As new technology drives surfboard design into an increasingly complex web of mathematical formulas and hydrodynamic architecture, Torquay shaper Corey Graham believes in a very simple equation: foam = fun. When his dad Russell Graham’s iconic Moonlight Laminating factory closed its doors after two decades at the heart of the Torquay surf scene, Corey set up his own factory/shopfront two years ago. Nestled behind Mitre 10 in Baines Crescent, Corey wanted his shop to be a Willy Wonka-inspired fantasyland for surfers. When Swellnet visited earlier this week, the racks were bulging with an incredibly eclectic array of surfcraft designed to make you smile – concave decks, beaked noses, chine rails, channels, flyers and flutes.

Corey is a very different kind of cat. He shaped his first surfboard at age 13 and despite growing up under the influence of the some of the industry’s most accomplished craftsmen, cites a virtually unknown Santa Cruz eccentric as his biggest inspiration. He shuns machine shaping and shapes every one of his weird and wonderful designs by hand. He is a prolific presence on social media. Has an incredibly loyal customer base. And is a bloody good bloke.

Swellnet: How long have you been in the new shop?
I think I’ve been here for almost two years. Honestly, I’ve been a time warp since we opened, so I’ve really got no idea. We’d been in the old factory for 21 years and it was pretty tired. Every time it rained the roof would leak, the old girl was just hammered and the space was getting unworkable. I heard this joint was up for grabs, Pearl Longboards was moving into a brand new factory out behind Bunnings, and it was already a working factory with a shopfront, which was cool because most surf shops aren’t really focused on surfboards – they’re for people who surf, not surfers. So it’s important to have your own shop, but it’s not always conducive to getting lots of work done.

Is that because people like me come in for a chat and you’re too nice to tell them to piss off and leave you alone?
They just come in. This is not a surf shop. You can come in, have a look around, ask questions and walk through the factory. Crew just like popping in. You know what I mean. We just hang out, do our thing and talk shit. It’s cool. And people like to come in and smell the fumes.

Is there a philosophy behind the shop?
I wanted to recreate the feeling that I had when I was a grom walking into surf shops, checking out all the different shapers and all the different styles of surfboards. It used to feel a bit like you were a kid in a candy store, so I wanted to create a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory vibe – bring back the fun, create some fascination in surfboards and take the piss a bit.

You’ve been shaping for a long time and I know you were pretty burnt out a few years ago, so I’m guessing that fun is an essential ingredient.
I was 13 when I shaped my first board, so that’s 24 years ago. I went through a phase when I hated shaping a lot, purely because everything was the same and I was just pumping out all these boards that were essentially the same. It was like surfboards had been gentrified. Everything kind of left the building. My shaping left the building. And eventually I left the building. I didn’t shape anything for a few years. I travelled a bit and worked for a local surf school. But I’d trashed all my boards and came back in to shape myself a few. I was tired of riding standard shortboards so started exploring some different options. Speed is the funnest part of surfing, so I built myself some speed machines. Then a few mates wanted me to make them some, and it went from there.

You’ve got lots of different boards in the racks here. Is there an organizing idea or design principle?
Fun. Whether it’s channels and speed or short and loose, I’m just shaping for fun. And I reckon the foam feels it. I think if you’re shaping, listening to good music and having fun while you’re doing it, the foam drinks that up. Does that sound weird?

Definitely weird, but I think you can see it in all the different sorts of boards that you’re making – the retro-inspired single fins, the experimental, stubby grovelers and the channel bottoms. They look fun.
Yeah, I’m doing heaps of channel bottoms – maybe 2 or 3 a week.

How much is being driven by you in terms of what you want to shape and how much is being driven by what the customer wants to ride?
I think the short, fat, wide thing is partly because of what Craig Ando has been doing with Hayden Shapes and what Kelly is riding with the Tomo/Firewire stuff. I think all of that has influenced people’s willingness to try something different and once people have tried something different and had fun, they’re willing to go even more different. There are guys who want to explore new paths and then there are guys who want to explore some of the retro stuff with more foam and flatter rocker. I’ve got great customers who walk in and order things like this (picks up a sleek 8-foot, six channel, widow maker). He wanted something to surf in bigger waves and do big long swoops and get barreled. What a brief! But I had to shape a lot of that stuff and throw it out there in the hope that somebody is gonna buy it – now people come in and order them! I also get guys that have a lot of trust and give me a lot of leverage, which allows me to have fun.

Through Russ, you’ve been exposed to so many different shapers over the years.
Yeah, and it’s hard not to be influenced by them.

And then you’ve got Tommy Peterson coming in here for guest shaping stints as well.
Yeah, I’m picking him up tomorrow from the airport, which is always fun. I’ve definitely been influenced by guys like Tommy and Simon Anderson, who still comes and stays with my parents every Easter. You can’t go past Simon as an influence. His boards have always been so clean and balanced and beautiful. But I’m eclectic in that I’ll listen to everything from classical music to heavy metal. I’m influenced by everything and I’ll cherry pick from everywhere. I’m open to experimentation. One guy who had a huge impact on me was Mike Croteau*. He was this massive guy, really big and strong, who came over from Hawaii and shaped in the factory years and years ago. I can’t even remember when, but I was pretty young – he used to throw me up in the air like a doll, do push-ups with me on his back and just made me feel stoked every time I saw him. He used to shape these big, brutal boards with really deep channels. He did asymmetricals. They were just amazing boards with all these features. They were more than surfboards.

Eclectic is a good word to describe what’s in the racks.
I have an idea, whether it’s an original idea or I’ve seen something or been influenced by someone, and once I’ve had the idea I have to shape it or I can’t concentrate. There’s this double-ender I shaped last week and posted on Instagram. I actually saw the outline in an old art book and it looked like it would work. How well it will work I don’t know, but it will work. Everything works doesn’t it? (Laughs) There are so many things going on in it. I had to get the rail line, the bottom curve, the tail shape…

What about the role of social media and the feedback loop that creates?
It started out as a form of marketing but it’s evolved. I love sharing ideas and people interacting with that, so hopefully people smarter than me can come along and make it better. There is so much of the same-same that I want to add a different perspective of surfing. I’m not trying to be anything other than true to me and what I do. If I have an idea, I like to share it. I think sharing ideas is the beauty and power of social media.

Why is hand-shaping so important to you?
I’m not anti-machine, I’m just anti-machine for me. The machines are needed because the world needs surfboards, but once you’ve created that file and you’ve pressed shape, or whatever they do, the development of that surfboard has just ended, that’s all it is ever going to be. I can change what I am doing mid-stream and I genuinely like shaping. If I took the shaping away and used a machine, I’d be taking what I enjoy out of the process.

What’s it like still working with your Dad after all these years?
It’s smooth. I don’t have to say much. We talk all the time, but it’s rarely about work, it’s about the grandkids or the weather or the footy. He still enjoys it (glassing). People are always asking him when he’s gong to retire, but he still loves it. Not every day, there are some days he hates it, but generally he likes coming in to the factory. He’ll be in here at 7am most mornings, before the groms arrive.

It seems like a real family affair with (Corey’s partner) Peta’s ceramics and paintings in the shop as well.
She designed the whole shop fit-out, all my logos. I rock home and I’ve got a new logo – now I’ve got about 10 different logos, which is fun. Surfing can be so, so serious, but I like it best when it’s punk and fun and there’s no money in it. There is no money in it when you do it like this, but I couldn’t do it any other way.

*Mike Zeh Croteau was a maverick Santa Cruz shaper who spent time working for Dick Brewer in Hawaii and Rip Curl in Torquay in the 1980s, experimenting with asymmetrical, multiple concave and quad fin designs. “I certainly consider him one of the most creative shapers that probably ever shaped and designed surfboards,” Surftech founder Randy French said after Croteau died in 2007 from complications after surgery to remove a brain tumor.

Follow Corey on Instagram.