大象传媒 Scotland - 大象传媒 Scotland - Student surfer: 鈥業 quit uni after 10 days to carve out my dream job鈥�

Student surfer: 鈥業 quit uni after 10 days to carve out my dream job鈥�

20 November 2018

“I was always hands-on with everything ... always tinkering at home in the shed.”

Helping out on his grandfather’s farm while growing up had quite an affect on 28-year-old Frazer Reid from Fife.

But he didn’t realise quite how much until he enrolled at university and began feeling like something wasn’t quite right.

“I’d been to a few lectures and I was already getting assigned essays and all these books and things to read. I lasted about ten days. It just clicked: I was like, ‘Right, this isn’t what I want to do for another four years’.”

Making Wooden Surfboards With Fraser Reid | Into It

"Surfing is great, but man I love being in the workshop"

“I had seen a woodwork course, so I started working and then I was like, ‘Right, well, if I save up for two years I’ll be able to afford to go do it’.”

I lasted about ten days [at uni]. It just clicked, I was like, 鈥楻ight, this isn鈥檛 what I want to do for another four years鈥�.

Frazer worked as a janitor at St Andrews University for two years, saving up to attend the prestigious Chippendale Furniture School near Edinburgh.

Now six years later, he runs a successful furniture, skateboard and surfboard-making business.

“It’s really rewarding starting with a few planks of wood and finishing with a surfboard two weeks later and being able to take it out. Not many people build their own surfboards and take them out.

“Once I’ve made one I just want to keep making another one and just experiment with different ideas and go from there.”