Page 79 - Via Condotti

Although he has never ridden the wave, Jim Helmann, anthropolo-
gist, brilliant illustrator and collector, seems to know the surf culture
very well, ever since the age of twelve, spent his days watching the
surf guys on the Southern California beaches where he grew up.
And Helmann has no doubt that right the years of his formation, the
legendary sixties, have to be considered the golden age of a sport
destined to become a real philosophy of life, inf uencing different
artistic and creative areas. Nothing must have seemed more natu-
ral then for the executive editor of Taschen America, who created
“DAI GRANDI REEF
for his publishing house “Surf ng. 1778 - 2015”, a majestic volume
DEL MONDO of 600 pages in which collect, through a story in Images with a

AL LIFESTYLE: strong visual Impact - more than 500 pictures collected in two and
IL SURF a half years of painstaking research - more than two hundred years
HA ISPIRATO MUSICA, of history and culture of the sport of Kings. And never def nition
would seem more right, considering that was in the Hawaii islands
CINEMA,
that eight hundred years ago the surf achieved a cultural identi-
DESIGN E MODA.” ty, and that the Kings of the archipelago soon made it the off cial
sport. Since then the board has become a way of understanding
life, and it is precisely this aspect that has fascinated Heimann,
who wanted to celebrate the big adventures, in and out of water, of
the great reef of the surf world understood as lifestyle. All divided
into f ve chapters marked by a chronological order and accompa-
nied by brief essays by the most experienced journalists, but not
only, because surf has also made inroads in the f eld of illustration,
music, f lm, design and fashion. And by the way, it is in the news
that the sport of Kings has charmed even Victoria Beckham. The
former Posh now f rmly at the helm of her own fashion brand, for
the Spring Summer 2016 collection presented in New York, does
not give up beautiful artistic prints inspired by the surf. “I absor-
bs everything of all my travels” conf des Ms. Beckham, riding the
wave of a contemporary style, in a sign of femininity in a perfect
balance between elegance and practicality. It’s not a surprise then
to know that even the New Zealand surfer Danielle Clayton has
founded her own brand Salt Gypsy, launching the wave leggin-
gs, in lycra/spandex with UV f lters and quick-drying to protect the
body from the sun, as well as from the reef pitfalls and from jellyf sh
stings. Who knows what would think today Captain James Cook,
who in 1778 was the f rst Westemer to witness a surf ng exhibition
sailling to Tahiti. “The reason of this sport is fun - he wrote - is not
about tests of skill and with good waves is understandable how it
should be pleasant”. Thus was born the surf ng tribe.