ROBIN KEGEL: It was intended to be
kind of a retail location.
And my whole idea was to live at my retail location.
But then I realized how weird that gets when like moms come
by to buy their little kids' shirts stuff, and I'm waking
up hung over in my underwear.
It's kind of really weird.
So now it's going to be a little more of a showroom and
less of a store.
-Right.
So what are you going to show?
Just boards--
ROBIN KEGEL: I don't know.
We're trying to make stuff.
We've always tried making stuff, and I think we're
finally going to try to sell it now.
TYLER MANSON: It's hard to know where to start with
Robbie Kegel.
He's moving so fast that as soon as you think you've kind
of figured out what his trip is and what he's doing, he's
completely on to something new.
There are well-respected shapers within the surfing
community that look at some of the boards he's building and
some of his design ideas, and they don't get it.
They look at the boards, and they discard them as a weird
art project that isn't actually functional and isn't
going to work.
But when you watch guys like Alex Knost ride his boards,
you realize that they're moving
into brand new territory.
And they're doing absolutely landmark things within the
surfing community.
ROBIN KEGEL: Well, shoot.
This is where I live.
I'll show you where I live.
This is like where I live right here--
my hole.
I shove myself in here every night.
This is a little nasty non-operated bathroom.
This is a bow.
This is the silkscreen room, if you will.
-You silk screen other things besides shirts, yeah?
ROBIN KEGEL: Yeah, our laminates, you know, for the
boards, and some wetsuit stuff sometimes, and the clothes,
and surfboard stuff too, thin stuff.
This is where the dye processes go
down out back here.
-You got a little sun color going on.
ROBIN KEGEL: Yup.
This is a mess back here.
This is just, I guess, a mess.
I've got a lot of stuff, just stuff.
Shaping room for the surfboard thing, when we do our surf
board thing.
You know, it happens sometimes.
-This is the sign making going down.
BIG J: I want to do a neon green.
ROBIN KEGEL: I'm sure you do.
It's not going to happen--
no neons.
We're going for old world here, come on.
-You had some other ones the other day too.
ROBIN KEGEL: We want shit to look like that.
THOMAS CAMPBELL: Surfing is really a pretty homogeneous,
corporate driven packaged bland culture, I think.
I mean in a lot ways, there's some cool individuals in it.
But what's getting pressed at us from the big companies and
the media is just kind of like they're just
shuffling shit out.
And it's just like one season to the next, and
what's going to sell?
And what's the thing to sell?
Robbie doesn't give a fuck.
He doesn't even care what's happening.
He's doing what he wants, when he wants,
and on his own terms.
ROBIN KEGEL: Green outline around the "get" with yellow
lettering, and then gray lettering with probably brown
outlined, don't you think?
-Yeah.
ROBIN KEGEL: Sick!
I don't want to be the next surfing brand.
I want my surfing to be a hobby, because the surf
industry is a very well-greased
money-making machine.
And I really don't want to be any part of that at all.
I want to enjoy what I'm doing and be proud to be involved
with what I'm doing.
This one's really actually kind of shitty.
But it's OK.
It's kind of loud too.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Listen to this shit.
It's pretty raw, you know?
-It's so rad.
ROBIN KEGEL: But I've got a bunch of shit like that.
KASSIA MEADOR: He's a cool guy, and what he's done with
his brand and stuff, Gato Heroi.
He's one of those guys that remembering the past, but
keeping it current.
And I think it's really important.
MANUEL CARO: He's making things that they look so
unusual that it's easy to just go that would not work.
I had my doubts.
And I had to kind of stop and rethink.
Wait a minute--
where's he getting all this?
Is it coming from old designs and applying
it to the new stuff?
I mean, his long boards are amazing.
It's just one of those things where you've just got to
really stop and try it.
It's like trying to describe bananas to someone who's never
tasted bananas.
ROBIN KEGEL: I come in here all the time and hang, and eat
cupcakes, and skate the ramp.
It's fun.
ALEX KNOST: Dude, Robbie is fucking out of his mind,
skating barefoot.
-He's like my feet hurt so fucking bad, but I just can't
wear shoes.
ALEX KNOST: He's always been super like a barefoot
advocate, but he only can get certain shoes because he's got
such wide feet.
I think all of the shoes that don't hurt his feet got
pretty blown out.
So he's just rocking barefoot styles.
-They're all covered in t-shirt dye and stuff.
ROBIN KEGEL: I like the end of the t also being raw.
Don't you?
-Yeah.
ROBIN KEGEL: I don't think it'd be
nearly as cool straight.
It has a country-ish feel.
You know?
THOMAS CAMPBELL: He's like one of the most innovative people
in surfing today, I think, as far as his forward mentality
about the aesthetics of making surf boards and just doing
whatever the fuck he wants.
He just does not give a fuck about what anyone thinks about
anything, which is really refreshing.
Because surfing's such a sport of pawns, you know?
ROBIN KEGEL: Where are we going to stop, right there?
The guy's place?
ALEX KNOST: Just get in the goddamn car.
ROBIN KEGEL: Will you guys stop at that guy's place?
ALEX KNOST: Yeah, we will.
-So needy, Robbie.
DAN MALLOY: He and Alex have become really good friends.
And it seems like they're really feeding off each other.
To me, it's really cool to see, because they're super
young, and they're really, really
into surfing and designing.
And people always seem to be holding on too much to the
past of how rad things used to be.
ROBIN KEGEL: Yeah, it sounds good.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ROBIN KEGEL: It's fine, you know?
It's fine.
-So how old are you now?
ROBIN KEGEL: I'm 23, going on 23.
-Going on 23.
ROBIN KEGEL: I think that's what that means.
I am 23.
ALEX KNOST: Yeah.
ROBIN KEGEL: So does that mean going on?
Or am I going on 24?
-You're going on 24.
ROBIN KEGEL: I'm going on 24 then.
I will be 24 one day.
ALEX KNOST: Robbie and I have been friends since we were
like 13, 12.
I think I was like 12 and he was 13 or something like that.
And he was getting really into surfing.
And he was like the hugest Joel Tudor fan ever.
And I thought Joel Tudor was cool, but I thought all the
kids that wanted to be like him were lame.
Him and I were friends, but he had like all Joel's models and
had long blond hair.
Him and I got along super good because he's
fucking totally nuts.
He's out of his mind.
And he started making surfboards, and I just really
didn't think anything of it.
Up until then I was getting boards from people that were
like 50 years old, had been shaping 30 years.
So how good's a board going to be made by a 20 year
old kid, you know?
But nonetheless, he made me a board that works sick.
And we kind of have the same views on art direction.
ROBIN KEGEL: I remember he came to my house one time, and
he sat down.
And he laid it all down on me, like, look,
what are your plans?
What are your goals?
What are you planning on doing?
I want to work with you.
He knows me really well.
And he's like, shit.
You and your friends are kind of crazy.
If I'm signing in here, I want to make sure you guys aren't
just going to bail one day and never make me another board.
THOMAS CAMPBELL: When Alex and Robbie finally kind of came
together and met, it was really like
that, just like bam!
It's just one crazy motherfucker of a shaper with
so many ideas and probably one of the most cutting edge
people in surfing now, I think, design-wise,
forward-thinking for long boarding and different kinds
of surfing, aesthetically everything.
You're just totally blown away and surprised
by him all the time.
Robbie, you're just like, what?
Where'd he come up with that idea?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ROBIN KEGEL: One day, it will be
something to show for myself--
not yet.
It might never happen.
I don't know.
I hope like 10 years from now you don't come back with that
same silly camera and I'm doing the same silly shit.
I hope I'm gone from here.
I hope I've moved on, done something else, you know?