Great Lakes Surf Craft exists to celebrate the work of our region’s surfboard shapers and to connect Great Lakes shapers and surfers with one another. 

GLSC was started by a group of design educators, artists, and surfers. The project kicked off when Ted Burdett, Jen Wandro, and Ben Sass set out to study and document the work of shapers around the lakes.

With funding from the University of Illinois at Chicago 2022 Award for Creative Activity, the project team commissioned a unique collection of surfboards crafted by Great Lakes shapers, complete with documentation of the design and building process.

With the generous support of Kickstarter backers, that documentation is now being crafted into the Great Lakes Surf Craft Book.