Beautiful and eco-friendly: the surf rack reinvented
Your company is very new. How did you come up with the idea?
I am a surfer myself and live in the Biarritz region, the cradle of surfing in Europe. When you surf a lot, you need several boards because each one suits a different type of wave. Boards take up a lot of space and storage is often a problem.
|
This was the situation I was in, and I could not find a satisfactory solution… And when you spend a lot of time in the water, it is not uncommon to come across rubbish, particularly plastic, floating on the surface or in midwater.
It is not the most pleasant thing in the world, so I thought it would be a good idea to do something about it. Every problem has its solution! My solution was to use plastic waste to design a rack for storing surfboards. So, I started my own company two years ago. |
|
Where do the plastics you use come from?
They come from post-consumer and post-industrial waste. I work with various partners, all French, who know how to recycle this waste to turn it into a resource.
 |
One of these is a company called Le Pavé, which started out around the same time as mine. It has developed a material made entirely from plastic waste, without any resin or colouring agents.
Called Soft Surface, it is marketed in the form of panels of varying thickness. Before turning them into beautiful panels, the end-of-life plastics are recycled mechanically: they are washed, crushed and agglutinated after heating.
For me, the appeal is manifold: it can be processed using the same tools as wood. It can be sawn, drilled, glued, varnished or polished; the quality of the material and its texture remain the same. It comes in a range of colours, and the addition of plastic flakes at the end of the process, made from crushed coloured caps, gives it an unmistakable look that pleases (me) greatly. |
I also work with local partners in the Landes department, who recover waste collected by various NGOs, particularly from the region’s beaches. Their transformation into a new material, after mechanical recycling too, is carried out in the south of the department. It is truly a local supply chain! The quality is also satisfying.
It is true that the colours are very pleasant. Do you know how each colour is obtained without adding dyes?
 |
As mentioned earlier, these are 100% plastic waste materials with no added dyes.
Since I do not make them myself, I do not know all the tricks. |
Getting back to your racks, how have they been received?
Very well, and I am very proud of them! My customers appreciate their design, their modularity, their practicality, the fact that they are unique models and their contribution to protecting the environment. As a rule, when you are a surfer, you are very concerned about saving our planet and, more specifically, the sea, which is our playground at the end of the day.
|
What is more, just because they are made from recycled plastic does not mean they are not high quality or pleasing to the eye.
|
|
Beyond the pun, I am very insistent on the quality, which has to be irreproachable. The same goes for the way they look. Once cut, they are sanded, polished and engraved with the Ederrak name, but nothing prevents you from customising the engraving. The fact that it is an eco-material is also very appealing, which is why they can now be found in a dozen surf shops in the region, as well as in Paris, Marseille and Bordeaux. We are still working on rolling them out across France.
Your company may be very new, but do you have any other plans?
Projects lead to more projects! I travel to different events to showcase Ederrak. At the end of June, for example, my products will be on show at the Woodscote Festival in Biarritz.
|
I am diversifying and now offer bespoke products. I have recently produced Point of Sale Advertising displays for the Florence Marine X brand, as well as a bar counter made from 14 m² of recycled plastic panels for Coffee Ekia in Biarritz.
Not really related to surfing in any way, but these projects are very interesting, especially as the result looks pretty cool, because with a material like this, the possibilities are endless! |
|
Ederrak products are available from www.ederrak.com
