It’s already been a year and a half since Élodie Gryba settled in Saint-Malo, a city whose beaches are very familiar to her. Indeed, as soon as the weather permits and she has time, the young woman is on the water with her kitesurf, a world of gliding that soothes and inspires her to the point of having had the idea of creating your own small company from recycling kitesurfing wings. It was a day out on the water.
A very thin and very waterproof fabric
“The world of board sports has always attracted me,” confides the young woman. And seeing all these unused kitesurf wings stored in garages “just in case?” », Élodie had the idea of recovering and transforming them. “Currently in my garage, I already have a stock of around thirty wings, each more colorful than the other, with a surface area of between 8 and 12 m² each. The particularity of these wings is their thinness. It’s like a windproof fabric, hence the idea of transforming them into waterproof jackets! »
But pattern making and sewing aren’t really Élodie’s thing. No, one of her specialties is product design and artistic creation. After obtaining a master’s degree in Product Designer in Barcelona in 2021, Élodie Gryba worked as a graphic designer and then a professor of applied arts. She was even responsible for a children’s arts school in Lyon! Then she will train as a tattoo artist which will lead her to open her first salon in Rennes for three years before, in 2022, heading to Australia, New Zealand and the Fiji Islands where she will be, among other things, “guest tattoo”. “I tattooed in tattoo parlors, in various places where I was invited”
Back in Brittany, in 2023, Élodie, between two outings on the water with her kitesurf, will open a new tattoo parlor, in Pleudihen-sur-Rance in March 2024 this time, near the beaches of Lancieux and from Saint-Malo where she lives.
Standard or semi-measured products
When Élodie is not tattooing, she continues to work on her idea for jackets made from kite wings. To create her first prototype, she will call on a professional model maker based in Morbihan, Soraya MoBé, a former client of the show. “From around twenty different parts obtained from the wing of a kitesurf, Soraya managed to make the first model of my new brand” explains Élodie. “The models will all be very colorful, mixed and for adults. It will be possible to buy them as is but also to order them semi-measured. We can adapt them to the body shape and customer wishes,” adds the new designer.
“Apart from the neoprene eyelets and closure, the jacket is made from 98% recycled material.
Today, three different models have been created. Other prototypes for fanny packs or transport bags for kites and surfboards are still being studied using recycled wings. »
The first clothing and accessories from the “Rikin” brand (shark in Breton) will be offered for sale during the first half of 2025 on the brand’s future website, at the tattoo parlor in Pleudihen-sur-Rance and in stores. “I have already been contacted by stores in Saint-Malo and Brest,” enthuses the designer.
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