introduction by mdrn

mdrn at Studio DirtyDustyDazyDays in Johor Bahru, Malaysia creates custom surfboards for the local community.

The very first entry of this log is probably an introduction with a little background and context. Hello my name is Muhammad Dhiya Bin Rahman holding the artist name of mdrn which is probably now aptly named as @mdrndesigns. I’m an artist, board builder, craftsman, designer, educator and fisherman (i come from a lineage of princes and pirates of the Bugis people, that’s what my dad told me haha). I am Pisces in horoscope and my placenta was released into the seabed. My love for water is natural and surfing has become a part of me. For the past decade besides doing ‘work’ I have trained myself to become a surfboard artisan, I travel to Bali and did what I called ‘suicide shaping trips’ and created a ‘brand’ with several other friends called The Happy Poison Gang. It was all about promoting the culture and lifestyle of alternative surf crafts in which the waves within the East Coast of Malaysia were definitively suitable. A decade ago I made the leap and ‘poisoned’ others around me into doing so. Recently i have enrolled for a Masters in Design programme with University of Arts Singapore at LASALLE College of the Arts residing in the ‘Technology and Design Innovation Track’ and with that my research title is ‘Technology as an Ally of Design to Transform Surf Culture Within Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore’. The PSR digital hub will serve as a dynamic platform to explore, document, and promote surf culture in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore through PSR’s representatives within the region.