Going with the flow – James Otter

GOING WITH THE FLOW

Wooden surfboard shaper James Otter on how making helps him to find the balance

If I consider how making has helped me find a balance and focus in life, I guess it is simply in how it provides a physical, mental and emotional space to force me to slow down. It gives me the freedom to play.

It is very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of the lives we tend to lead, with demands and expectations being thrown at us from left, right and centre and, maybe more crucially, from within. I am as guilty as the next person at biting off more than I can chew and then thinking that knuckling down to tackle it all is simply a case of putting ‘one foot in front of the other’.

While that has been a method that seems to have served me well, I still get caught up and overwhelmed every now and then. Knuckling down and doing everything, all at once, simply isn’t a sustainable way to live. Who’d have thought?! So, by slowing down and absorbing myself in the act of making, I give myself some space and time to reflect, refocus and re-energise.

When you set out to make something, anything, there is no way to cheat your way to the finish line. Working with your hands has to be methodical, pragmatic and considered. You have to slow down and take the raw material that you start out with and work through a series of processes and steps to reach your desired outcome. I used to think that the total absorption that making demands on all of your senses was a way for me to escape the ‘busy-ness’ of daily life. It’s the same way that I used to think of surfing; as escapism.

But I could never quite wrap my head around how my daily life was something I actually wanted or needed to escape from. I am lucky enough to have a loving family and friends around me, I live on the coast and am able to enjoy the outdoors often, with several dips in the sea each week. What on earth did I need to escape from? Now, with some deeper musing on the matter, I have come to realise that making isn’t my escape. It is my means of finding focus and balance in the rush of everyday life. And there are two main factors that keep drawing me back to making and more specifically, to making wooden surfboards.

The first is that when you give yourself over to a making process, when you truly absorb yourself in it and open up all of your senses to the visions, motions, smell and sounds of it, you can’t help but become completely engaged in the present moment. There is something so magical about this state of mind. It is completely addictive. Over the past few years, understanding and research into the ‘flow state’ has deepened considerably. It seems to be the golden key to unlocking the potential of any human on the planet, regardless of their pursuit. In a nutshell, there is a cycle of experiences that flow is a part of: struggle, release, flow, and recovery. For me, the process of making a wooden surfboard offers an opportunity to tap into this. It’s not a certainty that it’ll happen, but it definitely increases my chances of finding it. Sometimes, I don’t know if I need to start making in order to clear my mind or whether I need to clear my mind to start making. It’s a fine line.

The second is all about passion and energy. When you make something, you are drawn along with an idea of how you would like the piece to finish. You want to get to the end to see how the object will feel and function while in use. If you throw passion into that, it adds a much more excited and giddy energy to the process. When I’m making a surfboard I get so caught up in how it might interact with the waves; how will the water run over all of those curves and how will that first glide feel? To have that excitement pulling me towards the end is something I deeply enjoy and for that reason I always have one, if not two, surfboards in the workshop that are my personal passion projects.

This energy and passion is the element of making that is incredible to share with others, which is what I love so much about running our surfboard workshops. Opening up our customers and sharing our energy and excitement
allows us to connect on an emotional level that is so joyous and fun. I think we can often overlook the power of having fun. That, ultimately, is what making and surfing give me. Space and time to have fun, to play. Wouldn't it be brilliant if we all just had a little more time to play?ottersurfboards.co.uk Do/Make/The power of your own two hands. by James Otter is published by The Do Company; thedobook.co