Editor’s note: This story was supported by our friends at SHEPP Solutions. Learn more about the GNARWALL at their website.
If you’ve ever stepped into a shaping bay (or, maybe even if you haven’t) you understand how much craftsmanship goes into a single surfboard. Every sled is like a functional sculpture – that goes double when you start to add pin lines, deck patches, complex colorwork, or glass-on fins (God bless those laminators, sanders, and polishers).
Because artwork deserves to be displayed and appreciated, many surfers have taken to hanging their boards on the wall to admire them when not in use.
Hanging your boards next to your bed like the amazing pieces of art they are just got simpler. Photo: Gnarwall
That’s the story with Toronto-based Great Lakes surfer Adam Shepperdley, who works full time as an accredited industrial designer and created the GNARWALL – a minimalist surfboard wall mounting system that is actually genius in its simplicity.
“I moved my design consultancy into a larger loft office space and set up a standing workstation in front of a large white brick wall,” Shepperdley told The Inertia. “Instantly I wanted to display my surfboard on the wall. That is how it all started.”
The first design included wooden hooks that screwed into the center fin boxes of Shepperdley’s boards and a black pipe fastened to the wall from which to hang them.
“One thing that bothered me was the black pipe,” he said. “So we decided to make a discreet wall hanger, and minimize the hook so that boards would appear as they were floating.”
A wooden hook screws into your fin box and attaches to a plastic mount. Photo: Gnarwall
The end result is simple – as many of the best ideas are. A small birch hook screws into the center fin box of any FCS or Futures set up, and a single plastic piece mounts to any wall you want to hang your board on. Even brick, if you’re so inclined. For quads or twins, you can just use two hooks and mounts instead of one.
“It uses the least amount of materials possible and is as simple as we could make it,” said Shepperdley. The company claims the GNARWALL is the “only completely hidden surfboard mounting system on the market.”
Earlier this month, Shepperley and the crew at SHEPP Solutions launched a Kickstarter to bring the GNARWALL to life, and have raised $3,348 of their $3,277 goal.
And while this iteration is centered on hanging surfboards, Shepperdley says the applications of the straightforward hook design are far-reaching.
“We launched the [GNARWALL] system as a surfboard hanging system, although it is planned to evolve into hanging many different pieces of sporting equipment – or really anything,” he said. “Today, September 28th, we were 100 percent funded on Kickstarter and will announce the “Generic S Hook” that can be used with our system to hang anything with a loop. So far we are hanging things like surfboard bags, fin bags, backpacks, and wetsuits from the simple hook. The system is very versatile, and we see many new markets and uses for it.”
Gnarwall has recently expanded to produce wetsuit racks, snowboard racks, and many different surfboard racks. To learn about the GNARWALL or to get one for yourself, check out the Gnarwall Website.
