How To Master The Business Of Fun With Dion Agius

Grabs by Wade Carroll.

I have always wondered if people like Dion Agius have trouble sleeping.

Does he lie down in his bed and all the ideas start then? Or his is brain just constantly on and what separates him from the rest of us plebs is his ability to turn those thoughts into action and always into something special be it creative, surfing or business. When he’s not surfing, he’s filming and when he’s not filming, he’s designing new sunglasses for EPØKHE or testing the SPF for Standard Procedure, or redecorating his CNTNR contemporary living spaces, and now as it turns out, preparing for his first show ‘NOID’ at Rainbow Studios. By turning broken old surfboards into functional, unique homewares, Dion’s latest project proves that while it’s extremely difficult to come up with new ways to do things in today’s age – it’s not impossible and Dion will be the one to think of how. I called the man to try and tap into how that brain works ahead of Thursday’s opening night in hopes that maybe I could figure out how to get my 3am thoughts out of just the 3am stage.

You excited for Thursday?  

I’m terrified no one is going to show up.

No way! Heaps of crew are coming. Tell us about it!

It pretty much started with surfing. Pro surfing, you’re breaking boards all the time. I dare say hundreds of boards over the years and it just always feels a little bit wrong – breaking a board and then just throwing it out. You can fix creases, but if you snap a board then it’s pretty much done after that, so they mostly get dumped. I’m guilty of it and I always felt bad about it. There’s still so much good material in a broken surfboard but I just had never really figured out a way to do anything with it. But then last year I broke my leg pretty bad and was out of the water for about four or five months, living up at Ozzy's house up in Lennox. He had a bunch of broken boards lying around so I just started experimenting. It just went on, and on, for the last year and then the next thing I knew I had all of these little pieces. I had been putting little snippets and stuff out about it, but then two friends of mine who have a little gallery in Sydney hit me up and asked if I would be keen to exhibit them. I was like ‘fuck that’s terrifying’ as they were just things I was making at home for no real reason but I was like why not? It’s been nice because there’s no pressure, just fun. I’ve been around the material since I was little in the form of surfboards and when I think about it, there really isn’t another material that has had that big of an impact on my life, you know, as a surfboard. It’s been to give them a new lease on life when they otherwise would have just been thrown out.

It’s a pretty cool thing to make something out of a surfboard that’s probably gone on some hell overseas trips and seen some shit (laughs) and got a story in other form in some way.

Yeah super true. Even when I was trying to list down a little explanation for the show, it made me realise that some of these boards have been to so many random spots all around the world. My claim to fame is that they’re the first mirrors and side tables that have ever been barrelled.

(Laughs) Love that.

I really hope it’s true. Everything has been done so potentially someone has done this and I don’t know but not I’m aware of. They all have a little story, it’s funny that they have now ended up on a gallery wall.

So it’s stools, lamps and what else?

Side tables, mirrors, lamps, picture frames and then some wall-hanging pieces. I guess it’s more homewares than art. Functional homewares. 

Okay cool, that’s fun. How many have you bought down to Sydney?

All up there are thirty pieces. We just walked through the gallery and it’s pretty much full. I just went down to South Coast and had two mirrors to finish off and I was going to bring more but I’m glad I didn’t. The gallery is looking good with the amount here.

It’s cool because I can make them from anywhere. I have a little table that I set up in my car. There are a couple of little national parks down south that are my favourite spots to go where I’ll just post up under a tree along a dirt road and finish a couple off. I’ve got a full set up so that all the dust is collected so when I leave I don’t leave anything behind. I like the concept of being able to travel around and do it from anywhere.

That’s so sweet.

The only issue is that because they’re foam, without a resin coating they can be quite fragile. I try and keep the initial shape, most of my boards are Hayden Shapes so they always have really nice curves, with the rocker and all that. I’ve noticed there’s one piece here that has a little ding in it, which I know is from a surf where I got really mad and punched my board (laughs). There are always little pieces to the story still left in them.

I’m sure Hayden would be so stoked to see upcycling of his broken boards. I know he’s super big on sustainability, and obviously, all the experiments he does with resin and all that.

Yeah he was stoked and is super supportive. He actually gave me a bunch of second blanks the other day. That’s the other thing – I’ve been reaching out to shapers and a lot of the time when they get blanks, there will be seconds blanks that they can’t do anything with. I was a little bit worried Hayden might have thought I was just carving up his good boards (laughs) but I’m just trying to collect broken boards and unusable boards as much as I can. I put a thing up on Instagram and heaps of people replied being like ‘yeah I’ve got one in my back shed I’ll grab it,’ and then it’s cool because they give you a bit of history about the board. Yeah so if you know of anyone with broken boards please send them my way.

We can plug that for sure. Broken board - message Dion.

It would be so cool if I could get someone with their favourite board that they’ve had for years and eventually broken it and make it into something for their home to keep.

Yeah that would be really special. I feel like you’re about to get the call up to do a lot more of that after this show.

I mean maybe people will walk into the show and be like ‘what the fuck’ (laughs), who knows?

I think everyone has those feelings when they put their art on show though. If someone isn’t saying what the fuck to your work in some capacity I don’t think you’re doing it right.

Yeah. We’ll see. I’ve never done anything like this outside of surfing. I’ve done films and stuff, but nothing as hands on and really putting yourself out there. I think I like that it’s more functional homewares than ‘here’s my art,’ because I have many artist friends and hold them in such a high regard I think calling it art isn’t something that should be taken lightly. With homewares, I think I have quite an eclectic interior style, whereas I think most people have pretty simple and safe interiors generally so it’s nice to have little pops of colour here or there. Obviously, if you had ten or twenty of them in your house it might be a little overwhelming, but I think there are nice little pieces for the home.

Absolutely, everyone needs some colour in their life. Speaking about doing films and surfing - how is Mess+Noise TV going?

Yeah it’s fun. I started when I was living up at Ozzy’s again with the broken leg picking up a camera. I used to do some filming and editing when I was younger and have so much footage. Creed pitched it to me actually saying we do something with the footage because usually we’re all working on something pretty heavy that saves the best of the best footage to be this super polished piece be it a film or brand thing so we always end up with so much B-roll footage that is sometimes more fun to watch, and a little more relatable. I’ve noticed how much my friends just watch YouTube now in the background when I go over their houses. Even more so than Netflix or whatever, and usually always surfing so Mess+Noise TV is kinda perfect for that. It’s a fun little side project.

Agree with the YouTube thing and also the lo-fi stuff. I gravitate towards that more for sure. When it comes to fun little side projects I feel as though you do a pretty good job of actually locking in and finishing the fun idea because you seem to have a thousand different things going on. Do you ever not finish things? 

(Laughs) Sometimes but if I’m honest I always do really fun projects so I tend to always finish them. Things like ‘NOID’ work because I have an end date and goal. I always have to have that kind of purpose and drive to work towards something. I think when I lose the creative spark that’s when I lose interest, but I can kind of manage that initial excitement I get when I think of an idea and keep going. You know when you think of something that keeps you up at night? I think I am just good at tapping into that and seeing it through.

Can you give me some of that? Out of all of the projects, be it surfing, business or art - what is something you’ve done that you’re really proud of?

I built these little shipping container homes in my property down in Tassie (see - CNTNR). They took a lot of time and energy, I’m really proud of them. I really wanted to study interior design growing up and they look really quirky and fun, that’s where I got to play into a lot of that side of me. I stay in that many fucking airBNB’s travelling and every time I stayed somewhere where they put a lot of thought into the interiors I really appreciated that. I’ve had heaps of people who have stayed there propose, and make babies, and elope there which is really special. I like that it’s not selling a product like sunglasses or sunscreen, it’s an experience and creating that for them.

Yeah the experience over the product. I back that. Finally have you got any fun trips on the cards this year?

I actually just got asked by a friend in Indo, who has a really nice spot at Ulu’s, if I wanted to a show for a couple weeks. They’ve got a shaping bay there and a little gallery so that’s kind of got my brain ticking over to make that happen. I can kind of go anywhere where there’s surf, and broken boards so that’s probably the next thing.

 Catch Dion’s opening show ‘NOID’ at Rainbow Studios this Thursday May 2nd.