MacDonough rides the waves
Before collaborating over fiberglass, resin and roses, Karen Mulligan, Jillian Demling and Scott MacDonough were following very different career paths. Mulligan, the studio manager for Annie Leibovitz, and Demling, an editor at Vogue, had both been immersed in the fashion industry for years before launching their swim and surf label Pret-a-Surf during a summer in the Hamptons. Two lines later, they came across MacDonough, a surfer, photographer and creative director of Cordell Surfboards, a Newport Beach-based board company.
“I have always enjoyed the surfing lifestyle and the flavors that it provokes,” said MacDonough. “It encourages uniqueness and self expression. My friend Cordell [Miller] was obsessed with the shape of every board, so I really got into making each one special. Each was a blank canvas for a piece of expression.”
As his venture into board design progressed, MacDonough pioneered new materials and styles, from collage to photo print, and collaborated on special projects such as Andy Warhol boards with Christopher Makos and a wild horse series with Roberto Dutesco, both of which received international acclaim. In this latest venture, MacDonough and the women of Pret-a-Surf designed one board that will be made to order and limited to five editions. “When we first met Scott, we formed an instant bond. He is a true artist and a die-hard surfer,” said Demling. “Like us, he combines two worlds he loves—art and surfing.”
