Despite the fact that La Jolla native Carl Ekstrom has not hit the waves in a few years, he remains a mover and shaker in surf communities around the world, constantly reinventing the art of surfboard shaping to cater to each surfer’s unique riding style. The master crafter, who has been honored with a multitude of awards throughout his lifetime, is featured in a massive collection of literature and is well known in the surf community for both inventing and relentlessly rejuvenating the asymmetrical surfboard concept — a shaping technique that has been resurfacing as of late. The 70-year-old surfboard shaper grew up in La Jolla, surfing Windansea Beach with his two older brothers. It was there that he first conceptualized the revolutionary asymmetrical surfboard design based on his discovery that one board would ride better left and another would ride better right. “Standing asymmetrically on your board, your two turns — front side and back side — are different,” he said of his inspiration for the design, which he first built in 1965 and patented in 1967. The idea behind the asymmetrical design is to cater to the surfer’s nonlinear weighted stance and enhance the rider’s ability to respond with ease in both directions, while also giving the rider speed down the line. Although Ekstrom enjoyed the thrill of surfing — especially on his asymmetrical creations — things got “kind of crowded” at Windansea, and he shifted his focus solely to surfboard design. To test out his prototypes, legendary riders like Richard Kenvin and Ryan Burch pilot the new designs and Ekstrom analyzes the ride and gets feedback from them. “There’s a lot of different things that people are trying to get out of a surfboard,” he said, adding that although there may be a perfect board for a certain rider on a certain wave, the same board might not work for another rider. “As surfing trends change, we have to come up with new designs to accommodate for that,” he said. “Everyone is looking for their own thing in a board. Most of us are refining, refining, refining until getting it to its optimum. We all have our own thing we’re designing for and it’s constantly evolving.” He is working with Kenvin on a project called Hydrodynamica — a collection of surfboards inspired by the work of Bob Simmons, a California surfer and shaper who died while surfing at Windansea Beach in 1954. He is on the cutting edge of evolutions in the sport and constantly experiments with new ways to better serve the rider. At the Sacred Craft Consumer Surfboard Expo, Ekstrom will be honored during the “Tribute to the Masters Shape-off,” where six shapers chosen by Ekstrom will design, shape and craft their own versions of asymmetrical boards for a $1,000 grand prize. He will also have his own prototypes on hand to showcase, discuss and sell. For Ekstrom, surfboard shaping is both a practical industrial design and an art form. Although his creations are built and renowned for rider utility, Ekstrom’s talent has not gone unnoticed in the artist community. In 1968, legendary American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol purchased two of Ekstrom’s custom surfboards from his surf shop in La Jolla Shores to use in “San Diego Surf,” a film about the lost art of surfing. Although the film remained unfinished at the time of Warhol’s death, Ekstrom’s creations stayed on the radar of artists around the nation. His asymmetrical design has influenced designs for other functional creations ranging from military training helmets to Reebok shoes. In addition to shaping boards, Ekstrom extended his passion for industrial design to another functional art form — furniture. “I’ve always been interested in architecture and furniture design,” he said. “I’ve worked with boards and furniture design simultaneously.” Ekstrom will showcase two of his refinished 1968 furniture creations — a two-part “X”-shaped chair and a double door made in collaboration with Svetozar Rad- akovich — at the Mingei International Museum’s exhibit, “Craft Revolution: From Post-War Modern to California Design,” on Oct. 16. Ekstrom — the father of asymmetrical surfboards — continues to shape his legacy as an innovative board designer, experimenting with techniques such as the finless board and “fish egg” tail design. Revolutionizing the art of surfing has translated into the capacity for creating ever-evolving practical designs and functional works of art for the veteran surfer, serving as a foundation for future innovations in a variety of industries.