Carbon experimentation has been on the minds of surfers for over two decades. Despite countless attempts at harnessing carbon’s unique flex and resilience, most avant-garde renditions of the surfboard-of-tomorrow have never reached an equivalent status to the tried-and-true polyurethane construction. Through extensive trial-and-error in the rural desert hills of Jamul, CA,  our founder Justin Ternes, pioneered a board construction that could harness the new-board feel for longer, and was tough enough to outlast competing high performance boards.

Originating within the confines of two side-by-side shipping containers converted into a shaping/glassing bay Justin developed test prototypes and began a surfboard construction that would be recognized in 2019 as Dark Arts. Since then we have grown substantially and now have a full-scale production building, nevertheless we continue to create unrivaled boards, led by a conviction that surfboards should preserve and enhance the essence of surfing.

Today, Dark Arts is a budding channel within the surf industry and we continue to collaborate with prominent surfboard shapers from around the world. Wizards of foam such as the acclaimed John Pyzel (Pyzel), Matt Parker (ALBUM), Timmy Patterson (T. Patterson), Rusty Preisendorfer (Rusty), Darren Handley (DHD), as well as Duncan and Malcolm Campbell (Bonzer) quickly incorporated the new technology to compliment their many decades of shaping experience. Justin Ternes has also integrated Dark Arts construction into magnifying his personal shapes at JT surfboards which are shaped, glassed and sanded all in the confines of our local San Diego factory.

Inspired by innovation and quality, we’ve revolutionized the process of crafting surfboards. As a result, we offer the lightest, strongest, best performing models on the market.The unique experience of Dark Arts surfboards can be attributed to a methodology utilizing carbon compression via a vacuum-bagging technique which yields a clean layer of reinforced carbon fiber. 

Assembled in our hometown of San Diego, these American made products are formed in collaboration with legendary shapers resulting in the highest performance shapes with a construction that will last. We uphold best environmental practices and wage-justice assurances as pillars in our company structure. We take pride in choosing a different approach than other surf industry corporations that may cut corners to increase margins.

Our boards can be seen under the feet of athletes in the prestigious competition formats. John John Florence, along with three other surfers chose Dark Arts construction for surfing’s debut in the 2020 Olympics. Filipe Toledo secured his WSL championship title in 2022 with a Dark Arts quad fin shaped in collaboration with Marcio Zouvi, and Kanoa Igarashi in the same year used Dark Arts to find victory in the ISA World Surfing Games at Huntington Beach. 

Our construction has extended beyond the competition format as well. Garnering praise from Kale Brock for enhanced “springy-ness”, and from Noah Salas (Surf N’ Show) for an “explosiveness” while shifting from rail to rail, surfboard reviewers have enjoyed the new experience of riding carbon.

Our history of searching has culminated into a brand we are proud to offer surfing enthusiasts of all calibers. Dark Arts is reinventing the way surfboards are made and perform so that the board you ride today can be the board you ride tomorrow.