Astrology, fireballs and Brazilian flags: Aleksander Lange and Gabriel Medina’s early surfboard art
Over the years, Medina’s surfboards featured Lange’s designs of planets, moons, flames, snakes and a unique take on the helmet of legendary Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, among other artwork. But while the duo aligned on many of their interests, be that astrology or car racing, geographically their worlds are so far apart, it is almost a miracle they managed to connect.
This might not have happened if not for one New Year’s Eve holiday that Lange spent at home in Warsaw rather than taking his customary annual snowboard or surf trip. As the clocks counted down to 2019, a restless Lange spent the time jotting down new sketches with Medina as his inspiration.
The Polish designer comes from a long line of artists and co-founded the Lange & Lange design studio with his twin brother Gustaw in 2009.
Lange had met the Brazilian surfer as a fan in 2016 while attending the Portugal Pro stop of the WSL Championship Tour. He left Peniche in awe of the Brazilian surfing style, characterised by speed, aggressive turns and gravity-defying airs.
Back then, Medina had a simple design on his surfboard – a 34cm circle in the centre of the deck – which Lange started to elaborate on with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in mind. Working in Adobe, he turned the circle into the blue, starry disc of the Brazilian flag, adding the national motto and yellow rhombus to the design as well. He then sent the design to Medina’s long-time shaper Johnny Cabianca.
“Maybe in one night I made the project, sent it on Instagram: ‘Hello, my name is Aleksander. I want to send you my idea for the graphic for Gabriel for Tokyo, the Olympic Games competition. What do you think about it?’,” Lange recalled. “I thought, maybe somebody will read it. And the day after, (Johnny’s wife) Kelli wrote me back. ‘Woah, it’s a super nice idea, but why do you want to wait for Tokyo? Let’s make the boards for Rio Pro for 2019 in Saquarema’. I say, ‘What?’ And then it all starts.”