Bing Craftsman: Matt Calvani
Installment three of our #BingCraftsman series. This week we’re stoked to feature Bing Surfboards head shaper / owner Matt Calvani.
At age 15, Matt Calvani’s first job in the industry was apprentice to Tom Stanton, a well-known South Bay shaper and airbrusher. After learning and mastering the art of airbrushing, Matt naturally became interested in board building.
In 1988, Wayne Rich gave Matt his first blank to shape and Matt began to hone his skills as a surfboard shaper. Eventually Matt moved his airbrushing business to Hermosa Beach and was offered a job by Hap Jacobs to do some rough-shaping on the side. Hap was so pleased with Matt’s work that he hired him on as a part-time shaper. Then Dennis Jarvis of Spyder Surfboards started to notice Matt’s talent and offered him a job shaping for the likes of Tom Curren, Shane Dorian, and more.
In 1993, Matt was offered a full-time shaping position at Becker Surfboards as Phil Becker’s main production shaper. It was while at Becker that Matt created an impressive shortboard program, shaping for the likes of Greg Browning, Geoff Moysa, Pascal Stansfield and many more. At Becker, Matt was hand-shaping more than 25 shortboards a week in addition to longboards and mid-ranges, as well as continuing to shape for Hap Jacobs, Lance Carson, and Rick Surfboards.
In 2000, Matt’s friend, Dan Bendicksen, head shaper for Bing Surfboards in the late 60s, introduced Matt to Bing Copeland and Mike Eaton, which paved the way for Matt to inherit Bing Surfboards. In an an effort to streamline and grow his business, Matt opened a surfboard shaping and glassing facility next to friend and foam supplier, Jeff Stoner of Blair Foam in Gardena, CA.
Then in November of 2010 Matt moved the factory to Encinitas, CA where we are today. Another notable came in 2013 when Matt won The Boardroom: Icons of Foam Tribute to Terry Martin. So here’s to you Matt Calvani, #BingCraftsman – thanks for all you do!
Photo: Stone Crandall
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