Surf Shacks 028
My name is Jess. I’m 34 years old splitting my time between San Francisco, LA and Hawaii with my soon-to-be wife Malia. I’ve moved around since I was a kid and have never lived in one place for very long so this rotation feels pretty natural to me. I’d say I’m from Venice beach, Kauai, Italy, and San Francisco. I surfed since I was a grom and just completed my first feature film.
I just directed my first feature film. Malia is an artist and a jewelry designer.
Right now we are living on Hawaii. I love the tropical storms, the slow pace and the little bubble Malia and I have created here.
I bought a piece of land from an old childhood friend. He and his family owned an acre and sold me a quarter of it. Its a block from the beach and on a dirt road that doesn’t get any traffic. There are roosters, rabbits and fruit trees on the property and you can hear the waves when you go to sleep at night.
The house was designed and built by San Francisco artist Jay Nelson. He and a small team from the outer sunset flew out and put the house together in 5 weeks. A few months later another crew flew out and helped build the lanai.
The wood and the wabi-sabi feel it has. Most of the wood is reclaimed from old growth redwood fence boards that Jay rescued, cleaned up, and strategically placed each board. When you lie down in bed you can really feel the love that was put into the home.
I just finished a film called Given. The working title while we were shooting was called The Goodwin Project. We traveled the would for 14 months with cameras, surfboards, and a family that consisted of two legendary surfers, a 4 year old and a new born. The film is told through the eyes of the boy traveling along this journey that his father’s father did with him. As they travel and surf around the world the kids learn important life lessons and also see different crafts from 15 countries.
That’s a loaded question! What I can say is that it was the hardest thing I have ever done. A lot happened over the course of a year and a half… Riding on a boat for 20 hours on 30 foot swells in the Marshall Islands to getting tick bite fever in South Africa and thinking we were all going to die. Too many crazy things to recount.
So hard! I just barely finished. I almost quit a million times. Everyone around me was doing so many cool projects that they would start and finish within a month or two. Each day that passed felt like being the last kid in class taking the test while everyone else was out at recess.
Just finishing up the landscaping and art studio. Malia has started a new collection of jewelry after visiting the Gem Show in Tucson.
As with anything in life you can’t be afraid to fail. Got to just go for it.
Discover more creative surfers’ homes in our book, “Surf Shacks®”
A goofy-footed graphic designer who hails from the first state, Delaware. After attending Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL then graduating from SCAD in Savannah, GA with a BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration, Matt moved to NYC and found work as a freelance designer and art director. In 2006 he moved west to Venice, CA where he co-founded ITAL/C Studio and now resides a bit further north in Oxnard.
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