David Jonsson - Afends

When and where did you start surfing?
I started surfing about 4 months ago in Byron Bay and to be honest I don't know how I lived without it.

Do you have a session that stands out as your most memorable?
An early morning session at the pass with my mate Willie when I was just starting out, it was small and clean and about 3 people out. Everyone was getting the longest waves and just running back around with their boards and back on again, it was all time.

What is your go to board at the moment?
A 9'6" shaped by local legend Ed Sinnot, I'm a chiller so I like the logging vibe

When and how did you get into design?
I moved to London when I was 18 and landed a data entry job at a really cool design firm called Pod1. I got the opportunity to sit next to some world class designers who where absolute legends and took me under their wing. I knew that from then on that's what I wanted to do and they helped me over the 10 month period I was there as much as they could.

What kind of education have you had?
I'm self taught, luckily with the internet these days and a little bit of self motivation you can learn just about anything.

What was your very first job?
When I was 15 they had a thing at school where you could work for half a day of the week to get work experience and get paid. All they had on offer was a computer sales job, I tried that for a bit, I wouldn't say I was very good at it but at least I wasn't at school and I was getting paid, that's what I thought.

Tell us a bit about Afends and your role there?
The average age of employees at Afends would be around 28 and it's been around for a good 6 years. All that I'm trying to get across with that is it's one of the few "real brands" started by young people who really didn't know what they where doing but where frothing, ready to learn and didn't want to be apart of the get a boring job and get locked into the way society wants you to be. The way brands used to be started, not just someone who's worked for a big brand and decides they're now going to do something and have a very calculated approach to what they're doing. Those brands pop up everyday but they have no culture behind them, they don't live what they promote, we do. Sorry I know that's a bit of rant, getting to the second part of the question, I'm the creative director.

How did you get to the position you are in today?
When I was 18 I had the vision of exactly what I wanted to do today and then I knew the only way to get that was to put in a lot of hard yards in-front of the screen. One day by chance a mate was showing me this brand that he thought was really rad from the town I had just moved to and the first blog post was a job for a designer, I applied and 4 years later here we are.

You design a number of the prints and products for Afends, do you have a personal favourite piece that you have designed?
I don't like a lot of what I make haha, I'm sure most designers have that same feeling, I do get stoked though when a mate or somebody else is frothing on something I've made.

What do you love most about your job?
It's in Byron Bay!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Chilling in the Bay, surfing as much as I work and hanging out with my family and kids.

Where can we find you online? 

Posted by: Matthew Ryan, on November 11, 2013
Categories: Interviews

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