Sergio Ben Mario was out in the streets of Berlin for while to make this video happen. A lot of your favorite skaters from Berlin are in the edit such as Kalle Wiehn, Julian Ruhe, Kaio and even Danny & Peter, just to name a few because the list goes on and on.
We made this video as a piece to go together with our very own Daniel Pannemann’s interview in the current issue of Free Skate Mag. It was in fact Free’s own Arthur Derrien that proposed the idea of a sort of takeover/collab.
In the end, Sara Parson Texas did the interview itself and I (Roland Hoogwater) got the chance to create this video together with our staff and some of our close associates/freelancers.
We hope you enjoy the work we put in for you all to enjoy and stay safe out there in these troubling times.
First off, let us start with some facts about this tour.
The Facts.
The Weather.
So basically this tour was preceded by some of the best weather Europe had seen in a long time. Like the year before it seemed like we would be having an almost endless summer. But as luck would have it, as the tour grew closer so did the clouds. As soon as we all arrived in Amsterdam (our meet up point) the signs weren’t good.
What was good though was the food, we went to:
The Travels.
During this trip we traveled by train, which to be honest is still the nicest way to trave because nobody is forced to drive, we didn’t have to go through security, there is enough room for all the bags and you can still buy coffee in the vehicle without stopping. Also, Greta Thunberg travels that way so…
The Places.
We also have to give it up for all the great parking garages inside of the cities of Rotterdam and Antwerp. The security guards also let us have our fun so an S/O is in place!
The Homeys.
We also had some great guests in both of those cities Pascal Moelaert, Aaron Tiekink, Sneep, Ziggy Schaap, Alex Raeymaekers, Yannick Gores & Wallem. You guys really helped guide us through the raindrops to the right spots at the right time. Without really ever complaining, chapeau!
The BFF’s.
Vincent Huhta and David Jakinda have been best friends for a long time. How far back? Well, David told me his mom used to grip Vincent’s board when he stayed over at their house when they were young.
This was their first tour together and when we asked them they both said I’ll go if he goes. Vincent even cut short a London trip just so he could come skate with David. Obviously they roomed together the entire trip and it feels like they motivated each other a lot as well not only verbally but also by actions.
When one would film a trick and was having a hard time the other usually skated the spot with him just to back him up and keep the vibe right. Which often resulted in us getting way more tricks from both of them at spots that weren’t typical. They would often make it a little sesh together and all we had to do was point and shoot.
Because of their bond, they also were at ease at almost all locations and truth be told just fun and easy to be around their friendship also extended and made us all as a group become a bit closer as well and that is worth a lot.
The Shops.
Last but not least all the skate shops, Ben-G, Skatestore Rotterdam, Lockwood & Zeropolis are all places that helped us and help their scenes on a daily basis. We all know that with the current situation things aren’t easy for them so don’t forget them and show them your support in both easy and hard times.
In Cooperation with Nike SB.
Photo & Video by Barabakaa.
Additional filming by Peter Buikema
This article was written by Roland Hoogwater.
Respect is often earned not given and even when it is due people feel like taking the easy route and put the focus on what they don’t like instead of what is achieved.
FLYTECC is a new company started by two brothers Jun & Hyun Kummer. Two skateboarders that you might know only by their Instagram handles @seoul_air & Versace_plug. For them, FLYTECC is a platform a creative outlet and this video is a big step into defining what their 2020 vision is.
Now there are 2 kinds of people, employees and employers both deserve respect but the difference is that the second group consists of people that are willing to take a risk, the risk to start something new.
We don’t feel like we need to explain the importance of family but it is important to show respect to two people who have taken a risk, are putting their vision out there and in this video even put their bodies on the line to show you something they felt needed to be seen.
A family-owned business is something we support and whatever you feel about the people involved or the level of creativity displayed it demands respect!
Lastly, we say all that but would like to add that Hyun wrote on IG that he filmed his best trick to this day for this project and after his last part that alone should be enough to make you press play.
Featuring:
Hyun Kummer, Jun Kummer, Jonte Klahr, Ike Fromm, Max Obert, Eric Erhardt, and London Lee.
This video was filmed by:
Leon Rudolph, Jun Kummer & Peter Buikema.
When we talk about people deserving things we can often be lead by our emotions. His last part was crazy, he has been going viral on Instagram, he is so sick he should be pro, this guy is super stylish why doesn’t he have a pro model shoe?
But what constitutes being worthy to receive a pro shoe? Many legends have one like AVE or Steve Cab, SOTY Kyle Walker has one and Gilbert Crockett has one with very creative 1940’s sport-fashion inspired colors. It is not really that defined why or when one is ready to ascend but in our humble opinion Rowan has done more than enough to get his signature style.
To celebrate the occasion Vans said, “Build it and they will come!” so Opperclaes did as commanded. And as was said, they did come and shredded R.O.W.A.N. for a day.
All in all, a really cool idea done really well. The atmosphere was great, the music was alive and the session was eventful! Now press play and let R.O.W.A.N. show you what he’s got.
Featuring:
Marc Haan
Robbin de Wit
Bert Roeterdink
Tim Zom
Arthur Bultynck
Remco Stolze
Pablo de la Place
Tor van Eysendeyk
Finn Mostert
Sebastiaan Vijverberg
Tjerk Oosting
Peter Buikema
Special thanks to Jan Maarten Sneep for the video, Ziggy Schaap for the photos & Vans Off The Wall for the support.
Damn, that is # 3 already? Yes. Our third Converse “Push Berlin” session earlier this year went down successfully and we can’t wait to reopen the doors of YAAM next Tuesday. Here is what went down, who was there and what you have missed out on:
Together with Converse, we are proudly hosting a session for everyone to join on the 03.03 (Tuesday) at YAAM Berlin, after Give Something Back To Berlin took over the park, build by Yamato Living Ramps.
Learn more about GSBTB HERE and watch our Converse CONS team session HERE.
All photos by Danny Sommerfeld.
All you need to know for next Tuesday:
Paul Herrmann just dropped his new video featuring all the Berlin homeys and some really cool guests from NYC & L.A.
Press play and watch the likes of Tyler Blue Golden, Anton Jaeger, Steffen Grap, Jun Kummer, and some new up and comers now.
Herzlich Willkommen to the video that goes with PLACE YOUR FLAG a special publication of Place Skateboard Culture (in finer shops now). This project is special, not only because it deviates from our “regular” numbered editions in size, because it has animation or the number of pages but because somebody proposed it to us.
You see, normally our we come up with the ideas but this time the credit for the “Startschuss” has to go to Moritz Alte. Moritz or Mo came to us because he felt we needed to do something that included Vans team rider, Julian Ruhe.
“He felt we needed to do something that included Vans team rider, Julian Ruhe.”
After a short pitch, he presented us with a plan, which we then together finetuned into the thing you hold today. A series of papers with ink on it about young people, leaving their “Heimat” and finding their place in Berlin.
It all sounds great, skating in Berlin, following 4 people and a dog as they find their place in their new surroundings but the thing is that Mo proposed to do all this during the winter and early spring months. Puffy jackets, low light, grey skies, and snowy Berlin, not sunny, hip, drinking beer and hanging out until 23:00 at a Späti Berlin.
Moritz proposed a young crew consisting of Steffen Grap, 21 (photographer), Peter Buikema, 23 (filmer) and himself, 22 as (an overseer and writer) we liked the idea but felt we needed something more so we added a Brittish ex-pat Jack Taylor, (26) to do a part of the graphic work.
The question we had was: “Is a 22-year-old ready to do the heavy lifting it takes to make a print issue work?” Well the results speak for themselves don’t they, it took some time, it took a lot of energy but it came out great, different and that was what we were looking for. because Berlin can be a lot of things but in the cold it is mostly a beast of burden, whereas in summer it can feel like a balloon, lifting you up. Working the beast, might not be easy but it can be rewarding. There are clear benefits like the lack of tourist people around, fewer skaters at the more famous spots and fewer distractions all around by open airs, protests, and kick-outs because winter is mostly about staying in.
“Is a 22-year-old ready to do the heavy lifting it takes to make a special issue work?”
To wrap it up, a lot of people talk a good game about moving to Berlin but you haven’t truly been here unless you have been through a winter so look at what we together created and make up your mind firmly if you really want to Place your flag in Berlin soil.
Special thanks go out to Vans “OFF THE WALL” for supporting this project.
Editorial lifted and adapted from the print issue of the new PLACE YOUR FLAG issue of Place Magazine. Text by Roland Hoogwater.
PUNK! That is what Mobina and Melika are. why, you might ask? Well, first of all, they are DIY people. Coming to Germany together with their whole family and finding a new way in a country, a society & a city that bares at best small resemblances to where you were born. That said, they took on that challenge and are well on their way of knocking it out of the park. All while staying humble but not shy and they are certainly not shy! HIGH ENERGY, that is what they bring, jokes for days, a lust for life that in all honesty, we haven’t seen that often. Mobina (18) is a wild child, dancing at parties, skating with the pros, finding out about all that Berlin has to offer while still maintaining a serious attitude to her education. Melika (15) is a bit more relaxed, strong-willed on the board, not afraid to take a slam or even go back to get what she feels she can land. All while putting great value into people treating each other with kindness and respect, she doesn’t suffer fools lightly either and will let her opinion be known. At the same time, they both like to pull pranks on one another, pretend like they hate each other saying things like “You make me want to vomit!”. But in all honesty, it is a game and they are playing the game well and have fun doing it together!
Text by Roland Hoogwater / Photography by Tina Willim.
We first met Melika Nazari one and a half years ago at Heidelberger skatepark in Berlin, a random skatepark to be at, if you are a young upstarting skater in the German capital. The transitions are steep, the ledge and the flatbar are pretty high & the flat ground is not the most fun but Melika found her way.
We all skated for about an hour after which our crew sat down, immediately Melika introduced herself and started asking questions:
“Who are you? What are your names? Where are you from? Do you skate here often? What are your IG handles?”
Melika Nazari.
Needless to say, we where a bit overwhelmed but at the same time she was nice to us and obviously so interested in skateboarding that we obliged her and she made a real impression on us. It was only when we fired some questions back at her that we found out she wasn’t German, she was a refugee from Afghanistan. That fact almost seemed unreal to us because she was fluent in German (no real accent) and dressed like a skater no shyness either, it just showed us not to judge a book by its cover.
I met Melika a couple more times and each time she showed a lot of improvement, she had found a new home at the better-suited skatepark DOG SHIT SPOT. And that is where they really became a part of the Berlin skate scene. People have opened their arms and welcomed them in, helping them with boards, shoes and all the little things so that they could continue to skate.
Fast forward to November the 10th, at the Nike SB Shelter in Berlin to be exact. That Sunday we first saw the girls in their natural form… together. It was at the Skate For More Session that was part of the then-new Just Do It Campaign of which both sisters were a big part. That day hosted best tricks, a race, a potential to vote for a new Bowl section but most of all they stood out by co-hosting the workshops, investing their energy into giving back to new often young skaters from all walks of life.
Question:
How does a person that flees Afghanistan via Iran ending up in Berlin find skateboarding? Drop-In that is how! DROP-IN is a foundation that hosts projects for Refugees and as the founder Joest Schmidt explained uses sporting activities to engage in education and integration of new-comers into German society. Mobina & Melika entered a summer program that helped teach German, showed them the city and introduced them to their first love Skateboarding.
They were hooked from day one, we offered other sporting activities but they were only interested in one thing. If we would go swimming they would ask if they could go skate instead.
Joest Schmidt, Drop-In Founder.
Joest being a skateboarder himself obviously obliged them and so their journey began. Their German language skills developed at least as fast as their skating did, that is in part due to the fact that Drop-In’s courses involve mixing local Berlin kids in with the Refugees creating the necessity for both to find a way to get out of their comfort zone and talk to each other.
“That and the fact that we where hanging out at the skatepark a lot, really helped us learn German fast! We had to try and talk on a daily basis we couldn’t stay in our own language bubble.” Melika tells us.
Now within three years, they don’t only still attend skate classes, they are able to host them and teach new people, in a sense closing the circle that Drop-In created.
Imagine this, they came to Germany 3 years ago, found a new hobby, sport, art… whatever you want to call skateboarding and within 2 years they were not only fluent in German but also good enough at skating that they could stand in front of a group of native speakers and teach them their new hobby, their new lifestyle.
Joest Schmidt, Drop-In Founder.
As I said in the intro they are PUNK, they might not dress like PUNKS did in the ’80s but they are “Do It Yourself” people taking their own route and not following the mold that other refugees, skaters or teens have followed in the past. For a lot of girls with Muslim backgrounds, a lot of activity can be forbidden depending on the strictness of their religion. Riding a bike is one of those activities but skateboarding is so new that it is not Haram so it can be practiced freely. And even though skateboarding is an activity that you perform alone it is something that you do together with your friends, culture, heritage, age, ethnicity all fall to the side the only thing that counts is “are you a real skater?” and if you can fulfill that requirement you can hang.
So to close it off, this is, of course, a story about two young women who through hard work and having an open attitude managed to find their way into Berlin. But more than that it is a story about skateboarding, social work and that special mix that can help people from all walks of life.
First of all, we want to give a big thanks to Vans for supporting us and assisting in making the project happen. Secondly, thanks to Heiners for being a surefire location where we all feel welcome enough to be ourselves. And lastly, thank you to all the protagonists for not only putting your energy towards the project but also for shooting the recap to your own party. Cheers!
Photos by Julian Ruhe, Moritz Alte, Kalle Wiehn & Valle Cafuk.
June the 21st has many names “Midsummer Night”, the longest day of the year or “Go Skateboarding day 2019”.
This year Berlin was the city, MBU the location and Vans & Radio skateboards the supporting brands but most importantly Valentin Cafuk was the MVP!
Valle told us the day before, “Either I am going home with a lot of cash or I am going home hurt but either way, I am putting it on the line!” and he did just that. The next day though, he spent it all on art supplies…
So now since GSD is over and the sun on the longest day has set. It is all downhill from here but at least we can relive the moment with this video!
We would like to thank both Vans & Radio Skateboards for their support and we will see you all next year. Let’s hope that these obstacles will stay at MBU until then!
Design is often based on other design, how many Ferrari shaped bedsheets or My Little Pony shaped birthday cakes have we not seen in our life?
So when Nike remastered the Janoski for its 10-year anniversary they also looked outside, they probably looked at animals, the sky, cement patterns, but in the end, I believe they simply looked out of their Beaverton office window onto the parking lot and there they found the answer sitting in the swooshes own parking lot.
(disclaimer: this might not be factual, they might have just found pictures of the car on the internet)
Photos by Danny Sommerfeld.
Text by Roland Hoogwater.
The story continues below…
The Volkswagen Polo “Harlekin’s” story connects to the Janoski in multiple ways. It was in 1994 that the German company wanted to draw attention to their newly-updated Polo model but the problem they had to solve was:
“How do we get people to look at the newness?”.
The answer came in all colors! They devised a special showroom model of the new 6N, this model would breathe NEW! But this model was only meant to show off in the showroom it wasn’t available to the public… Well a couple of the showroom models actually did get sold afterwards and those cars began to create “word of mouth” on the streets and when the streets are talking the people at VW were listening.
1995 swings around and featured in the catalog is the now legendary VW 6N Harlekin as demanded by the public and in 2019 a similar story can be told about Nike SB’s Janoski shoe. Like the Polo, it looks similar but it is not quite the same, from little leather linings to the tape on the sole, everything has been tweaked for ’19 and that is where the two stories meet.
The story concludes below…
Fast forward to the 10th of May, Denny Pham, Jan Henrik Kongstein, Peter Buikema, Leo Preisinger and myself find ourselves driving around Berlin in a VW Harlekin wearing the Janoski Harlekin, we are putting both through the wringer for the next 2,5 days.
We didn’t do that alone, of course, we invited some Nike riders and Berlin locals to test it with us along the way.
To be honest the car has had a bit more mileage than the shoe but both held up quite well during our time even though Leo had his doubts about the car.
After the 2.5 days we concluded a couple of things:
Thank you for the support Skatedeluxe and Nike SB <3