Tag: bombaklats

Stefan just showed up at the MBU spot in Berlin one day. Upon seeing him, I went up asked, “Don’t I know you from somewhere? Rotterdam perhaps? He had the same feeling and we both reintroduced ourselves. The truth is, I almost knew directly who he was. I clearly remember skating with him in Holland, and later seeing his footage in the Bombaklats video. But it’s just not socially smart to go up to somebody and assume he or she knows you, because if the other person doesn’t remember, you end up looking kind of stupid. So we did the social dance and now we are slowly starting to see each other a bit more in Berlin. So I thought it would be nice to introduce him to this new face that is Stefan Scholten.

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So Stefan, you just moved from Rotterdam back to Germany, Berlin to be exact.
Yes! After I Finished high school in Dusseldorf, I applied to some schools for graphic design. Actually, I also applied here in Berlin but didn’t get accepted. The school in Rotterdam was a bit more open to young people, because they feel that by doing this the school can shape and guide the students’ process towards becoming graphic designers. So after finishing school and having spent the last six years in Rotterdam, I slowly started to miss Germany, and I felt like I needed a new place to explore.

Why Berlin?
After I finished my studies in Rotterdam, I didn’t see myself working in graphic design for the rest of my life, so I applied for a new course here in Berlin called Art & Therapy. It’s a pretty new type of profession for Germany. It’s more focused on using art as a medium for people to express emotions and deal with issues they may have. My job would then be to guide these people in their creative process.

You speak Dutch now. How did that happen?
Well, when I applied to the school in Rotterdam, I thought everything be in English, but once I got there I quickly found out I was wrong! All the classes where taught in Dutch (laughs). So I had to learn a whole new language, which was difficult but fun, though!

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You are also doing skateboard comics under the name Shit Fire. How did that come about?
Shit Fire was an idea I had last year on the Spot Delivery tour. At first it was just a joke that started to evolve. And after the tour I just kept on drawing these skateboard jokes about the things I was seeing around me. It’s a fun thing to do when I’m not busy doing other things.

Besides Shit Fire you are doing freelance work as a designer. What are you working on at the moment?
At the moment I am working on some new designs for Yamato Living Ramps. I’ve been making some T-shirts and stickers for them for about a year now. They give me the freedom to do what I like and that works best for me. Most of my drawings come to me spontaneously. It starts when I get an idea, I start working from that idea, allowing my intuitions to take me were I need to go. Here’s an example: I’m working on this ad for a brand and I keep thinking about my friends there, so I start to draw them and out of that comes the ad.

Can you currently live from your design work?
No not at all, I just found a job here so when my school starts in December, I will be trying to combine my studies with my job and use my free time to do my graphic design, skate, and play music.

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You also dabble in music?
Yes, I play guitar and keys, actually I was in a band but as things progressed I wanted to try some new things, so I stopped playing with other people and started to perform as a one-man band for a while. But I lost the energy to do that so now I’m looking for some new people to play with and possibly form a band.

Anything else?
Yes! I would like to thank Maertyrer skateboards, Dufarge, Bombaklats, Intus, G-Tay,Yamato Living Ramps, Endboss Crew, Woodstonekugelblitz, and Liar’s Dice.

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Photos: Danny Sommerfeld
Interview: Roland Hoogwater

I first became aware of a Robbin’s skating when he was little, on a Dutch skateboard forum. Here was this young kid with the user name “Robbin Reynolds” posting clips of himself trying frontside flips like “The Boss” at his local spots in Haastrecht.

Everybody knows a kid who likes a company or pro skater so much that he wants to dress and skate like them. But the first time I met Robbin, he clearly had his own style and bag of tricks and on top of that, he was a super nice guy – but it’s been a while since we last talked to each other. And it’s safe to say that Robbin’s skating has made a lot of progress since we last met. Some of you might have seen him skating in the Bombaklats video, or the Rotterdam scene article.

At this point, Robbin has some great skate companies backing him, names like Girl, Lakai, Thunder and Bones to name just a few. With a new Bombaklats video on the way, I thought it would be nice to catch up have a little Small Talk with Robbin de Wit.

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Words: Roland Hoogwater; Photos: Hendrik Herzmann (BS Bluntslide in Den Haag)

Hey Robbin, how are you doing?

I’m doing fine, how are you?

I’m doing great, I was thinking we could do an interview for Place Magazine.

Yeah, man that would be sick! Do you think they’ll be down to do an interview with a Dutch guy? Isn’t it a German magazine?

Well I’m also Dutch and the magazine is in English now.

Haha, that’s true. I’m always down to do something so let’s do it!

Are you still working at [Dutch distribution company] Hardcore Supplies?

Yes, I’m still working there about three-to-four days a week and I’m skating in my free time.

Have you been going on a lot of trips?

I just came back from a Bombaklats filming trip. We had this idea to skate all these cities in the Netherlands we normally wouldn’t skate.

Sounds like a great idea. How are things going with Lakai?

Great! I love skating for them, I like the shoes, and they have been supporting me for a long time now. It’s a bit of shame that Sylvain and Karsten aren’t skating for them anymore. No bad feelings though, they got there own thing going on now.

For people who might not know, can you explain what Bombaklats is ‘cause it’s not just a skate video right?

No, it’s a group of friends that skate and live in and around Rotterdam. Actually it came from my friend Ali. When he would land a good trick, he would always say “Bombaklats!”

Bombaklats video part:

I also started to see some Bombaklats hoodies and shirts popping up in footage. What’s going on with that?

Yeah, we made some of that stuff to get people hyped on our projects. It’s just some stuff for the crew to wear.

It seems like Bombaklats has been growing and people outside of the Netherlands are starting to take more notice.

Yeah, since the video came out people are really starting to take notice of what we are doing.

I recently saw you skating the Berrics as well. How did that happen?

After Bombaklats was all done, I went to visit Sewa [Kroetkov] in LA, and he took us out skating. One of the visits was to the Berrics and that’s how I ended up in one of their clips.

I heard you met the Sabotage crew when you were over there?

I was skating a spot in LA, and they saw my Bombaklats shirt. The guys recognized me and they were hyped – so I gave them a copy of the video.

Did you ever considering moving away from the Netherlands like Sewa?

I have thought about it. Budgets can be a lot bigger in other countries and that can help you as a skater. At the same time look at people like Daan van der Linden and Nassim, they are really making it work!

So you just came back from a filming trip – does this mean that you are working on a new project?

Yes, we also finished this Rotterdam scene article for Kingpin. And now we are working on a new Bombaklats video. It’s going to be between twenty and thirty minutes long, and I’m filming a full part for that right now.

Nice! Do you know when the new Bombaklats video is coming out?

I don’t know the exact date, but soon, this year for sure.

Thanks for the Small Talk, Robbin.

Find more “Smalltalk” here.