Lucas Lecacheur, a French designer and surfer, is in Australia for Melbourne design week, living and working out of At the Above gallery on Fitzroy's Gertrude Street. His surfboards and skateboards push the boundaries of accepted norms, yet they are all functional. From a board split like crab pincers to a stingray-shaped design and a webbed duck-foot bottom, Lecacheur's creations challenge traditional surfboard aesthetics.
From Rock Music to Surfboard Design
Lecacheur grew up on the French holiday island Île de Ré and has surfed since childhood. He spent years as a rock musician with his underground band Bad Pelicans. His experiments in surfboard design grew from a desire to synthesize his passions for performance and surfing. 'In rock'n'roll, I was always looking for a new sound, a new energy,' he says. 'I thought, how can I bring that to surfing? What if I made a cowboy boot surfboard? A guillotine surfboard? A brutalist one? A crab?'
Melbourne Residency
During his six-week residency, Lecacheur sleeps on a double mattress in the gallery, surrounded by old box televisions showing a documentary of his work, Scarpa lounge chairs, and vinyl records. His surfboards, including the Brutalist and the pearlescent Medusa, are tested in the water. 'The Medusa is very challenging because it has a massive flex tail, all made in epoxy and no leash loop,' he explains. 'But it's a beautiful feeling, to try something that no one else has tried.'
New Boards for Design Week
For Melbourne design week, Lecacheur created two new surfboards. Château Rouge is a 10-foot board with a cowboy boot nose and forked tail. Another board was shaped by dragging a blank form behind a ute in the Australian bush, collecting debris like wood and grass, which will be preserved in resin. The exhibition also features experimental fins, such as the spiky Total Mayhem, the Hook, and the Bat Fin no.6.
Global Following and Philosophy
Lecacheur's Guillotine board is held in a Tokyo gallery, and he has a solid following in Japan and the US. He spends six months each year on the road, admitting it can be lonely but essential for his craft. 'I believe if we go outside the box and explore, we could find something that could be an advancement, a progression,' he says. 'But someone has to try, someone has to do it. Otherwise you're not evolving.'
His White Fin Project attaches a white surfboard fin to everyday objects like a grandfather clock or the Eiffel Tower, turning them into 'a vehicle of magic' to help people dream. 'I do it to help other people dream more and accept their own ideas,' Lecacheur says. Melbourne design week runs until 24 May.
