Mar Cubillos
Colombia-born, California-raised, Bali-based FLKLR founder Mar Cubillos keeps a low profile — actually, low key is an understatement, if he wasn’t forced by commercial imperative to expose himself (if you will), this page would remain blank. But FLKLR needs to tell its own story so here goes… I was born in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, but I must have ended up there by mistake — Bogota is freaking cold and 8,000 feet above Ocean level. It's a beautiful brick jungle, but I always felt disconnected... Not a huge fan of big cities, unless is Tokyo...
Name: Mar Cubillos
Date of Birth: April 24
Home Break: Pleasure Point, CA
FLKLR board of choice: Tough one… I’d say it’s between the MarMar and the Messy Tessi, but again, the Nuki is so much fun too…
Instagram: @marpixel
First time on a board
The first time I surfed was as a kid on a wooden door in San Andrés island, on the Caribbean side of Colombia. There were a couple of guys on the island who had boards but they were notoriously dickheads so we didn’t want to ask to borrow theirs. We stuffed the door knob with rags duct taped any exposed holes, then sanded the edges.
It was like riding a Cadillac with no steering wheel...
California
At 9, I left Colombia to live in Miami, slowly making my way to California where I really got into surfing. I met Legend Johnny Rice RIP, the first native American shaper, he made my first log and I watched him shape it. Ever since then I fell in love with the fact that you can just take this piece of foam and just turn it into something you enjoy so much. Michel Junod is also a huge inspiration. He is such a stylish surfer and shaper. I learned a lot about surfing from CJ Nelson, Matt Tanner and other Pleasure Point locals.
I was constantly being pushed to surf better and better by those around me. I competed in longboard contests between 1999 and 2001, I was sponsored by brands like O’Neill Int, Pearson Arrow and Surftech, but in 2001 I quit because I didn’t like some of the negative elements of competitive surfing, and I didn’t enjoy "having" to surf.
Length Matters
I stayed with longboarding because I really wanted to master it. People have a misconception that longboarding is much easier than shortboards, I differ that, if you can master a longboard, you can master any other board.
Longboarding requires more technicality, as you have a few extra feet in front of you that you really have to keep in mind. When you’re riding a short thruster, usually you shred the wave to pieces, you don’t dance with it, you just tear it apart. That’s why for me, single fins and retro surfboards are so much more unique they teach you about style and about how to surf in any conditions, on any wave.Shaping
I have been working with templates from the 60s and 70s, like the single fins that Gerry Lopez surfed at Pipeline. The first time I shaped one of these single fins, I took it out and it really did not work, it did not want to turn off the tail like I wanted them to, but I kept modifying and changing until it finally turned with ease while hugging the wave.
I like the classic styles. I have also been working with single fins boards and styles from Wayne Lynch, god, that guy is a huge influence for me, he is so stylish, smart and kind hearted. Those kinds of souls inspired me to create a new movement. FLKLR.Folklore Surfboards
I started FLKLR in March 2012. I was so tired of looking at surfing magazines and seeing the same frigging story in every issue and the same chick with the same ass in every ad.
Initially the concept started out as a magazine. I wanted to do something conscious, take a group of artists together and start something from surfers to surfers again. I had seen people monetize piece of shit surfboards and I thought ‘fuck this, let’s start making custom boards and try to revive this thing again’.
You’re unique and everyone should have their own custom surfboard.