Bill Bailey to Launch New Brand of Paddle Board

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Comedian the inspiration for Danish design team's product

Bill Bailey, Stand Up Comedian and Stand Up Paddler has been the inspiration for new brand of paddle board.

Kira and Soren Strange, the Danish design duo, have launched a high-end Stand Up Paddle Board Brand, Billboard Sup named after Hammersmith-based Bill.

Graduates of the Royal College of Art in London, they have built a career over the last 20 years developing accessory collections for major fashion houses, such as Chloe, Chanel and Armani. They claim this background and experience shows clearly in the unique design, quality and attention to detail of the first boards from Billboard Sup, the Heron Series.

Paul Hyman, founder of Active 360, the UK’s biggest stand up paddling school based in Strand on the Green, Chiswick, also provided valuable input on the project.

The designers, along with Bill and Paul, officially launched the board this month at Fulham Reach Boat Club, Distillery Wharf, Hammersmith.

The first time the nature-loving designers tried to paddle board was on the Thames in London. They say the feeling of standing on the water with such easy access to nature, whilst in the middle of a busy city, was a revelation. They quickly realised that there was a need for a functionally designed paddle board for city people like themselves. The Thames is often a river with strong currents and choppy waves, and they wanted a board that could handle these conditions too. They decided it should be a board which could offer new users the confidence to take to the water in these urban environments and yet still be in a class that could cope with the rigorous demands that professional explorers and endurance athletes would ask for their boards and equipment.

Soren Strange, "The idea was to create a best in class product of the highest quality that was driven purely by functionality and was not visually disturbing."

June 18, 2017