A Noosa-based surf brand has made history, becoming the first surfboard manufacturer in over 65 years to win a Gold Award at the Australian Good Design Awards.
Campbell Designed earned top honours for its revolutionary Exo-Flex surfboard technology.
Founder Stuart Campbell, 64, said it was a real kick to win the award.
“We’ve worked at this for a long time through the ups and downs. It felt really good to be rewarded,” he said.
The inspiration for Exo-Flex came from his experience building high-performance yachts at Lake Cooroibah.
“The majority of surfboards are still made today the same way they were in the late 50s, with the same materials and techniques,” Stuart said.
“There are a few people who do things a bit different but 90 per cent of boards are still being made the same, and I’m always looking to improve it.
“I just looked at the materials we were using on the yachts and thought, I wonder how that would go on boards.
“I made one for my son Ryan who’s an incredible former professional surfer and he was just amazed at it. He noticed a big kick in his surfing off the very first one we created.”
The Exo-Flex is a world-first, internationally patented surfboard construction featuring multi-layered carbon-fibre leaf springs that dramatically enhance speed, responsiveness, and strength, setting a new benchmark for surfboard performance and durability.
“They’re really fast,” Stuart said.
“We build these carbon fiber springs into the top and bottom of each board and as you turn it will come out of the turn very quickly.
“Over the years, the surfing industries mainly relied on anecdotal evidence so there’s been very little scientific testing.
“So, I built a couple of machines to sort of quantify what was really happening. We knew they went amazingly well, but comparable to the old style of boards, we found that our boards are actually stronger and less likely to snap.”
The Australian Good Design Awards Jury praised Campbell Designed’s innovation, stating, “The Exo-Flex is a revolutionary composite surfboard construction… Campbell Designed has advanced surfboard engineering by translating performance into measurable data — a significant leap from traditional methods. An outstanding contribution to good design and very worthy of recognition.”
Stuart said they’ve had an incredible response from surfers around the world.
“Even though it’s performance based, even your average surfer notices it and gets benefit out of it,” he said.
“We’ve been sending boards all around the world off our online store to the US mainland and to Hawaii, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal. Even one to Dubai the other day. There’s a really good Kelly Slater wave pool that’s opened up there recently and it’s blowing up. There’s a lot of them being built around the world.”
Born in Sydney, Stuart was just six-months old on his first trip to Noosa visiting his grandparents, before making the move in 1980.
“My grandparents used to run the Tewantin’s Royal Mail Hotel in the 1950s and 60s,” he said.
“I always spent holidays here, started surfing as an 11 year old, and making surfboards when I was 12.”
Stuart became a professional surfer and was competing on his own shapes through the mid 70’s into the early 80’s.
He developed his craft shaping for some of Australia’s top board labels as well as several world surfing champions.
With 52 years of board building experience, Stuart’s hand-shaped more than 25,000 boards.
So what is his most memorable surfboard?
“I did a board for myself one day that funnily enough I didn’t like, but it ended up with 1988 world champion Barton Lynch,” he said.
“He ended up surfing it for 18 months on tour and I think to this day still says it’s the best board he’s ever had, so that was a memorable one.
“But other than that, our Exo-Flex is now my favourite. I was sick of seeing the same old materials. It’s given me a whole new lease of life.”
Ryan, Stuart’s son, has honed his shaping and design skills under his dad’s guidance.
He was a dominant Australian professional surfer through the Pro Junior Series and WQS, and also captained the Australian team to the World Junior Titles.
“It’s terrific working with Ryan,” Stuart said.
“He’s been the main test pilot for us and he still surfs pretty close to world class level himself, so it’s been great having someone I could run what I was doing off all the time.”
Surf journalist Phil Jarratt recently named Stuart in Noosa Today as one of Noosa’s true local surf identities.
Here’s what he had to say about that:
“I’ve met a lot of good friends over the years. There are a lot of good board makers around our town and area but I’ve always just tried to build the best boards that I possibly could for the local surfers,” he said.
“I’d just like to thank the local people who’ve supported us and come and got surfboards off us. There are plenty of brands out there but a bunch of people have stayed true to us.
“It’s just great having something to strive for still at a slightly advancing age. It makes me feel good.”
Campbell Designed continues to lead the evolution of high-performance surf technology, blending craftsmanship with cutting-edge engineering.
