Steve Morris
PHILOSOPHY
To me, surfing is a unique and exhilarating experience that connects a surfer with the oceans and our environment like no other sport. As a shaper I feel it is my job to enable a rider to amplify this experience by providing the perfect surfboard for them, weather you are a cruiser, shreader or at the top of your game we can put the right board under your feet.
HISTORY
I initially started out shaping boards in my parent’s garage - Thanks Mum and Dad for putting up with the noise, smell and leaving the car outside for ages. Through the developing years, I have had numerous shaping rooms and for six years operated a large scale factory working with many of Auckland’s best shapers and underground sculptures.
Before shaping under the Morris label I worked in various jobs starting out boat painting and fairing before moving on to a career in marine propellers and then onto making Snowboards and movie sets in West Auckland. It was there that I started making boards commercially which resulted in the opening of the Morris factory in Henderson.
“Everyone has something they do really well, take what you like from their boards and combine it all into what you do.”
INFLUENCES
Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some the world’s most interesting surfers, shapers, glassers, sanders and designers. A well known international shaper once said to me." Everyone has something they do really well, take what you like from there boards and combine it all into what you do"
Early on it was the legend Kiwi shapers who influenced my boards. Later the international bignames and there design ideas caught my eye. Hours and hours of reading design forums in surf mags and time listening to shapers talk boards at contest after parties - just being a sponge for information taught me a lot that the internet of today can do in seconds.
Since first picking up the planer in 94’ a relationship with really good surfers was essential. Not just because they surfed well but because they provide a shaper with much needed feedback and direction. Good surfers push designers to new heights and all levels benefit.
My brother Phil Morris (2004 NZ circuit champ) was always pushing the limits on the Longboards and we worked together perfecting a board which suited his style and progression, which at times was faster than I could shape. His knowledge and experience on the NZ contest scene and internationally has been invaluable.
In 1996 I received a two sentence letter from a grommet named Tom Kibblewhite seeking sponsorship, Tom was to be Morris Surfboards first team rider and we have become great friends since then. Toms surfing has gone from strength to strength over the years and he rides all styles of boards and waves really well. His contest results over the Longboard circuit and NZ team representation in 2006 and 2009 are proof of that. We have made many boards together over the years and Tom continues to push the designs of my longboards into the future.
Over the years Morris surfboards have sponsored and made boards for many other top NZ surfers including; Dane and Nash Robertson, Jayden Cooper, Shelly Jones, Mike Kibblewhite, Israel Hyde, Craig Anderson, Sophia and Jo Moore, Troy Hirst, Jamie and Mike Phillips and many more. Thank you to all for your feedback and support.