Tristan Mausse and Paul Lefèvre, French laminators extraordinaire have been garnering a wee bit of fame of late, working with some of the top factories in the business, doing burn outs in vintage muscle cars, that kind of thing…

WHAT’S THE STORY? ARE YOU GUYS LUCKY? ARE YOU BASTARDS?
Haha bit of both. After working in Oz at different facotries we set up our own laminating company Lucky Bastards. Our idea was for us to lend out our services to different factories worldwide, to focus on doing high quality resin tints and polish finishes… and that’s what we’ve done.

HOW DID YOU END UP SPECIALIZING IN GLASSING?
Like a lot of people, we started out shaping our own boards in our parents’ garages. However we soon realised that everybody wanted to become shapers but nobody wanted to glass. So we thought we’d specialise in where the work was and turn what was perceived as a job that nobody wanted to do into a highly skilled and admired art.

AND IT’S BEEN GOING WELL? YOU GUYS ARE FAMOUS…
Hah not exactly famous, but we’ve been recognized by people we respect which is cool. When Matt Biolos was shaping at Pukas he noticed our work, the love we had for it and liked what we were doing. He asked us to come to California for a series of crazy resin tints. We started out with the goal of making 40 boards but by the end we’d made 90.

HOW DO YOU RECONCILE LAMINATING WITH ART?
For us glassing is an art. It’s a really difficult and technical skill that demands a lot of practice and when you produce a good resin tint job it’s something to be really proud of.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD GLASSER?
A good glasser is someone who pays attention to detail, is thorough, fast, and perhaps most importantly passionate about what he does. Someone who’s spent years wondering from one board building factory to another and never gets tired of it.

HOW CAN A LAY MAN CHECK TO SEE IF A BOARD HAS A GOOD GLASS jOB?
Look to see that there aren’t any dry patches, air bubbles, or ridge at the tail. You want a polished finish, with no lines or fiberglass tissue apparent. You want the board to be flat.

WHAT IS THE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF A SHAPER VS LAMINATOR?
If you’re talking about the career side of things then you can go from 1 month to 40 years! If it’s health you’re concerned about, I think people worry too much about that. Sure, the fumes are toxic and dust is omnipresent… but I know a lot of very old glassers who spent years glassing without masks or any kind of decent ventilation system and they’re still in great shape. They’ve not had any health issues. That’s not to say I don’t think it’s really important to protect yourself as much as you can.