Tag: paris

Street skateboarding can become very difficult when the spots one wants to skate are watched by security guards that do not feel even a glimmer of sympathy for it. Rémy Taveira, Vincent Coupeau and Edouard Depaz dare to skate some of the most guarded spots of Paris and next to long-lasting discussions with exasperated securities they also could shoot some very rare footage. A really nice edit that is nothing but fun to watch!

Any conversation about Russia and its youth culture these days is bound to include Gosha Rubchinskiy. It’s inevitable. He’s considered one of the most exciting streetwear designers of the day – with collections in haute stores such as Dover Street Market and Tres Bien – as well as an influential photographer. His work is without a doubt a reason why the fashion world is looking East for fresh ideas. His approach consists of an authentic mix of real life situations unfolding around him, captured in a Soviet aesthetic and told in a Russian accent. Skateboarding always plays a major part in Gosha’s imagery and its focus on showing teenagers on the streets in their natural environment. Most of the teenagers don’t even know about their power and their style, which is what inspires Gosha and makes the results appear so real. It’s just normal life, caught with an open mind.

We’ve had the pleasure to meet Gosha in his own Moscow neighborhood, in between bar hopping and walking around from one club to another. To no surprise, he turned out to be a friendly guy who likes to share his story. And it was also impressive to find out that he is taking care of his friends a lot and that he has such a strong belief in a romantic idea of community.


Interview by Benni Markstein

How did you get started with photography? What is your background?

Initially, I started photography in my school years just for fun. I just shot my friends with basic film cameras. It was nothing special. During college, I took some photography lessons and learned how to use mirror film cameras. I studied fashion, styling, hair dressing and some make-up. I always had a need to document my work, so I had to learn more about photography because I had to present it. I learned that it is always better to have a complete project. When I started my fashion project, I started to use my photography for it, since I knew how to develop film. But anyway, I was already taking pictures of my friends my entire life, for example while going out or skating.

Your new book Youth Hotel just launched. Please tell us something about making that book.

There is a hotel in Moscow from the ‘80s that was built for the Olympic Games for the youth and young sportsmen. It’s a strange building with 28 floors in a real Soviet mood and feel. One day a friend of mine, who is a stylist, came to Moscow and she wanted to stay in a strange hotel. So we chose this one as I also wanted to take a look inside and see what’s going on there. It was very interesting, so we rented a room, spent some time there, invited some friends and had some parties there. It’s very empty, so we had the entire floor for us, played some music, danced and also we could smoke. During these parties I shot some pictures there. My friends of IDEA Books, who also made my last book Crimea / Kids, asked me to do something new and asked if I had something for them. I said yes and told them that I have some great outtakes from my Youth Hotel series that we could use. I mixed these pictures with last year’s cool pictures that I never used. I think the name Youth Hotel is very romantic. Youth is such a short period of time in your life that you spend shortly.

You mentioned that you had unused photographs you were able to use. Do you feel that different outlets are also important to realize different ideas in your work?

Photography for me is like a diary. It’s about documenting. I see something and when I think it’s interesting I shoot some faces or some outfits or some boys wearing something in a good way. Afterwards, I can use it for inspiration in my new collections. It’s always interesting to document some energy, or some moods, and to look back for some inspiration.

Please describe the overall image and aesthetic you are aiming to create.

I see something interesting here in Moscow, in Russia. My friends are doing interesting things that I always wanted to show to other Russian people, and also internationally. It doesn’t matter if it’s through photography, or films, or fashion – those are just different ways to show it. For me, it is always about showing things that are happening in Moscow and what is interesting and what is our mood.

The Moscow mood?

Moscow, or Russian, or my Gosha mood – I don’t know! It’s all about the same things told through different outlets. But what is it? I don’t know, it’s my vision; it’s different things that I think are great. If I think this guy is great, or this building, or this landscape is great, I want to show it to people.

And if people don’t like it?

Anyway, I like reactions. It’s a good thing when people react because it’s bad when people don’t care about you. I like bad reactions like: “What the hell is he doing?!” I like that.

What’s your background in skateboarding? Do you still skate?

I’m not, like, a big skater. I started when I was 22 years old. During my school years I never had friends that skated and I was really focused on art, sitting at home and drawing. Later I met some people that skated, not too crazy just in a basic way. Sometimes I go skating but I’m very busy right now and you only have a few months during the year to skate in Moscow. I’m not professional enough to go to indoor skate parks in the wintertime. Also, every year it’s a challenge to kind of start skating again and again. It’s always like stepping on your board for the first time. Anyway, I try to remember how it works.

For me it’s a about the romantic of being a teenager having time to go skate in the streets to escape problems.

Some people still live this life, people who used to do it since they were teenagers. I like to go skate on sunny days in summer and to watch others doing good tricks, to cruise around and take some pictures.

I guess you have many friends that skate, then?

Yeah yeah, it’s a big community with friends, and their friends! When I met these guys for the first time around eight years ago, I thought wow, this is really cool and it is something so true and strong. These guys are really interesting people, the most interesting guys in Russia are from the skate community. Because it mixes guys from different areas: some football fans, some musicians, some Hip Hop dancers, and graffiti guys – they all skate together. Skateboarding is the connection. If you want to meet cool dudes it’s easy to find them in the skate community. For me, it was like fresh air when I met skateboarders for the first time and every year new and cool people become part of the community.

Do you see similarities between skating and fashion? And do you get inspired from skating?

Yes, of course. Normal life always inspires me. I can be inspired by some cool 15 year old guy coming to the spot for the first time because he has some weird style and I will use it for my collection. It works this way for me; one guy can inspire the whole collection. I met Kevin Rodrigues in Paris who has a very cool style – he is really inspiring. Everybody around him is now wearing the same style as him and this is how it works.

How did that connection with Kevin happen and is he your new muse?

First of all, I’m checking what’s going on in the skate world and of course I saw him many times in videos and I liked his style. The first time I met him was in London through a Converse presentation. And when I saw him in real life I thought he was an interesting guy, and that I would like to know him more. Six month later we met again in Paris at Place de la République because we have some friends in common. So we started hanging out, drinking beer, and he was like “Oh, you’re from Russia! That’s cool, we love Russian people.” So we became friends from the first day. It’ the same with Ben Kadow from the US, how they look and how they skate is something I really like.


Crimea / Kids (2014)


What do you think is are the differences between the Moscow scene compared to other cities?

I think the main difference is the places to skate because of the weather and the winter. In Moscow, people have to do all the things they like to do during the summer period because in the wintertime everybody starts to become lazy. I think that’s the main difference between Russia and other countries. But besides that, I think in terms of the community, friendships, and skateboarding – everywhere is the same around the world. That’s because it’s so easy if you go to Paris, or to China, and meet some people at the spot, it’s the same connection.

Many people pay attention to my work and that’s why I need to use it to show the good things about Russia.

At one time you said that you would like to change people’s perception of Russia through your work. Is that true?

Yeah, it’s one of my ideas that I want to show Russia the way I see it. I think I have my own vision and I want to show it because it’s hard to imagine how it is if you don’t live here. I have power and the ways to show it – so that’s why I need to use it. Many people pay attention to my work and that’s why I need to use it to show the good things about Russia. Now we’re living in a time of information war, and especially many bad things about Russia and I would like to say: No, it’s not really like that. I can show you what’s happening. Well, and what I think is the beauty of being a Russian.

Why is there some much attention on Russia at the moment? What is attracting the people?

It was a closed country for many years and no one knew what was secretly happening inside. It was just a big myth surrounding what it is – and it still is. The country is big and of course you can be in Moscow or St. Petersburg, which is easy. But that is not the real Russia. You have to go to other cities to understand the Russian mentality better. Like you told me the story of this security guard Dima in Sochi and what his soul is like. I think you’ll understand more now. These are things I also like to show about Russia, because I think it’s good here. It’s not only clichés.

So what do you have coming up for the future and new projects?

I have an idea for a short movie so I try to find free time for it. First of all, I need to sit down, write the script and then start filming. This will be my next project.

So, will there be skateboarders involved?

Of course, ha-ha!

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All photos by Gosha Rubchinskiy

The Supra team experienced the scene of Paris. As every city has its own history, they let legends like Artus De Lavillèon, Benjamin Deberndt and Stephane Larance get the chance to speak about the developments Paris had gone through and combined that with some great archived footage, as well.

The next two days are all about Tolia Titaev. Today we present you with moving images, tomorrow we present you with Tolia’s interview.

This video shows Tolia cruising with friends and having fun but it also has some pretty hard tricks like the Backside Smith grind in Paris. Tolia was a not only a big part of Place issue 55 he is also a big part of why we like Russia. We will continue to follow his path both in the skateboard world and all the other worlds he is a part of.

If you don’t know Julian Klincewicz, Stas Galaktionov and Brian Elliot. They do great work outside of skating you and you should familiarize yourself with their work.

Photo by: Alexey Lapin / @lapinotomy

It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make a full-length skateboarding video happen. And most importantly: It takes time! And time is crucial. A team of skaters is very difficult to coordinate, especially if they have a “real” job in front of them, such as a video mission. Rémy Taivera for example is 100% skateboarding. I think I’ve never seen anybody so passionate and focused, but at the same time cool and relaxed. He may possess just the right balance to work hard and not look like a jock. The stuff he did for the video is on a top notch European level, complemented by a good eye for putting things together. Almost like Aaron Herrington, he can simply adapt to a spot in less than no time. He can do the math and read the situation.

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But let me tell you, Rémy is a hard-working kind of skater. And even though he knows what he wants, he doesn’t always get it. But he never lets up easily, at least not without fighting for his goals. Isn’t that amazing? That’s like earning your own money for the first time to buy something you always wanted. Like being a kid again, working odd jobs at a shop or restaurant. Remy is sometimes trying so hard that you can see his body wanting to stop, while his mind simply can’t. He gets that look in his eyes that could actually hurt people. This state of mind projects a lot of energy and sometimes infects others to try harder, give more, and reach for their own goals with a little more persistence.

BILDER_pleasecharge_neu_highres-12Rémy Taveira with a boardslide to fakie.

Paris is beautiful and home to the best pavement in the whole wide world. And all the others things they say about the French capital are also true. Well, at least most of them. It’s pretty hard to find a guy with a mustache, a baguette pinched under his arm, a glass of red wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other, wearing a French hat of course, and a white-and-blue striped shirt, too. That’s a stereotype. But no sidewalk on earth can reach the Parisian standards when it comes to smoothness. Probably one of the reasons why there are so many good skaters here, for example the Blobys. Danny said it best: “Greg is like one of these street soccer players.” He should put a hat next to where he skates and let the people throw money in it. It’s really that refreshing to see him skate.

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Paul and Kevin, the security and a German shepherd.

If a day could only have more then just 24 hours. After every filming trip, everyone involved only had a day off to take care of their lives. Going home to do a quick laundry run, only to wake up in the early morning to take a cab back to the airport is a very unusual lifestyle. A lifestyle some of us should probably not get used to, myself included. I always hated going by taxi. It just feels so unnatural to me. I would say it spoils your character in a way and lowers your horizon. Good thing you don’t have to depend on taxis. Sometimes it’s good to get a little lost here and there. That’s also how you get in contact with people.

BILDER_pleasecharge_neu_highres-13Remy Taveira – SW Crooked Grind

Paris will be the European hot spot this year, that’s for sure. And how could we forget to mention the whole Nozbone skate shop crew. You have to pay Paris a visit!

BILDER_pleasecharge_neu_highres-19Paul Grund and Ben Chardoune.

Watch #pleasecharge here:

by Daniel Pannemann

Juan Esteban Saavedra is Colombian. He now lives in Paris, but he was born on the other side of the planet, right at the foot of the Andes. Later, as a child, he grew up in France and received his education in Florida as a teenager. In other words, without his choosing, Juan Esteban has become a citizen of the world that doesn’t really belong to a specific country, region or neighborhood. If anywhere, he feels at home on a small maple board with wheels on which he has already spent more than two thirds of his life. And if the skateboard can be regarded as a passport to freedom and travel, no doubt that Juan will not end up stuck at a border post… Confessions of a story out of the ordinary…

Juan-Saavedra

From Colombia to Paris…

I was born in Colombia, in a city called Cali, on the 17th of March 1992. I lived there until I was six years old. In 1998, I had to leave the country with my parents. They had some good jobs there, but they’d become a target for the FARCS and the cartels, groups that wanted to kidnap them for ransom. I have to say that Colombia is a country where violence is rampant, especially in the 90s. Around that time some bad stories started to happen, involving some friends of my parents who got kidnapped. Scared by all this, they decided to leave before it was too late for us.

As my mum really like the French culture, we managed to go to France and live in Paris. My cousin, who was into synchronized swimming, had already been living in Paris for a while. She was swimming for the Racing Club of Paris and she’d arrived in France with my Grandma. As my mum is also a synchronized swimmer and coach as well, this was an opportunity for us to come here.

So at six years old, I kind of started a new life in the 18th arrondissement of the French capital – without knowing anything or anyone except my Grandma and my cousin. It’s a big culture shock but at the age of six it’s actually quite easy to manage. You don’t realize what’s happening; you barely start to be aware of who you are and what you do, so it’s pretty okay. And yet, it was still a huge change in my life. I remember, for example, the first time I arrived in class at school and that the teacher asked for my name: I did not speak a word of French and I gave my name Juan Esteban Saavedra, and then all the other kids started laughing, nobody understood anything…

So I quickly abandoned “Esteban” and simply went by “Juan”, it was easier for everybody. In fact, I spent only one year in Paris. Then we moved to the suburbs, in the 78 (Les Yvelines) at Fontenay-le-Fleury, not far from Versailles, and I grew up there. It was much cooler for me, there was the forest, and the quality of life was generally better compared to the center of Paris. Another important point, there was a skatepark not far from my home…

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BS 50-50

I started skating there just before I turned seven. It’s a funny story: I remember I was playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, I finished my game, it was in the summer, and I suddenly discovered that there was a hidden video at the end of the game. Actually, when you finish the game with a character you can see a real video. I remember very well, I was playing with Koston and so I discovered his part!

It was a huge revelation, this was the first time in my life I saw real skating, and I thought, “but it’s too damn cool that thing…” In fact, at the time I had a friend who owned an old skateboard but up to that point we’d only cruised down slopes, sitting on the board, that was all… After seeing the Koston part, I decided to try skating and I haven’t stopped since.

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From Paris to Miami…

I finally spent seven years in France. One day, when I was 13, my mum told me that we were going on a vacation to Florida to visit an uncle. So I went there with my parents, and after a couple of weeks they returned to France and I stayed there to finish my holidays. At the end of August, it was in 2005, my mum called me: “How do you like Miami?” I went like: “Yeah it’s pretty cool and fun, I like it…”. After that, a few days later, my parents went back to Miami with all our belongings. They had decided that we were going to live there.

At the beginning I thought, okay, it’s going to be perfect here, I’m going to be on permanent vacation, sunshine, beach, skating, etc… but then again, I had to really live there. A new life again, and I hadn’t even said goodbye to any of my friends back in France; they all believed that I was just on vacation in Florida, but I actually never came back. So at 13 years old, I had to build a new life in Miami. And 13 is a tough age to change everything in your life, especially when you come from Europe to America, and especially to Miami, which is America on steroids! It’s an insane, crazy place!

After that, I went to middle school for a year and then did four years of high school in a good international school in Miami. Again, upon arriving in Florida I could hardly speak any English at all, I just had some basics, like any 13-year-old, I guess. It was quite hard at the beginning; it took time to adapt. On the other hand I was lucky because there was a large Spanish community in Miami and so I was able from the start to make myself understood.

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I soon realized that I had lost all my friends in France, and I must admit that I initially hated Miami, the people, the superficial side of a lot of things… It was definitely strange for me. Being Colombian but also speaking French, no one really understood who I was, and even for me it was a bit confusing at times. Anyway, I soon focused on skateboarding, because it was pretty much all I had to escape to during that period. I was going to skate everyday, all the time, alone, skate, skate, skate!

I really did not talk to others, and it stayed like that for at least two years. On top of that my parents wanted me to go to the best public high school in Miami, which was a good thing in itself, but it also had its downside because it was located on the opposite side of town. My high school was on the 152th south west and I lived 174th north east, so around my home I had no friends, I knew no one… and to go and see my friends in the south of the city, it was a real mission. Especially when you have to take public transportation.

I had to take three busses, one train and one metro mover for each direction. It was a nightmare! To give you an idea, I finished school at 2:30 pm every day, and when I had to go by metro or bus I sometimes arrived home at about 6:30. Up to four hours transit! It was the best school in town, but it was just too bad to get there. Every morning I had to get up at 4:30 because my dad dropped me off at school at 5:30, and then I had to wait till 7:30 for school to start. I often brought a pillow and slept in the cafeteria; times were pretty hard…

Then, when I was 16, I started to get more used to the culture, I understood better how things worked, I spoke perfect English, started to party with friends, started to have fun like a normal teenager. Plus, I had my skate crew, the LFT (Lift For Today), some good friends I filmed my first-ever video part with. So it was finally okay for me. I stayed in Miami until I was 18.

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From Miami back to Paris via Colombia…

At 18, when I finished high school I had to make a choice. I was supposed to attend a major university, something everyone pushes you to do in the States, because if you don’t study at a great university you are considered a loser, a piece of shit – which is especially true when you come from a school like my high school, with geniuses in every corner. Anyway, I was going to live somewhere else – again. For me to go to university in the States was probably the most depressing thing ever, so I decided to leave for Colombia after graduating.

I think at that time I really needed to return to Colombia. I am Colombian but I hardly knew anything about my country and my roots, and I guess I had something like an identity crisis: I couldn’t really say what I wanted to do with my life. Well, I went to find the rest of my family back in Colombia, where I stayed for almost a year. I was really well received, it felt good to just be by myself without anyone around me telling me what to do. I think it was very beneficial for me and I also realized that the one thing I missed the most during my stay was skateboarding.

So I decided to move back to Paris, just to see how things were in Europe, and in 2011 I started to study Cinema at La Sorbonne. The bad thing was that just a week after I left, my Grandma, who I’d spent most of my time in Colombia with, died. It was really a bad blow for me, especially at that point when I was restarting a new episode of my life in Paris, alone again, pretty much without knowing anyone.

I really like Paris, and after those years living in the States I have to admit that the way of life, the culture, the attitude, the relationships between people are really different from what I have experienced in the US. It’s pretty much the same with skateboarding: you can feel the difference. I am much more receptive to how people skate here in Europe, much more instinctive, less focused on technical performance stuff, whereas in the US the only valid way to stand out is to always go bigger and more technical.

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What’s more, here in Europe you also have all this ancient architecture, which influences your approach to skating. It’s not like in the States where everything is square, flat, smooth, well balanced, with perfect run up and landing. Here you have to deal with the imperfections, the unique nature of each spot, and I think you can feel that in the way a lot of Europeans skate. So yeah, I really enjoy skating here in Paris. Back in Miami I used to jump down a lot of stairs and stuff, but now I don’t really enjoy that anymore; now I’m happy when I do a hammer just because I won’t have to try it again. That’s a big difference.

I realized that this type of skating, jumping down big shits, is not fun for me anymore, and I want to have fun every time I skate, which means I do pretty much everything except stairs and rails. After a while in France, luckily I found some sponsors and I started to travel a bit through Europe, for example to Barcelona, London, and Berlin. I guess if I didn’t live in Paris, I would probably live in Berlin, I really love the atmosphere in that city.

I remember one time I went to Berlin, and on arrival at the airport, my skate bag was the last on the mat, so I went out the last and the customs guys immediately stopped me. They asked me if I had anything to declare, like narcotics. I told them no, absolutely not, and when one of the German guys from the customs saw the nationality on my passport (Colombian), he called all his colleagues and they all started to get excited, digging through my stuff like crazy.

After a while, they took my coat and passed it through the x-rays, and in fact I had a pack of Fisherman’s, and the guy got fully crazy and ordered me to open my pocket and present what was inside. All the guys around me were in a too hot mode, like “this one, we’re gonna catch him,” and when they all finally saw the pack of candies, they were all so jaded, it was crazy, really – thanks for the welcome! A lot of stories like that happened to me because of my nationality, but that’s life, I’m kind of used to it by now.

I just quit my studies of Cinema and switched to “Langues Etrangères Appliquées” which is way easier for me as I already speak three languages. So it’s pretty convenient for me because I don’t really need to go to class every day. I can go on any trip I want, I can skate every day, and I just need to go to the exams. Besides that, I can earn some money doing translation jobs for scripts and movie clips, which is pretty cool too. I can do it at home and it’s quite good money. Now I’m 22, and I just want to keep skating as much as I can for the next few years, enjoy everything and see where it will bring me…

Photography: Kévin Métallier

“The Öctagon is totalitarian and omniscient. Billions of data are generated by this independent system and build a unique reality. Individuals live within the Öctagon. Geographic space doesn’t exist for real, it is not tangible but still defined by a multitude of data.”

Nachdem wir im Januar die Öctagon Premiere im Rahmen unserer Ausstellung zur Ausgabe #50 gezeigt haben, verging fast ein halbes Jahr, bis der Film nun endlich im Internet bestaunt werden kann. Edouard Depaz, Valentin Bauer, Bram De Cleen, Joseph Biais, Yeelen Moens und Rémy Taveira sind unter anderem in Paris, Tokyo und London unterwegs gewesen, um diesen sehr dunklen und modernen Skateboard Film zu produzieren. Vorhang auf für das Öctagon:

All Photos by Maxime Verret.

“Increase the sound for more pleasure, i hope you have good speakers.” schreibt Olivier Fanchon in die Beschreibung für Vimeo. Ein sehr schönes Video mit Yoan Taillandier, Greg Cuadrado, Lucien Clarke, Sam Partaix, Vincent Touzery, Leo Valls, Oscar Candon, Remy Taveira, Daniel Ledermann, Juan Esteban Saavedra und vielen mehr, gefilmt in Paris.

Der Polar Teamfahrer Kevin Rodrigues aus Paris stellt uns in Form dieses düsteren Videos den brandneuen Converse Cons CTAS Pro Black Mono vor. Kevins gewohnt aussergewöhnliches Skateboarding trifft hier auf hohe Filmkunst von Ben Chardoune und einen eigens produzierten Soundtrack, für den sich Jean-Louis Huhta aus Schweden verantwortlich zeigt. Sehr modern und sehenswert!

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Wallride Judo Grab

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Kevin Rodrigues

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Der Converse Cons CTAS Pro Black Mono kommt in einer Hi, sowie einer Lo Variante – all black everything. Die streng limitiertenSchuhe sind ab sofort bei folgenden fünf Läden erhältlich:

Pivot Skateshop (Köln)
Mantis Lifestore (Hamburg)
SHRN (München)
242 (Lausanne)
Stil Laden (Wien)

In freundlicher Zusammenarbeit mit Converse CONS

Apart from being extremely talented on his board, Brian Delatorre is as happy and cheerful as they come: He will always welcome you with open arms, no matter who you are or how you look, and he will certainly take his time to have a chat with you until all your questions are answered. Brian does not close his eyes and treats a situation how he thinks it needs to be treated. What’s more, he has amazing plans: This man is about to sell everything he owns in NYC so he can go on a six-month filming mission in California. All he’s planning to bring along is a guitar, his skateboard, and a book so he can take notes and write down all the memories he’s going to collect while traveling. Make no mistake: Whether it is a story that happened on the road or simply a few notes about meeting new people during a long European summer vacation, this book got stories for days. Our French man Kevin Metallier sat down with him in Paris to talk about religion, alcohol and wom…, wait, no, no women in this one. What’s wrong, Kevin?

Hey Brian! Good to see you here in Paris, mate! What have you done during the two last months you spent in Europe?
Traveling, traveling, traveling! Keepin’ it moving, all over Europe. We flew back to Paris together from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan in mid-June. Then I stayed here for about two weeks. I couldn’t really skate in Paris because of my ankle. After that, I went to Berlin for a week to meet my friend Tjark Thielker.

I had an amazing stay there! It’s always so good to go back there. So, Paris and Berlin. I was only traveling by myself, visiting friends, you know? And then, after Berlin, I met my crew, The GX1000 crew, in London, Jake (Johnson), Al (Davis), Jonie (Cruiz), Ryan and my friend Jahred – he’s a photographer from L.A., and we spent two weeks together in London. It was really good, lots of good skating and surprisingly, it was really good weather there. It was very sunny every day! So even if I wasn’t really skating 100%, it was okay for me.

Then we moved on, the entire crew, to Barcelona for two weeks. At the end I stayed there by myself for the last four days. Then I flew back to Paris again for five more days; it was really fun too, with Kevin Rodriguez and my friend Juan Saavedra. There are so many people I have met during this trip, even people that don’t skate, and it’s never been goodbye, I’ll be back here! Then, after Paris, I had the opportunity to go to Helsinki for the Hookup and visit my friend Marius (Syvanen) for a few days. It was my third time there, and it was probably the best one.

The summer over there is like BOOM! Everybody is enjoying the three or four months of sunlight, partying, drinking, because after that it’s just darkness. It was really cool to spend time with all the homies again and I guess I was up maybe 17-18 hours every day there. Honestly, I saw the sunrise every morning! And all this without drinking. After that, back to Paris for almost a week and then finally back to NYC.

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Did you write a lot in your road book as usual?
A lot! I always do. Write about my journey, people I have met. It’s just to have some memories, to keep something on paper, to remember some precious moments. It’s been amazing! Each moment has been just as amazing as the last, but it’s moving so quick. Each moment is just as profound as the last one and I am really conscious, aware about that. But I keep forgetting about some of those precious instants, and I need to write down as much as possible.

And especially on this trip, because I’m away from home for quite a long time and I guess when I’m going to get back to New York, it’s gonna be like whoa! Too much stuff has happened to me during this adventure in Europe. It’s been mind-blowing! The people that I’ve met, the connections I have made with people, people that I have touched and they touched me… Some really amazing stories!

You told me that you’ve decided to give up your room in New York? Why? What’s your plan?
Well, I think the reason why I gave my room up in New York is because all of that. I had, like, an epiphany or something. During that trip in Europe, everything was very intense and I was like, okay I want to keep going. Actually, at the beginning when I arrived in Europe, I rented out my room in New York for three months, that was my plan. But then, a while ago, during my trip here I realized that I didn’t really need my room anymore; I don’t need all the things that I have accumulated over the last couple of years since I have been there.

I’ll get two weeks in NYC to gather and sell pretty much everything I have and also to give things away to my friends. So from now on I’m gonna be a homeless skateboarder with two bags, a guitar and a skateboard, traveling across the country to San Francisco where I’m going to work on the video with my friend Ryan Gee, where I should stay for about six months maybe. I’m pretty much hyperactive when I’m in California, always skating, bombing hills, getting coverage.

Out there, it’s very easy to meet up with friends to skate or photographers to shoot photos. It’s not that easy in New York I have to say, you need to schedule things there. So, from now on I would say that I am a free homeless man! And me and three of my good friends, we’re going to cross the States from East to West on the northern road in an old Chevrolet Caprice Corvette! I would say that the beginning of the new life, of the real freedom for me, was last May 31st, when I left NYC and arrived at the airport in Paris to join you and all our crew to this amazing adventure in Kyrgyzstan!

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What does Europe mean to you, especially after this long trip?
I feel like a European now, really! I also feel like when I’m going to get back to the States in a few days, the transition is going to be kind of hard for me, to be back to the all mind-set and thinking process of how most Americans work. Even if there are a lot of open-minded people in New York, if you compare it to the rest of the country, the laws there are very strict, and it’s not what I would call freedom.

I don’t really know how to explain it but I know that mostly everywhere in the US people are very aggressive and want you to respect the rules under all circumstances, even if it’s not their business. I don’t get the same feeling at all here in Europe, at least I haven’t seen it so far. I would say that the approach here in Europe is different than in the States. In my country the approach is very egocentric, I would say.

It’s like, I have the power – you have to do what I say. I am the man – and you will listen to me. Stuff like that. There is no dimension of human being, like two people talking to each other, it’s as if all the feelings were gone and the only things that count are the rules, the papers and the money. People got a role to play, and they will play it very well, as a security guard does for example. Even if, of course, it’s not like that everywhere and with everyone, it’s definitely the approach you can feel most of the time in US cities.

Once again, I think things work differently here in Europe, and people don’t have the same kind of relationships as in the States. People here are more open-minded, they don’t need to know who you are, who you work for, how much you get paid, to start considering you. I don’t want to give a too negative impression of my country, because in the US you will also find a lot of people who are open-minded and welcoming.

But I have to say that in my country, for most of the people, you have to show them who you are before they start to open their door to you. And honestly, I think that here, after all the trips I’ve done all over Europe, all the people that I have met, things work really differently. If you come to Europe, you don’t really need a plan, you can figure out things with the people meet along the way, whereas if you come to the US, you do need a plan.

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So do you think you could live in Europe one day?
Yes. Absolutely. What I would probably miss is my family, obviously, and my really close friends, but I could definitely come and live here in Europe. There are actually three places where I’d be glad to live: Berlin, Barcelona or Paris.

And what do you think are the main differences between the East and the West Coast in the States, since you’ve lived on both sides?
Well, let’s compare SF and NYC, as I have lived in both cities. For me NYC and the East Coast is more raw. Fast, stressful, gray. There is no one there that’s taking shit from anyone, a lot of selfish attitude and you can feel a lot of tension through all the Big Apple. This city is moving so fast, there is people from all over the world, a lot of different cultures as well, it’s a clash of energies.

In the streets of New York you can see a lot of people who are just bored to be there, who don’t have the spark in their eyes anymore. Lots of people are in their own world, they don’t want to talk to you, they don’t want to interact with you. On the West Coast the spirit is different, when you meet someone it’s more like, “Hey, how are you? Nice to meet you.”

People are smiling, there is also more contact with nature. Lots of people are constantly aware of how they interact with people, of the environment, of what they put in their bodies, the quality of their food. Don’t get me wrong, there are shitty people in San Francisco too, but for the most part, whenever I’m there, the energy I can get is way more positive than in NYC. That is just my own experience and my own feelings.

For me, everything is temporary, nothing is permanent, so I couldn’t say that I will get back to SF and live there forever, but I have experienced New York and I know now that SF fits better to me, especially since I have stopped drinking.

Why did you stop drinking alcohol?
I was at a bar and I was wearing a Halloween costume. I was drinking my fourth pint and I started looking around. I just said to myself, at this precise instant: what am I doing? I do this every day, why am I here? I can go over here, talk to this person, talk to the other one too, drink, drink, drink, get happy, high, very high and then tomorrow morning, everything is gone. Why am I depressed? Everything is going good for me. Why do I feel this way? It was mainly because I suddenly realized all of that, that night of the 31st of October 2013.

And so, what’s different now, since you don’t drink anymore?
Everything! The way I view life. The way I meet people. The way I’m gonna act with everyone. I’m not saying that I was a bad person before; I was just as happy when I was drinking than I am now, but then always came the low and now, there is no more low. Life is amazing, beautiful, and I want to enjoy it, every little piece of it, as much as I can. Compassion, love, that’s all that matters!

I cleared up my mind, and I see the way I want to go on in my life. This path, this journey that we are all going through, we are the stars of our own movie, each of us, I see it clear now. I don’t want to judge anyone. The way I look at people now is way different compared to when I was drinking. Now I’m also practicing and applying to my life some philosophic values. Love and enjoy life.

I’m not going to put any label on this philosophy. Religions are religions. For me, religion is just a method, you never have to become a slave of any religion either. I have so much hope for humanity but I can’t believe what horrible things people are able to do in the name of religion.

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So did you find the Horizon (in reference to the Habitat video, Search The Horizon)?
Ha-ha, yeah, I guess, and I see it very bright and infinite.

Let’s quickly talk about this trip we did together in Kyrgyzstan…
Well, this trip was pretty interesting to me. First of all because I was going somewhere in Central Asia, and I had no idea who is going to join. It’s always good to do this kind of experience with people you don’t know. The only one I knew from our crew was Charles Collet. From the first minutes at the airport in Paris I knew this was going to be fun! And now, I can tell that I wasn’t wrong, this was an amazing trip. The kind of travel that makes your perceptions of life evolve in a good way. If I look back, I would say everything is just really simple out there. Long story short: I’m really glad that I was a part of this adventure.

To conclude, tell me what you would be if you were:
a plant: an Orchid, it’s my mother’s favorite plant.
a drink: Water, cause we are made up of 80% water. Without water, we’re fucked!
a virus: I don’t wanna be a virus! I wanna be the cure to the virus!
a country: Iceland, cause there is almost no one there.
an object: Camera, because you’re capturing moments and saving memories.
a means of transportation: Skateboard, of course, what else?
a word: Profound.
a religion: Taoism, the way of life.

Intro: Daniel Pannemann
Fotos & Interview: Kévin Métallier

Die Blobys sind eine Crew von jungen Franzosen, welche zur Zeit viel Anerkennung im europäischen Skateboarding genießen. Nun zeigt Hadrien Buhannic das neuste Werk der Pariser Gang mit Aufnahmen aus Barcelona, Paris und San Francisco. Mit dabei sind unter anderem Kevin Rodrigues und Vincent Touzery.

When I think about Stefan Janoski, I still see this guy with a loose sweater and a big smile from Habitat’s “Mosaic” video (2003), and then I’ll also think of his part in Transworld’s “Subtleties” video that came out only a year after that. Both have had a stronger influence on me than most other parts, to be honest: Everything about them, his style, the selection of tricks, the editing, music, clothing and atmosphere, the whole package was fresh and unique. He was in his early-twenties when he filmed these two parts, and to me, this period was the magic moment of his career as a professional skateboarder.

Right after, Stefan signed a deal with Nike Skateboarding and got the opportunity to design his signature shoe: the Nike SB Stefan Janoski. Actually, the process to develop his shoe took longer than average; Stefan put a lot of effort in this project, he turned down a whole lot of designs, did a lot of revisions, and he made no compromises until he was one hundred percent satisfied. Regarding the design, he always claimed: “function over protection”. The result of the demanding and challenging development process was a terrifically simple and contemporary shoe.

Accordingly, it has become one of the most successful signature models of all time, and Nike has released countless color-ways over the last seven years. There is a downside, however: The excessive success of Stefan’s shoe has unfoxrtunately overshadowed his skating in recent years. Today, Stefan is thirty-five years old, he lives between New York and Sacramento, California, and when he’s not skating, he dedicates some of his time to creating art and music. Early in October, we met up with him in Paris…

“Ist Skateboard-Deutschland noch zu retten?”

Yes, your German is perfect.
Is it?

Well, do you know what that actually means?
Maybe… is skateboarding in Germany really good? Is skateboarding in Germany not the best? I don’t know…
Yeah, pretty close. It means: Is there actually any hope left for the German skate scene?
Ah… I don’t know what’s up in Germany when it comes to skateboarding.

What do you know about the German skate scene? Do you know anything about it?
No, I don’t know anything, but you said you could save it. What’s wrong with it?

Nothing, it’s all good. It’s just an article in which we tried to find some answers. How other countries see German skateboarding. What do they see in general, what you guys know about it…
I’ve been to Berlin, I’ve been to Germany a couple times but… Where did I go? It’s been a while… Frankfurt!

Frankfurt? That’s Crackfurt. Kind of… it’s so cracky over there.
Yeah! (laughs)

So you’ve been to Berlin?
Yeah!

Any funny Berlin story to share? What did you explore?
There is a lot going on… I’ve been there for Analog with Arto and…

Gentsch?
Yeah, with Gentsch.

Well, then you must have a funny story.
Oh yeah, pretty crazy. He’s a funny guy with orange jackets and stuff like that. Yeah, Berlin was fun. It was, like, a few years ago, I guess. But I like Berlin, it’s a good city to skate and really artsy, too. So international… Doesn’t feel like you’re in any country really. Sort of like a mix of everything.

Yeah, everybody is coming there.
So yeah, everybody is from another town, almost, so it’s like a very international city.

Are there some skaters you know from Germany?
Willow! Is Willow German?

Yes, Willow is German.
I said! (laughs)

Then you probably know Lem.
Lem? He’s German? I didn’t know that!

And Alex Mizurov – the world champion.
Yeah, I know that guy. World champion?

It’s like this running gag, that he is the world champion.
Wait, is he the switch Ollie world champion?

No, he won the éS Game of Skate against Chris Cole back in the days. So we always call him the world champion!
Haha, that’s awesome!

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So you know Berlin and a couple of skaters, but you’re not really into the German skate scene. For you, it’s more the European scene, right!?
I mean, I haven’t been to many other parts of Germany. So, I don’t know much about the skate scene. But my friend Steve Forstner does.

Yes, he lives in Berlin.
Yeah, he lives in Berlin. He’s the one… He’s not German but Austrian, it’s kind of close… (laughs)

Not when it comes to the accent… but yeah!
He’s a friend and took us around Germany, so I’m sure I met a lot more people than I remember right now.

We took a look at your sponsors and we didn’t find any energy drink. You need shoes and clothes, but you also have to drink something. Why is there no drink on your list of sponsors?
I guess because water and beer and wine don’t sponsor skaters. Coffee, water, wine, beer and juice.

What about cigarettes?
No, that’s not a drink. But you asked me about energy drinks. Energy drinks are just horrible, terrible things that are just poisoning children and people, and they just use them to make tons of money. And that’s all they are. Everybody who rides for an energy drink company does not drink that drink and they just wear their clothes for the money. And that’s why I don’t have any energy drink sponsors. Because energy drinks are worse than alcohol.

What about the rumor that you bought the name Nike?
Oh no, no, they bought me. I didn’t buy the name Nike. You’re saying there’s rumors that they bought my name?

No, that you bought the name Nike, didn’t you?
I think the rumor is Nike bought my name. But it’s just stupid internet shit… I don’t know where that came from. The rumor is that I sold my name to Nike, but I don’t even know how that works really. I think it was the talk-show kid who started this… I don’t know why.

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So we were skating last night in Paris, and everybody is wearing Chucks and is doing No Complies and Wallrides. We went from Wallride spot to Wallride spot to Wallride spot and everybody is doing No Complies. And that’s, like, a thing from the 80s. How do you like this trend in skateboarding, this indie/alternative style… No Complies. Are you practicing them or doing them all the time?
No Complies? I mean it’s just flat-ground skateboarding. Skateboarding is just this thing that’s heavily trendy, you know… It’s like trend to trend to trend to trend. It’s just the way it is. Like what are the tricks we should be doing? Is it Bigspins this month or should we now crook the rails? So right now the people do No Complies. I think it’s a lot better than these pressure flips. They try to seek their way back in, too. I don’t think they should. At least No Complies are cool. (laughs)

So is there anything you really hate in skateboarding right now or something you can’t look at? Like Street League or some other stuff?
I don’t hate anything. Street League is good for the skaters who get to make some real money, so I think it’s good. I mean, it’s like the outside world trying to make skateboarding into something that they can understand and it’s never gonna happen. It’s a good thing for the skaters, you know?

Yeah, and I also like to watch it. Just for fun!
And it’s exposing skateboarding to more people. You know, like, you can’t hate it, it’s just the kind of stuff that makes it on TV exposes more people to skateboarding. So they might start with a Rob Dyrdek board or a Bam board. Then they get into actual skateboarding and then there’s other skaters too, you know?

Was there one moment when you realized that your shoes were selling really well?
No, it was pretty gradual, but I have to say, last month I went to Barcelona and I saw a lot of people wearing my shoe. Just like people, tourists and kids and women…. That was just insane, really crazy.

Isn’t it the same in the US?
Yeah, it is. But I guess it was Barcelona during holiday season. So you kinda had, like, all the European backpackers and tourists. So there were like longboarders and backpackers and skaters and girls and everyone. But they all had my shoe. In every group was one person that had my shoe.

Sick!
And then I’d be right next to them, they wouldn’t know who I was. And this is just like pretty wow. If you’re coming up asking me for directions in Barcelona wearing my shoe, like having no clue… That was insane.
But isn’t that way cooler compared to everybody who wears your shoe knowing who you are?
Oh no, I love it so much! It’s perfect, yeah. (laughs) It was gradual, but it’s pretty crazy now.

Background girl: Last question. Do you have a last question?

Actually, yeah, there’s probably one thing. So you make these bronze sculptures…
Oh yeah, you can polish them or you can let them raw. So that’s why some sculptures are black and some are really shiny and some are green. There are different ways to treat them when you’re done. Tonight there will be some sculptures at the party. Two of them are really shiny and then all the others are darker. I polished the shiny ones and the others I just left really raw. So it’s just like kind of metal. If you rub it a lot, they become shiny. If you see sculptures that people touched a lot they are really shiny.

Ah, okay, but you don’t want all of them to shine?
It depends on what the sculpture desires.

There is one question left, what are you doing in Paris right now? Just skating?
There is a party, an art show tonight. With a little video about me that Desillusion did. And that’s what I’m here for.

When do you leave?
Tomorrow.

Ok cool, that’s it. See you at the party later. And thanks for the interview.
No problem, you’re welcome.

Interview & Fotos: Bmin Boje

Sprachmemo Am Flughafen vom 30.September 2014, 06:23 Uhr, Rollkoffergeräusche: “So: Kippe, Tegel, morgens um halb sieben, mir ist mega schwindelig, Kaffee gibt’s dann in Paris…” Mit diesen Worten beginnt die Reise unseres Außenreporters Bmin Boje, bewaffnet mit diversen Snapshots, einer Leica Minilux Kompaktkamera und dem Spezialauftrag Stefan Janoski zum Interview zu treffen. Dieser treibt sich in der französischen Hauptstadt herum, da am Abend sein Videofeature “This Is Janoski” vom Desillusion Magazin premiert werden wird. Sprachmemo Der Flug, 08:32 Uhr, Stimme des Flugbegleiters: “Remaining flight time is 10 to 15 minutes and the temperature in Paris is quite chilly, 14°.”

PARIS

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Sonic by Invader

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Roman, Wallride

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Salut Alex Pires

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NOZBONE SKATESHOP

Als erste Anlaufstelle für Skater in einer Stadt bietet sich stets ein guter Skateshop an. In Paris heißt dieser Nozbone, für den u.a. Kevin Rodrigues, Sylvain Tognelli und Sam Partaix unterwegs sind.

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K-Rod und Alex

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THIS IS JANOSKI – VIDEO PREMIERE

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Pires and Remy Taveira

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Freundin, Stefan Janoski und Pierre David

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Janoski Bronze Statue

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Das Interview mit Stefan Janoski erscheint in PLACE 049 am 04.11.

Mehr Snapshot Recaps

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