Falcone Surfboards

Shaper: Joseph Falcone

Location: Rockaway Beach, NY

About: Joseph William Falcone aka “Joey Clams” New York native, born and raised in Rockaway Beach NY in 1986, found surfing through skateboarding, graffiti and Stussy Surfboards ads. The logo was written in a hand style similar to that of graffiti writers like Revs, Serf and Mint whose work he saw riding the subway in south Brooklyn. Clams, a fluid regular foot with a smooth, skatey style, picked up a planer when he was 17 inspired by the surfboards of pioneering Rockaway shaper Dennis Farrell. He turned his mom's garage into a shaping bay and started making his own boards which incorporate the flow of someone carving on a surfboard or skateboard, or even catching a tag. Meticulously crafted, he takes his time shaping each board. Over the years traveling shapers like Andrew Kidman, Manny Caro, Josh Hall and Ellis Ericson have all made boards at “The Casino,” (a nickname for his shaping space) traded templates, re-shaped fins, shared waves and slices of pizza. In 2010 Kidman and Clams shaped a handful of Dave Parmenter-inspired channel bottom ‘widow-makers’ during a snowstorm which became material for Kidman’s “Lost in the Ether” film and book project. Clams describes his surfboards as, “experimental reflections of the experiences and relationships I’ve developed with my mentors and the ocean.” He is currently focused on making variations of the Keel Fish, Single Fins, Thrusters, Widowmakers, Twinnies, Asymmetrical boards, Stubbies (single and 2+1), Finless and the occasional Log.