A Bean grows in Brighton

Published Nov. 17, 2009 at 8:21 p.m.
How five guys in a garage put together Boston's biggest little snowboard brand
Deep in a Brighton garage, five guys are dreaming of winter.

Deep in a Brighton garage, five guys are dreaming of winter. Leaves, not snow, cover the ground, and the only slope in sight is the gradual incline of the long driveway back to their concrete bunker. But in an unheated and windowless double-bay space, tucked behind an old house in a quiet residential neighborhood, five entrepreneurs are designing and manufacturing their own brand of East Coast–centric snowboards, and readying that dream to take flight.

Available commercially, for the second year, on a limited basis, Bean Snowboards are the result of a collaboration of friends: three engineers, one designer, and a snowboard-marketing pro who saw an opportunity.

"We were avid snowboarders and it was something we all really loved," says Michael McGraw, one of three Northeastern University–trained mechanical engineers. "And to make snowboards you really just need engineers and artists, and we happened to have that combination living in our apartment, so it made sense."

McGraw, Collin Murray, Brian Callan (the engineering classmates), Scott Petrichko (the designer), and Patrick Leary first came together in 2006. All the roommates were working in different fields (Leary managed the now defunct Underground Snowboards). But something was missing. "Medical devices are essential and righteous and all that good stuff," says Murray of his day job. "But I wanted to work on something that the end product was fun and I felt passionate about."

Plus, notes Murray, the local snowboard culture needed something homegrown. "If you look out west there are a lot more little brands and things for people to choose from, and it definitely drives the culture," says Murray, citing such boutique brands as California's Humanity and Signal snowboards. "On the East Coast there really aren't too many little brands that people can identify with."

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