Kyle sat down with Ford to talk about this new show
Kyle Kennelly: What is a “wall collage”?
Ford Archbold: I just kind of meant that I’m collaging shit and it’s going to be on the wall. Literally.
Kyle: I feel like you’ve always been a collager.
Ford: I am, yeah. I kind of do that with everything in life.
Kyle: It’s been about a year and a half since your last show. What does the work look like now?
Ford: Almost like painting and sculpture together. I’m using scraps—whatever I can find. That’s the fun part, looking for stuff.
Kyle: Are you still foraging for materials?
Ford: Yeah. Stuff I’ve accumulated—trash, pretty much. I’ll see something on the street, throw it in my truck and be like, “Maybe I’ll use that.” Then a year later I’m digging through it.
I’m not going to go buy canvases. I’d rather just use whatever’s around.
Kyle: Do you actually scout for things?
Ford: No, I just let it happen.
You can always be scavenging for something. Just in your peripherals.
Kyle: Where are you working now?
Ford: Pretty much wherever I can. I’ve been staying at Tromberg’s when there are waves and working on stuff there.
Kyle: So Tromberg’s backyard is basically your adjunct studio.
Ford: Right now, yeah. I’m like a cowboy. Wherever I can lay my head.
Kyle: And you guys have been playing music too?
Ford: Yeah. Droid comes over. Tromberg records it on his little desktop. Then we’re going on a world tour.
No, just for fun.
Kyle: What does everyone play?
Ford: Whatever. Guitar, bass. Droid plays guitar. He’s the guitar hero.
Kyle: Tromberg?
Ford: He plays the drums.
Kyle: Have you been surfing much?
Ford: Yeah. I surfed a bunch during the swell and then torched myself. I felt like shit for two days.
Now when I start painting I get super tired afterward, so I’ve got to surf in the morning.
Kyle: What have you been riding?
Ford: Just a Timmy Patterson shortboard. Keoni shaped it. It’s super good.
I need a fun board too though. Just a cruiser.
Kyle: I feel like you took a pretty long break from surfing.
Ford: Yeah, I just didn’t feel like it for a while.
But taking a break kind of makes it more fun because you get to learn again. Right now it feels like I’m learning from when I was 15. That’s fun.
Kyle: What’s happening with Spun Spirit?
Ford: I’m doing it mobile. Working on some stuff for Japan and putting out random stuff.
Kyle: You lost the studio again too. How are you screen printing?
Ford: I’ve got a storage unit and a little one-color press. I can pretty much keep some ink in my car and print wherever.
Got a mobile system.
Kyle: You’re making your own blanks now too?
Ford: Yeah.
Kyle: Custom fit?
Ford: Yeah. I’m trying to do less stuff though.
Kyle: Less is more.
Ford: Less is more.
Kyle: Are you still doing the graphics for Narval wetsuits?
Ford: Yeah, we’ve got to do some more.
Kyle: Those smooth-skin ones with the grommets and zipper were so good. Where did that design come from?
Ford: Just winging it. I knew I wanted a black wetsuit because that’s basically the only thing I’m going to wear.
Then maybe add a little pocket, a zipper, a cool pull tab, emboss the stars.
Kyle: You should keep pushing it in the BDSM direction.
Ford: Yeah, full Christian Fletcher. Studs. Spiked shoulders.
Kyle: What’s happening with Spun Records?
Ford: Still recording people. Droid, Jimmy, some of Warren’s stuff. Trying to put out a mixtape sampler thing.
We got equipment so we can make our own cassettes. We made one and then the machine broke.
Technical difficulties at headquarters.
Kyle: It was too good. Broke the machine.
Ford: Yeah. It was rocking too hard.
Kyle: For the Daydream gallery, do you want to do more than just the art show?
Ford: Hopefully the art installation first, then maybe a clothing thing.
Kyle: You could basically turn the gallery into Spun World for three months.
Ford: That’s true. Let’s do it.
Spun pop-up. Freaking mosh pit.
Kyle: In the gallery?
Ford: Yeah.