New Year's statistics (2016)

What a year for Mere-Made surfboards !!!

Probably the most successful so far.

Even though the number of boards decreased compared to last year, I can't be more proud of 2016 production! A total of 36 boards which is a bit less than last year due to the extra time spent on artworks which have became more and more complex lately. That also means I am maxing out my hobby production (i.e., I can't work more than that unless I quit my day time/full  time job :))

Like in the previous years, shortboards is what I do most, followed by longboards and funboards. I am also very excited to have shaped my first kiteboard too!

This following stat I am particularly happy about: compared to last year, there is a 20% increase of the number of boards shaped for female riders which almost reaches the male rider orders! Yay!

Geographically, my boards are localized mainly in California since I don't ship (customers have to do the pick-up in Encinitas). But I managed to shape some boards in France while vacationing and one recently during my training in Maui.

Social media exposure has been great in 2016. I have to say that opening an Instagram account helped getting more attention worldwide. Part of that success came from the 12 boards published  by Boardporn, the biggest surfboard account on Instagram! (Thank you Ron!)

In addition I also got three paper publications in surf magazines including Surf Session (France) and Surfgirl (UK) which were illustrated by my loyal friend and amazing photographer Laurent Chantegros.

Surf Session "Mademoiselle" 2016

Surfgirl 2016 

Talking about exposure, I partnered again with my surf gear sponsor Howzit and Mere-Made got featured in the 2017 catalog/campaign as well as poster display in they booth (photos by Corey Walter and Laurent Chantegros).

Also this year I got to shape at Swop Surfboards and ND Surf (both located in France) and I recently had the chance to do an intense shaping training in Maui with Matt Kinoshita at Kazuma Surfboards. All those experiences are priceless and definitely make my 2017 year very exciting with the new skills I am developing...

board#089: mini-gun for the YMCA

my 7 year old daughter with the board donated
to the YMCA Dance Department

Dimensions: 6'8 x 19 1/2 x 2 5/8
[shaped in July 2015, completed in March 2016]

The story: it happens that I don't get enough coffee when tracing my outline and I end up cutting a board with the wrong dimensions. This one is the perfect example. I was supposed to make a shortboard for Paul  when I totally got the widest point wrong (from very far). I didn't noticed until I was done... I am like "wait a minute... that shortboard looks like a mini-gun to me !!!..." Of course, I reshaped one for Paul with the right wideness [see his actual board here] but I keep this shaped blank in the corner of my shaping room. Juts in case. And almost a year later, that board found an owner. The YMCA Dance department (where my daughter dances) was having an end-of-the-year performance with the Endless Summer theme... I suggested I could donate a special board for the occasion. This is how that old shaped blank was back into business!

The shape: The shape was a classic shortboard shape which ended-up a mini-gun due to an outline mistake. I accentuated the pintail to make it even more  a big wave board. The final result was so cool that my husband wanted to keep it !!! Too late, it is for the YMCA!

The artwork: The Endless Summer theme was of course a requirement. It was an easy one for me as I had done a couple of similar artworks in the past: one on a real Robert August longboard [click here] and a replica on one of my shapes [board#018]. I suggested that the famous silhouette should be a dancer for the occasion. This was printed on rice paper by Boardlams while I painted the board with the orange/pink famous color combo. 

The beautiful glass was performed by Global Glassing in Oceanside.

The testimonial:  Because the Dance Department was raffling it, it was on display in the YMCA lobby for a couple weeks before the drawing. There were even some posters made for the occasion ! The board went to a photoshoot with the dance team. This board became the "star" of the YMCA for a while !!! A lot of my friends bought some tickets as well as my husband who wanted it back :) First the tickets could only be purchased in person but they had to open it up to phone purchasing as it was so popular! I was super stoked! Then, it was the big day of the performance. The whole Dance Department did a terrific job on the show. The kids were amazing on stage. At the very end, the board came on stage for the raffle drawing. I was called on stage too... Most of the people in the audience had bought some tickets so the whole place went quiet when my daughter dove her head in the ticket jar... And the winner is.... a woman named Andrea who bought 200 tickets!!! She was not in the audience but I got to meet her in person later this month and she was stoked: the board is now in display in her living room until her husband gets the permission to  take it in the water. I hope this happens because like all Mere-Made Surfboards she is made for the Ocean!

this poster, for sure, landed on the wall of my shaping room!

Photo by Rob Randolph

... and the winner is...

New Year statistics (2015)

Time to look back at 2015 Mère-Made year in numbers.

1) Production stabilized. According to the trend, I was not able to increase the Mère-Made production from last year numbers. In 2015,  I made 40 boards which is one board completed every 10 days. On top of my full-time job, family and surfing. I think I can get a good pat in the back for that ;)

2) Rider gender is still mainly dominated by testosterone but this might be biased by the distribution of male surfers vs female surfers

3) Mère-Made surfboards speciality is... shortboards! (more than half of the production)

4) Vincent (my husband and team rider) has been more reasonable this year and he only got 2 new boards. This gave me more time to shape new boards for my own quiver (3 new boards for me! Yeah!)

5) Finally I am very pleased to see that 1/3 of the boards were requested from returning customers! That is a very good metric to measure customer satisfaction !!!

Looking forward another great year,

Thank you to all my dear customers!

Happy new year,
Valerie

www.meremadesurfboards.com

Yesterday Mère-Made Surfboards has made its entrance in the .com world.
The idea of a "real website" was not really something I had in mind. I am so busy 24/7. I didn't even have time to think about it. I was totally fine with my Blogger account until I started to exchange ideas with my friend Corey Walter, a free lance photographer/web designer. Because he had already all the visual material to build the website (we worked on many photoshoots together) it made total sense he would be the ideal person to create my first official website. And here it is: click here to enter.  Purple is the theme color, of course. Corey and I worked together for the text but he created everything else with the Mère-Made touch he knows well. I am very stoked to share this my blogger family. And, by the way, I am keeping that blog page I love so much. I have met so many great people through Blogger that there is no chance that I stop writing those posts!!

please click here to take a quick look at my new website!

Oh, and I almost forgot... you can now email me at valerie@meremadesurfboards.com !!!!

"Mere-Made: a documentary" (pre-production trailer)

Last December I was releasing the first Mère-Made commercial produced/realized by professional photographer Eri Morita (click here to watch it).

Today, I am sharing with you the trailer of "Mère-Made: a documentary".

To me, that seems unreal… but a photojournalist named Cody Gless decided to produce a short documentary about my brand. Cody was working for NBC news San Diego when I shaped him a board. As he was very curious about this craft, I invited him to visit the shaping room and, with a big smile on his face, he even helped me to finish the sanding of his own board. 

His first idea was to shoot a story for the local news. But Cody came back to me with bigger plans: a documentary. He started shooting last year. I was impressed by his professionalism/skills. But when I watched the trailer last month I was completely blown away by the quality of the editing. Here it is for you to watch. 

The shooting is still going on for the release of the full version next year. 

PS: the teaser has been submitted to the San Diego Surf Film Festival 2015.

Mere-Made: a Documentary (Trailer) from Cody Gless on Vimeo.

First Mère-Made commercial !!!!

Earlier this week was the launch of my very first video ad on Facebook. With over 2,000 views already it was time to upload the video on YouTube and share it with... my Blogger friends!!!

This commercial was filmed and edited by my talented friend Eri Morita (Eri Morita Photography). She perfectly captured the essence of my brand: "Made just for YOU". So thrilled to be working with such an amazing artist… A big thank you also to the actors which volunteered their time to film this video! You guys rocked !!



Behind the scenes:

Eri, the director… directing a very shy Aiden

the full cast :)

New year statistics (2014)

Mère-Made Surfboards is celebrating 4 years in "business" including an official Trade-Mark in 2014.

It feels like yesterday when I shaped my first blank in the direct sunlight of my backyard.
Looking at this year statistics, the hobby seems to turn into a production mode! Mère-Made Surfboards is doing great… Me, on the other hand, I am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of new orders and because I want to keep the high quality product/customer service, this gives me insomnia sometimes…

But  I would like to take the opportunity to thank all my dear customers, past and future. I have a blast shaping all those boards for you guys !!! Happy New Year !!!

hobby??? 

Still mainly men customers...

According to the statistics, Shortboards are my specialty ?

Last year my friend Bron suggested to add that chart.
I hope to go more global in 2015!!!

Mère-Made surfboards ripped and RIP at Fiji

If you don’t know yet, my husband Vincent went for a surftrip in Fiji this month. Despite the fact he went without me (bouhhhhh), I was somehow part of the trip as his whole quiver was Mère-Made surfboards. He represented my brand very well, getting a legit and acclaimed barrel at Cloudbreak (Tavarua). Unfortunately this barrel was not documented but he brought back some awesome water shots which I could not resist to share.  

On a less happy note, one of my favorite boards did not make it back… It was the “Switchfoot board”, autographed by all the band members. It broke in half on a big set, the nose part which had all the signatures, never to be found again.  If wish the fatality was on another board. This one was a collector.

Anyway, I am so thrilled that Mère-Made boards got to surf mythic waves in Fiji. I hope that next time I post about Fiji, I’ll show you some pictures of my boards but with me on top!

Photo credits: STORK PHOTOS (Mark Thompson/storkphoto@hotmail.com)