Overview
This is one of only two pāua surfboards in New Zealand. Brian O'Connor made them both. The surfboard in Te Papa is his second - the first hangs in his Kaikoura shop, Southern Paua Ltd. Its fame has spread, and many people go into the shop just to see it.
Southern Paua makes and sells pāua shell souvenirs. O'Connor established the business in Riverton, Southland in 1987. In 1998 he moved it to Kaikoura - an area with stunning scenery, great weather and good surf that was becoming popular with tourists.
O'Connor has been surfing since the mid 1970s, and making his own boards since 1990. Making a board with pāua shell seemed be a logical step. He says, 'I knew it was possible, and I thought it would be out of it, and nobody had done it before.'
To make a pāua board, he first takes a surfboard 'blank', made from foam poured into a mould. In the middle of the blank is a thin piece of wood that runs the length of the surfboard. This is known as a stringer, and it provides strength and weight.
O'Connor shapes the blank to his own specifications by shaving layers off it with a tool called a planer. He applies resin to the board, then strips of pāua laminate, which he holds in place with double-sided tape. Finally he coats the entire board in fibreglass, and sands and polishes it.
The pāua shell surfboard is a standard size: six foot two inches (1.89 metres). O'Connor says it's 'definitely rideable. It's an uncomfortable feeling knowing you're sitting on a big fishing lure, but it's an amazing experience to see the sun reflecting off the paua in the water.'
His wife and four sons are all into surfing, too. They're also keen snowboarders. In fact, one of the next things Brian would like to do is make a pāua snowboard.
Brian is one of a number of New Zealand artists and craftspeople who are passionate about using pāua. And his surfboard is just one of the art and craft works using paua that are held at Te Papa
Text originally published in Tai Awatea, Te Papa's onfloor multimedia database (2001).