Architect Tommy Zung Designs a Line of Surfboards

Ride, a new collection of surfboards and skateboards, was designed by architect Tommy Zung, a lifelong practitioner of both sports, first as a child in Southern California and currently as a mid-40s adult in New York City. He chases waves and pavement in Montauk, Mundaka, Biarritz, and far beyond. Zung, who happens to be the godson of Buckminster Fuller, says he designed the longboards to have “very good shapes that make you surf better—plain and simple, no gimmicks.”

The seven-, eight- and nine-foot-long surfboards are hand-shaped in Southern California from polyurethane foam and fiberglass and finished with either paint or resin tint. The graphic images, Zung says, are inspired by Ellsworth Kelly paintings, which is “why they are imperfect.”

The skateboards, on the other hand, came about by special request. Zung’s 13-year-old son, Kaikoa, who inherited his father’s passion for the pastime, asked his dad to design a skateboard for him. A year later, the limited-edition Kaikoa deck, with a repeat Z (for Studio Zung), made its debut. Another deck, the Essaouira, bears a motif inspired by Moroccan tiles. Both are made in New York City of seven-ply maple plywood.

Surfboards, $1,200 to $1,550; skateboards, $75 for deck only, $200 complete; studiozungom