“I first saw Dion on the cover of Transworld Surf magazine. It was a D.Hump flash photo that popped Dion onto the map in America. He was young. He was Australian. That was pretty much all I knew about him.

Fast forward 12 years and still, a lot of people don’t know much about Dion. Sure he’s been on every major magazine cover, created the most viewed web clip in surfing history, designed a clothing range, started a sunglass company, made a surf movie in 2016 that didn’t go online. But if you asked most people they’d say Dion is a free-surfer who wears beanies all the time.

But that seems just fine to me, if I were a professional surfer. Never being predictable. Staying fresh and relevant to the kids. Working on passion projects. Designing. Creating. Shredding.” —Nate Lawrence