From A Restless Transplant and The Cleanest Line

I’m excited to be one of Patagonia’s new surfing ambassadors…

http://www.patagonia.com/us/ambassadors/surfing/joe-curren/78396

PRESS RELEASE

Patagonia Inc., a leading designer of core outdoor, surf and sport-related apparel, equipment, footwear and accessories, formally announces today the newest members of its ambassador team – surfers Joe Curren, Lea Brassy, Devon Howard, Kyle Thiermann, and kiteboarder Julien Fillion.

“I’m really excited about the additions we have made to our roster this year. Individually speaking they are each great athletes, but it’s their pursuit of their interests outside of the act of surfing that really sets them apart. It’s finding people that have a vision for their personal lives that aligns with what we try to accomplish as a company that is the key,” notes Jason McCaffrey, Patagonia’s surf director, “In making these additions we are able to able to have living, breathing personifications of the Patagonia philosophy representing the brand. This type of authenticity cannot be instantly manufactured when a contract is signed – but rather gets cultivated over years of working together. These additions are the result of years of collaboration and we’re proud to be working with each and every one of them.”

Patagonia’s ambassadors are known for not only being athletes, but for being integral to the company’s product development and product testing. The company’s ambassadors work closely with the design department to test, refine and validate products in the harshest and most remote locations on the planet.

“For years, I’ve admired Patagonia’s dedication to making the best products for activities that I love. Their gear makes me want to play outside,” says surfer Joe Curren, “I appreciate Patagonia’s responsible business philosophy, rich history, and the lifelong work of Yvon Chouinard. I look forward to product testing and working with Patagonia on new projects, both as a surfer and photographer.”

“I chose to work with Patagonia because its environmental and social commitments are real,” notes surfer Lea Brassey, “The company’s approach to the surf industry is global, practical and realistic. I’m excited to show that it’s possible to live Patagonia’s values on a daily basis!”

Kiteboarder Julien Fillien says, “I feel my overall lifestyle of kiting, standup, and big wave surfing, fits perfectly with Patagonia. I’m honored to be associated with such a unique company.”

Patagonia looks forward to working with each of these five new ambassadors in incorporating their unique surfing and kiteboarding sensibilities into the company’s ocean-focused product developments. Curren, Brassy, Howard, Thiermann and Fillion join Patagonia’s team of surfing ambassadors that includes Gerry Lopez, the Malloys, Dan Ross, Wayne Lynch, Kohl Christensen and more.

About Patagonia

Patagonia, Inc.,based in Ventura, California, is a leading designer of core outdoor, surf and sport-related apparel, equipment, footwear and accessories. With sales last year of $540M, the company is noted internationally for its commitment to authentic product quality and environmental activism, contributing over $47.5M in cash and in-kind donations to date. Incorporating environmental responsibility into product development, the company has, since 1996, used only organically grown cotton in its clothing line. Committed to making its products landfill-free, the company’s entire product line is recyclable thorough its Common Threads Initiative. The company also advocates corporate transparency through its interactive website, The Footprint Chronicles, which outlines the environmental and social footprint of individual products. Patagonia was featured as The Coolest Company on the Planet on Fortune Magazine’s April 2007 cover.

Opening is this Thursday … the show will be up for a month.

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IT COMES IN WAVES

Artwork from Pacific Northwest Surfers

Dan Murdey, Joe Curren, Ben Moon, Scott Patt, Yasmina Dedijer-Small, Gregg Kaplan, Scrappers, Allan Schmidt, Eli Anderson, Mark McInnis, Luke Yablonsky, Monica Ranes, Rick Albano, John Holm, Danny Sullivan + Amy Carleton

Thursday, August 2nd, 6-9pm
Wieden+Kennedy
224 NW 13th Ave. Portland, OR

Proud of my wife for making it to the Mt. Shasta summit (14,179′) on Wednesday, June 20th.

They couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day for the climb. It was sunny and warm with light winds. Monday and Tuesday there were 90 mph winds and climbers from another group had to turn back at 13,000′. Then Friday and Saturday it snowed. Wow.

You can read more here:

www.insideprevention.org/climb_against_the_odds

Handcrafted, custom finished wood frames for photographer Chris Burkard.

Assembled with cotton rag and acid-free spacers.

More info about my frames here.

I’m doing a photo show this Friday at Mollusk in SF. Hope to see you there.

“Points South”
Photographs from Santa Barbara by Joe Curren
Opening: Friday, June 8th, 7:00 – 10:00
Mollusk Surf Shop, 4500 Irving Street, San Francisco

Photographer Chris Burkard came up to Northern California a little while back and took some photos of me in my shop. Here I am in my shaping bay.

Follow me on Instagram: @joecurren

http://www.joecurren.com/blog/instagram/

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This June my wife Teasha will be a member of Climb Against the Odds, a mountain expedition that raises money for breast cancer prevention. Teasha and a group of 28 climbers whose lives have been touched by breast cancer will climb Mt. Shasta, a 14,179 foot mountain in Northern California.

On January 31st, 2011 Teasha was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, a common type of breast cancer. Last year was difficult for us and life changing, to say the least. But after nine months of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, I’m happy to report that excellent medical treatment and early detection has saved her life.

During her treatments Teasha learned about Climb Against the Odd and The Breast Cancer Fund, which is the only national organization focused solely on breast cancer prevention through eliminating the environmental causes of the disease.

In her words: “I was introduced to Climb Against the Odds while on the table receiving radiation treatment. Impressed that the Breast Cancer Fund was not your traditional pink ribbon organization, and having no idea why I was singled out of the herd and dealt the cancer card while being ‘too young for breast cancer’ I wholeheartedly identified with the cause. Attempting to reach the summit will be a personal celebration of getting through my treatments. And by climbing I want to encourage all those in the midst of the storm to keep going, and to acknowledge the often-overlooked support team of caregivers, friends and family, and even strangers you meet along the way who lend a hand.”

If you want to learn more about The Breast Cancer Fund and to support Teasha’s climb, you can visit her Climb Against The Odds page here. Please feel free to share this with anyone who may wish to support her climb and the mission of the Breast Cancer Fund.

Custom frames for Chris Orwig

http://www.joecurren.com/framing

This is a dining table I made for a client in southern California out of salvaged Port Orford cedar. I’m also making coffee tables with P.O.C. and claro walnut (juglans hindsii). Inquiries welcome. West coast deliveries available.

Port Orford cedar (chamaecyparis lawsoniana), also called Lawson’s cypress and “hinoki” in Japan is actually a cypress, rather than a true cedar. P.O.C. only grows in coastal southern Oregon and far northern California. It’s rare to have a slab of old growth P.O.C. this big. Years ago, the Japanese fell in love with it because its light color and straight grain reminded them of their sacred hinoki (chamaecyparis obtusa), which they used for their temples and traditional baths. A close relative to hinoki, P.O.C. has become valuable due to heavy buying, along with the small supply of quality logs.

Now you can only really get the old growth from salvaged dead logs. P.O.C. has high oil content, so the dead logs are preserved and the wood is usually in perfect condition. The wood is also highly regarded by boat builders because it’s so stable and highly resistant to rot*.

This particular slab was salvaged from a log that came off the beach in Gold Beach, Oregon, that had floated down the Rogue River after a big storm. It was milled by guitarmaker Les Stansell of Pistol River, Oregon who uses P.O.C. to make incredibly beautiful flamenco guitars.

I used myrtlewood (umbellularia californica) for the brace. It has tiger-striping in it. That gives it the figure. Tiger-striping happens when water gets into the wood, maybe from a broken branch, and then stains it. You have to mill the wood and dry it before it rots. Myrtlewood isn’t rare, but tiger-striping is.

*I have a bit of personal history with P.O.C.. When I was about 3 years old, my parents, brother, sister and I lived in a Mercedes cargo van for a year. We moved out of a home my parents owned in Santa Barbara and into the van because my dad wanted to build a sailboat and live in it. We made road trips down to northern Baja, and up to British Colombia. On our way to Vancouver we stopped in the small town of Port Orford, Oregon—near to where I live now—and my dad had some P.O.C. milled for his sailboat. The boat was never made, but that’s another story.