 |
 |
Surfing is in the family blood!
Rhema Graphics was established in 1979 as a graphics and screen-printing specialist for the surfing industry. Growing from a backstreet garage in Currumbin, we offered the first screen-printed decals in Australia. From these humble beginnings we have grown and today our business proudly services over 600 clients. Rhema now consists of high tech computers and state-of-the-art machinery, keeping up with the high level production of today whilst maintaining the personal touch of the past.
Our designs were the first bricks in the road to changing how surfboards look today. Our services allow manufacturers to give their customers many choices – from the colour of the surf logo on their board, to the design of the board artwork.
We’ve recently added an additional service of digital printing to enable us to produce individualised stickers, signage, point-of-sale, decals and laminates. Our client list is testament to our established reputation and includes Quiksilver, Billabong, Ripcurl, DHD, Brothers Neilsen, Mark Richards, JS Industries, Aloha, Byrne, Al Merrick, Electric, and McTavish.
The art of surfing has been practiced for generations, possibly several thousand years. Although the exact time of the beginning of the sport has been lost in the prehistory of the Polynesians, it is for certain that surf riding has been going on many lifetimes before the Europeans first came across the wave-riding way of life. Throughout the history of surfboard or surf craft creation, the master craftsman or shaper has always branded their individual signature onto the surfboard - A personal logo symbolic of his attitude towards the ocean, or his spiritual connection between man and ocean.
The Rhema founders, Jon and Mandy, come from surfing families dating back to the 1900s. Mandy’s grandfather Sid (splinter) Chapman started surfing at Greenmount Beach in 1917. He was one of the first people to own a surfboard in the twin town area. His board was a 2.4m American redwood, one of six brought to Australia for demonstrations by Duke Kahanamoku. His son, Des Chapman, Mandy’s father, started surfing in 1924 at Kirra Beach at age four, and has passed the surfing tradition on to the rest of the family, with Mandy along with her brothers and sisters still surfing today.
Jon’s family started surfing around the mid 1930’s on the far north coast of NSW. They started building their own hollow wood surfboards and skis, and surfed from Byron Bay to Greenmount. The Surf Life Saving Association was a huge part of family life. Jon himself started learning the craft of shaping, glassing and sanding within the surfing industry at the age of 14, working for icons like Ray Woosley, Richard Harvey, and Michael Peterson.
Speak to Jon, Mandy and the crew at Rhema Graphics, for the best in surf industry design and printing!
