Indie Spotlight: Driftwood Collective
HUCK meets the Portuguese DIY surf craft collective who are turning junk into gems.
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Ever tried making a surfboard shaping rack out of a broken bed frame? Or creating your own cruiser from the remains of an old skateboard? Well, it’s all in a day’s work for the Driftwood Collective.
In a garage at the bottom of a block of flats in a small seaside town of Figueira da Foz, Portugal, Pedro Vieira and Márcio Oliveira are stripping back an old surfboard. They are the founding members of this surf craft collective, and this is their new project. “I know it doesn’t look like much,” admits Pedro “but I can’t wait to see how this one turns out.” That could be excitement. It could be sarcasm. He's right though – the battered board in front of him doesn't look pretty, but these chaps have a knack for turning junk into gems.
They’re working on the third episode of The DIY Series – a run of short web videos showcasing their recycling antics. But 'do-it-yourself' wasn’t the original concept behind Driftwood’s beginnings. In fact, there wasn’t much of a concept at all. “We just wanted something to do in between waves,” explains Marcio, “but when you’re not surfing, you’re thinking about surfing, so it made sense to do something based on surf culture here.”
However, whilst their hometown may have great waves, it isn’t exactly a hub of arts and culture - certainly in comparison to Porto or Lisbon. Nevertheless, this seems to have given them the impetus to get busy, “If you just sit waiting for what this place has got to give to you, then you’ll get bored very quickly. So you look for ways to keep occupied,” observes Pedro on building their own scene. The only thing is you don't get much feedback. But then you have the internet so you can be in Figueira and be in the centre of the world at the same time.” 
Pedro and Márcio
Stripping the surfboard
Starting a blog was a quick and easy platform to get things going and, as Marcio is a photographer, it was a natural move to begin with the visuals. “When we started the blog we were mainly thinking about photography and video, but then we got this urge to build stuff so we filmed what we did and put it online," he says. "It was an experiment but the reaction it got made us think this is what makes it different and legitimate in its own way, you know?”
“We want to be eco-friendly,” says Pedro, “but there’s this social factor too. We’re not really interested in giving money to big companies. We want people to get together and get into this crafting thing. I really think it’s good for your soul, you know?”
With that, he puts on a dust mask and gets back to work. Pedro looks content. When there’s no surf, he and Marcio are building. And that’s the way they like it. As for the future of DWC, well it’s as relaxed as their organic beginnings. “It didn't come as a planned thing from the start. It's something that is evolving as we experiment. And we still don't know where it's gonna go…”
One thing’s for certain, what they’re building here isn’t just recycling: it’s a new wave.
Pedro on cigarette break
Inspirational Driftwood Collective prints
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Indie Spotlight: Driftwood Collective (text) by Phil Wright is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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