From Caldeirão to Nazaré. Octávio Lourenço is producing at his factory, in São Brás de Alportel, two surfboards designed for Portugal's famous giant wave. "One of them will be with cork stoppers", revealed the founder of Ferox, to the Sul Informação, on the sidelines of his participation in September's Beta Talk, at TEMPO – Teatro Municipal de Portimão, at the beginning of this Tuesday, 16th of September.
Octávio Lourenço and (his surfboard brand) Ferox have been in the news due to the Algarve brand's latest and most innovative surfboard model made with cork stoppers. “It's a very laborious construction process,” says the shaper Algarve. The interior of the board is made with cork stoppers, placed one by one, and polyurethane, to fill the spaces and give uniformity to the block, which is then cut to size, sanded and subjected to a traditional lamination with fiber and resin.
The result is a board with a strong aesthetic impact, but not only that. Octávio Lourenço tried a 6,4-inch model single finn (single keel), at Praia da Galé, and demystified the added weight of cork. "I was surprised, the board works and works well, even with maneuvers in the lip", guaranteed the shaper algarvian, promising to publish a video shortly with images of the already famous board in action.
Innovating aesthetically and using colors, patterns and cultural reference materials, predominantly from the Algarve, are two characteristics of Ferox. Another is to produce boards designed specifically for a certain type of wave, referenced by the long experience of the shaper as a surfer curious to test beaches from North to South of the country.
The two new models in production – one traditional and the other with corks – to surf the giant wave of Nazaré are the natural continuation of a project started when Octávio Lourenço was studying Plastic Arts in Caldas da Rainha and which has become one of the leading Portuguese brands in the manufacture of surfboards. A successful journey, on which the shaper algarvian spoke in Beta Talk (informal conversation with regional entrepreneurs) in Portimão.
shaper with a background in Fine Arts
Octávio Lourenço is 39 years old and started surfing in Cabanas de Tavira, one afternoon when he was maneuvering a board in the water with the sole purpose of saving people from a boat (gola, in the Algarve). He got to his feet on the board and never stopped. As a result of his artistic vein, he started making boards for himself, for friends and friends of friends, at a time when the Internet was taking its first steps in Portugal. “There was no information on how to make boards. Then I was able to exchange emails with shapers Californians and Australians and I started making boards”.
In Caldas da Rainha, where he was studying Plastic Arts, a friend suggested that he go make boards in a local shop. “I made three boards, which sold out in less than three days. After a week, my friend asked me for five more boards. Then I realized the potential of the thing”, said Octávio Lourenço. O shaper still starting, he also understood that these first boards sold well for having a different aesthetic appearance. “I don't know if they worked well, but they were beautiful”, he says, now, with humor.
Repair Shop from Ferox is in grandfather's old cork factory
The surfboard as a functional and artistic object was the first lesson that Octávio assimilated and then consolidated, presenting the theme as a final project for a course in Fine Arts. After finishing his studies in Caldas da Rainha, Octávio Lourenço returned to his hometown, São Brás de Alportel, and there he founded Ferox, 14 years ago, in an old cork stopper factory owned by his grandfather. “I insist that it is an Algarve project. A surfboard factory in the middle of the mountain is not normal. But it's part of the brand identity; take people to know the interior of the Algarve”, says Octávio Lourenço.
Octávio Lourenço: A surfboard factory in the middle of the mountain is not normal. But it's part of the brand identity; take people to know the interior of the Algarve
The factory is open to anyone who wants to visit it and is clean, which is surprising in a production environment that involves dust and chemical products. Ferox is the name of a species of shark common in Algarve waters. “It's a word that defines the Algarve very well. We have a very specific personality. And we're a little old-fashioned. We are very attached to honor and commitment", comments the shaper Algarve. Honor and commitment are two pillars of the Ferox brand in the search for quality and customer relations.
Tailored to each wave and customer
Ferox produces boards for specific waves and for each customer. For example: the board normal that Octávio showed in TEMPO has a tail (opposite the beak, Nose) baptized chainsaw and which was specifically designed for the Kanguru, the super wave which sometimes appears in front of Portinho da Arrifana. But the size and volume of the board are other details adapted to the technical and physical characteristics of each surfer. “Following the customer is what sets us apart. The hardest part of the job is actually interpreting the client's request”, emphasizes Octávio Lourenço.
The analysis made by surfers to whom Ferox offers boards also contributes to this technical rigor, namely Alex Botelho, Frederico 'Martim' Magalhães, João Serafim, Yolanda Hopkins, among other athletes from the Algarve. They test the boards and indicate what's right and what's wrong. The evolution is a continuous process in the search for customer satisfaction, the basis of word-of-mouth marketing, which has transformed Ferox into a brand of national reference.
Ferox produces 600 to 900 boards per year
Five years ago, Ferox acquired an industrial machine for s and, currently, it has a production capacity of 600 to 900 boards per year, based on a strict pricing policy, so as not to differentiate the direct customer from the customer in the stores with which the brand wants to continue working.
The cheapest board, a basic 5,10, costs 350 euros. From then on, “it's always going up”, says Octávio, as the size of the board increases. In the case of cork boards it is different, because the production technique is more demanding. They cost 3 euros each and Ferox already has two orders. “You earn money, but you work on Saturdays and Sundays and until one and two in the morning”, he stresses.
Octávio Lourenço: We are exploring new materials. We are maraudos. we want to do different things
The ability to grow more depends on the workforce, which Octávio says is very difficult to find. Ferox has two people permanently at the factory in São Brás de Alportel, one of them Octávio himself (who ensures the calibration of the machine. s), and one more occasional collaboration and another in Portimão. But the ability to innovate, this one, doesn't stop.
After fulfilling “the old whim” of manufacturing a board with cork stoppers, which was made possible thanks to internships by students from the São Brás de Alportel School Group, Octávio Lourenço is already thinking about the next evolution: using agave ( piteira, an abundant plant in the Algarve) in the production of surfboards. “We are exploring new materials. We are maraudos. We want to do different things”, concluded the shaper of the Serra do Caldeirão.
Text and photos 1 and 3 by Paulo Marcelino
(Photo 2 is by Gheorghe Turcano, student of the Multimedia Technician Course at the Poet António Aleixo Schools Group)
Click here to view more pics from September's Beta Talk.
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