Tak Kawahara

father of surfing in Japan and legendary surfboard shaper

Tak embraced surfboards and surfing as his life style early when he was raised by the beach in Santa Monica, CA.  He started surfing in 1957 and became a repairman for Con Surfboards.  He then learned each facet of surfboard manufacturing, shaping balsa wood surfboards to foam surfboards under the tutelage of top surfboard manufacturers including Con Colburn, Tom Flaherty, Dewey Weber, Greg Noll, Hap Jacobs and Tom Morey.  He worked side by side with shaping legends Carl Ekstrom, Harold Iggy, Donald Takayama, George Bartell, and Wayne Land. In the early 70’s, he traveled to his ancestral Japan to look for new opportunities to manufacture surfboards. He established the first factory there under the label, Malibu Surfboards. He pioneered Japan’s surfing marketplace and helped make surfing a major sport, ranked next to baseball and soccer. In addition, Tak developed exclusive Japanese import contracts with major U.S. surfboard and skateboard brands. In 1976, Tak became the co-owner of Town & Country (T&C) Surfboard’s wholesale division and developed the apparel brand, which became one of the top five in the beach and active surfwear industry.  During his tenure at T&C he expanded the brand’s product line by introducing surf watches, beach sandals and school stationery accessories, all of which were the first of its kind in the surfing industry. T&C was also the first surf label to take production off shore. Tak continues to consult with many surf companies on product design, production processes, marketing, sales and operations.