water surf company Finisterre had to say .. 
"I have a toiletry bag I love, I have a rucksack that I love and a pair of boots with red laces that I love. these are the things I take on a cold water surf trip and they all sit so well together. You put a board bag from one of the larger brands next to it all and although the board bag at times, does what it should, it falls short of looking beautiful, they always do. Can someone make a board bag that does what it should but also looks good? I can happily say yes, hello wyatt and jack."

photo courtesy E Capbert