Christian sellers
“I think consistently my report cards were `creative, clearly intelligent, has trouble focusing, not performing to potential´ and so that became my dialogue. I’m still working on it today, but it’s just showing kids there is another way.”
Christian Sellers, Creator of Pushfins.
In a world where most brands are trying to do their small part for sustainability, it’s just that - a small part. A story that gets elevated every now and then, but is only a tiny part of the business. For Christian, he started his business centered on an idea, to create surfboard fins using recycled skateboard decks. That’s the business. He doesn’t offer that as a version of his brand, that is his brand. In doing so he is challenging an industry to be better, to think differently and to waste less. All from his garage, whilst also looking after his child at home. His company has done so well that Patagonia have taken his products into their retail stores, a seal of approval from one of the leaders in the outdoor space. This is a fascinating conversation around creativity, sustainability and the continuous journey of learning.
Jonathan: So, you now run your own company, Pushfins, making sustainable surfboard fins from upcycled skateboard decks. Did you study for this kind of thing?
Christian: I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school, and it felt wasteful to commit the resources without a plan. So, I got my AA (associate degree between high school and bachelors) to appease the folks, worked a few jobs to save money and backpacked Central America and SE Asia for a couple of years surfing, skating and searching. It was while traveling that I discovered design.
How did you discover design when you’re traveling?
I was always creative as a kid, but I kind of discovered it through a person, Sean Kesterson. My now wife and I ran into him while travelling South East Asia in Laos. We were in some little weird party town and he was like, you should hang around for a couple more days, I got these friends coming in from college. They showed up and of course I went to high school with half of them. Very random. They were all teaching English in Saigon. My wife and I were a little over just moving all the time. We’ve been doing it for six months at that point. And so we ended up moving to Saigon to go to school for graphic design as Sean did. There’s this rad budding creative scene in Saigon. It’s crazy, it was like the second fastest growing economy in the area. There were small production houses and design firms and cool little creative shops and I plugged into a skate scene. All of a sudden it was this community I connected with. I ended up in these weird shoots and being asked to do design stuff just from people looking over my shoulder drawing in a coffee shop. So I bought this tiny little Dell computer. I mean, like, really tiny. This thing was like an eight-inch screen and I just maxed it out with stolen Photoshop. I taught myself Photoshop and then erased it to fit Illustrator and then taught myself Illustrator.
All without formal training, just learning yourself. So when you came back did you go to college or anything, or just continue with your self-taught approach?
No from there it’s just navigating a problem, right? Then figuring out what I need to know just enough in order to get to the next level.
It’s funny that someone said to me recently, you only need to know just enough and more than the next person. Because I didn’t do formal training I kind of saw building a business as my education. I built a small leather goods company just to understand the top to bottom, kind of as a resume piece. I also built an axe head refurbishing company and then I had the idea for Pushfins. I quickly realized it had the legs and I just kind of ran that to where it is now.
How long have you been doing push fins?
So the original idea was 2013. Yeah. Wow.
And everything’s made to order?
It’s gone through different stages but yes right now. A year and a half ago I expanded to wholesale to Patagonia first and then a few local shops.
What do you enjoy the most about design?
I think I really enjoy steep learning curves. Also, the surf industry is so conservative and so it has felt good to challenge the industry to be better.
How did it feel when Patagonia called asking to stock your products?
It was a huge moment. It was a long road, but they actually played a role encouraging me when I was still making glass on fins before I figured out the process. They knew the idea and were keen, I just needed to dial it in on my side. Figuring out advanced composite manufacturing processes took a while.
There’s a reason that that whole industry is in China whilst I am manufacturing in my garage.
So, where do you get the skateboards from that you upcycle into fins?
That’s evolved a lot. I started with my own decks, then my friends’ decks and then it was shop decks. Once I kind of depleted everything in Portland, I started going to manufacturers and asking for their blends. So, I just started buying their throw away. This is the beginning of the waste stream. It’s a huge waste stream and I can make consistent material from it. That’s where I currently source.
How much do you think diverted from waste landfill, burning, etc?
Probably a ton or 2,000 pounds of wood and then with glass quite a bit more.
So when I hit you up, one of the first things you said you would tell your teenage self is that stress is not necessary to stay motivated, can you expand on that a little bit?
I really wanted to know what I was supposed to do. I have a ton of energy and just wanted to have conviction in a place of where to put it. I think our society struggles with it in general, where stress is this motivator but also the reason you aren’t progressing. You need to learn that’s not the wolf you need to feed.
The other thing I really like that you said is the unfinished project is the creative’s curse. What’s your take on that one?
Yeah, that was actually something I heard from a friend in Saigon. That resonated with me because I think with creativity comes a lot of insecurity. I think every creative person has a breakthrough and that’s realizing that creativity doesn’t necessarily represent you, it represents your ideas and what you’re bringing into the world. So, this allows you to be able to bring them out without feeling super vulnerable. I found that out in my early 20s, and I wish I found that out in my teens.
There was one more thing, I highlighted, ‘the ability to close the gap between ideas and execution is real value.’
Yeah ideas are cheap, and nothing gives away a person’s lack of experience working in the creative world than over valuing an idea. How are we going to bring it to life? Like the fins are a good example, I had this idea for this super light very responsive, more sustainable, very attractive product. And then I make one and it’s not there. So, there’s a gap to close. I have the standards, but I don’t have the ability, and you can’t sacrifice performance. So, you hold your standards really high, and then you close the gap towards it.
Do you have any suggestions for kids who are trying to find a passion or something that they could imagine themselves working on?
It depends so much on the kid. I mean its exposure, right? Like finding the thing you are into. I wish I had been exposed to a blueprint that I identified with earlier.
A different blueprint to what gets presented at school?
Yeah, like I think on paper I was a terrible student. I think consistently my report cards were: creative, clearly intelligent, has trouble focusing, not performing to potential and so that became my dialogue. I’m still working on it today, but it’s just showing kids there is another way.