ART1FACT LABS x Almond Surfboards
It started with a doodle as so many great ideas do.
In 2006, David Allee, a college student in Costa Mesa, California, was doodling the name Almond Surfboards in the margins of his notebook, dreaming of a hypothetical surf brand. He tried his hand at shaping boards for family and friends in his parents’ backyard for a couple of years. But it wasn’t until he was introduced by a mutual friend to Griffin Neumann-Kyle that his idea came into focus.
Griffin, 19 at the time, was a surfboard shaper trained under the legendary Bruce Jones, who trained under Phil Edwards at the Hobie factory in the 1960s. If Griffin were to become part of Almond, his expertise came with one condition: if at all possible, never speak to a customer. Allee handed over the planer without hesitation. And Griffin has shaped every single Almond board since 2008.
What I brought to the table was the ability to build a brand and an ecosystem around this craftsman.
At the time, the industry was quickly moving toward lighter, cheaper, more disposable boards. Allee was moving in the opposite direction: “Making boards we’d still be stoked on 40+ years from now.” A board you ride for decades, hand down, hang on a wall, then pick back up.
His benchmark was Filson, not a surfboard manufacturer, but a company making essentially the same clothes for 150 years. Still worn, still wanted. Objects that earn meaning over time rather than lose it. Or, in other words, to be "Be Worth More" requires defying a disposable culture.
Every Almond custom takes 8 to 12 weeks to build by hand. Glassed locally, finished in pigmented resin tints mixed directly into the liquid fiberglass—not sprayed, not applied, not printed. Cured around the foam core until the color becomes part of the board. Before glassing, Griffin pencils the dimensions, a unique serial number, and a custom inscription directly onto the central wood stringer. Then the glass goes on. No two boards are identical. Each is remarkable, not replaceable.
You can't be chasing trends if you're trying to stay timeless.
01/01
In searching for the ideal partner for our Q1 2026 drop, Team One reached out to Almond cold. No mutual connection like Griffin. Just a shared belief that the most coveted things in culture get made by people who live their ethos and build artifacts that give the past a present and a future.
The design choices were ours. All black with three fins custom made in Muskmelon to match one of our brand colors. Positioned near our signature Pegasus, an inscription highlighting 2026 as “the year of the horse,” representing growth and forward momentum. Somewhere beneath the glass, on the wood stringer at the center of the board, is Griffin's signature.
And, on the back, a number that encapsulates the ART1FACT LABS ethos as much as Almond’s.
01/01.