National “shaper” Edwin “Carton” Villalobos tells us all about his great career creating surfboards.

It all started back in 1986 when a boy from a humble little town called Fray Casiano in Puntarenas went to the beach to play soccer with his friends, as he usually did. However, due to an injury during the sport, he decided not to continue, and by luck or some inexplicable twist of fate, that same day he found a large stereophone. With the ingenuity of a 10-year-old boy, he took it home, and the next day he had already worked on it and was surfing the legendary wave at Boca de Barranca.

That's how Edwin "Carton" Villalobos, without knowing it, had taken the first step in a world full of art and passion: the world of shaping boards.

After 34 years, “Carton” has been known for supporting Costa Rican talent and providing assistance to children passionate about sports who may not have the financial means to buy their own equipment. In this article, he tells us his whole story.

How many years have you been shaping and how many boards have you made?

From 1989 when I opened my first workshop until 2020, I have a total of 31 years of shaping, I have a total of 16,000 boards made and since 1997 I have been in Playa Jacó.

How did you get started in the world of "shaper"?

It all started in 1986, when Puntarenas won the national soccer championship. We went to play soccer near the San Isidro cabins in Chacarita, Puntarenas, but I had an accident and had to give up on my soccer dream. Coincidentally, that same day I found a piece of Styrofoam and made my own surfboard. The next day I rode my first wave, and after that, at just 10 years old, I started a boogie board workshop to make boards for my friends. But my mom didn't like it and forbade me from going to the beach anymore, so I dedicated myself to making skateboards. In 1989, I started high school at the José Martí Day High School, and it wasn't what I expected. It was a school with a lot of surfers; all the surfers in the Boca de Barranca area from the late 1980s were studying there. Surfers needed to be well-off to buy surfboards, clothing, and accessories, and it was there that I learned about pointe surfing. The national surfing champion at the time was the school president, and he's currently the president of the Costa Rican Surfing Federation, Mr. Randall Chaves. So we had a lot of magazines, and everything was related to surfing since it was a school with so many surfers. That same year, I opened a surfboard workshop, making boards with glazed fins and pointy fins. Then I went surfing these boards in Boca de Barranca and continued making boards until 1995, when I sold my first professional board to a yacht captain in the Puntarenas marina, who paid me $380.

Who was the first surfer you sponsored?

The first surfer I sponsored was named William Johnson, and he was the best aerialist in the country at the time. He was a very good and inspiring skater, and he came from the Caribbean. I sponsored him because he got a job in Jacó, and this helped me connect in 1997 with Pedro Cruz in Tamarindo, who was the best surfer of the time in that area of ​​Guanacaste, and I started selling surfboards on that beach.

What do you consider to be the most difficult thing about this job of being a "shaper"?

In my opinion, the most difficult thing is learning to design, but for me it wasn't so hard because I've lived a beach life. I moved to a surf spot south of Jacó Beach, on Madrigal Street, two kilometers from Hermosa Beach. I've had a very intense relationship and interaction with surfers, enjoying the surfing scene and riding the waves, and thanks to this, I've had a very large production in Jacó. All of this has taught me that design is the most difficult part, since making boards isn't that hard, but designing them for high performance is the most complicated thing, and this has been proven over time, with many designers becoming famous for this great work. I personally have tried to focus on that, and those who have surfed Carton boards throughout history have demonstrated this.

How do you start in this "shaper" process and end up doing it in Jaco?

I already had knowledge of boat plans and hydrodynamic lines since my father was a shipwright and since we were very poor he always took me to help him and so I already had some knowledge, so we could say that I learned thanks to my father, to the wave of Boca Barranca and thanks to the accident I had that day on the beach and I had to look for another sport.

At the end of 1997, I came to visit friends in Jacó Beach and see balsa trees near Carara, where there was a lot of jungle because we were already making balsa boards. I came to Jacó because I loved the history of surfing, and in Boca de Barranca, they had already told me that I should visit the area to make boards. That's when I met Chuck Herwig. He saw my designs and was delighted and enamored with the quality. He told me that I was the talent that the country and he needed, since I had good connections and a good surf shop called "La Chozita del Surf." So, in 1998, I moved to Jacó Beach.

You have helped many Costa Rican surfers in their beginnings and in their careers, tell us a little about this support you have given them?

Well, initially, as I mentioned before, I helped William Johnson. Then a whole bunch of surfers came along, like Pedro Cruz, Durby Castillo, and others. Then the kids started asking me for surfboards since I came from Boca de Barranca, and we've always had surf teams there. I thought about starting a surf team, and it turned out to be a historic phenomenon that changed the modern history of Costa Rican surfing and took it international with Jason Torres, Anthony Fillingim, Leilani McGonagle, Carlos Muñoz, Alberto Muñoz, Craig "Tequila" Schieber, Malakai Martínez, Ismael Araya, and then a whole bunch more. These surfers won world, Pan American, and Latin American championships and competed in many QS events around the world. In short, my team brought the country its first world championship with "Tequila" Schieber, the first women's and men's world runner-up titles with Leilani McGonagle and Anthony Fillingim respectively, a Pan American championship with Jason Torres, a Latin American championship with Anthony Fillingim, and also the first professional surfer in history with Carlos Muñoz. These have been the team's most important achievements, which have changed history and strengthened the national surfing industry thanks to the culture of Puntarenas and Boca de Barranca.

What are some anecdotes you'd like to share with us from your time as a "shaper"?

A very interesting anecdote is how the name Carton Surfboards came about. In 1996, I had a friend from Fray Casiano, Puntarenas, who worked as a receptionist at the Fiesta Hotel. At that time, there was a world tournament called Rabbit Kekai, the world longboard championship, visiting the country. My friend saw some older people arriving with flower leis and asked them, along with the manager, who they were. They told him they were in charge of the tournament. My friend mentioned that he had a friend who made surfboards, and the manager asked Rabbit Kekai if he wanted the local shaper from Boca de Barranca to participate in the tournament. Rabbit agreed, and he sponsored the tournament with two boards. On Saturday and Sunday, we went to hand out the prizes, since there was also a national competition event there, and I went with Rabbit Kekai and other famous surfers. It was at that moment that the president of the federation at that time, Fran Mora, asked who the young man accompanying them was and they told him that I was a "shaper" from the area and was sponsoring the tournament and he started calling me over the loudspeakers as Carton Surfboards and that's how I started working with them, which was a very serious company and my national career began.

How have you been affected by the current crisis in the country?

In February of this year, I was really tired of making surfboards and I was talking to myself about how I was going to manage, since after 30 years of making boards, I was feeling very worn out. But then the crisis hit, the beaches closed, and the market plummeted. I took the opportunity to change my lifestyle a bit and discovered that there's so much happiness in nature in every sense. As a surfer, I was focused on visiting surf spots, but we started to change things up a bit, visiting mountains. I took advantage of the time to fish more, and although I've always had a simple beach life, I've taken the opportunity to do more personal family activities and explore different perspectives.

Written by: Enrique Hernández

General Management: Marco Montero

Photos of “Carton” at work: Alejandra Villalta