Tag: Place 56

“Carter it is fucking Friday the fucking 10th!” As we sat down to talk about our favorite Dill moments, we realized everyone seemed to love the intro from Alien Workshops “Photosyntheses” when Jason get’s a call from Chris Carter to put the heat on him to get footage because they wanted him to have “last part”. The rest is history. The Dill we met in Paris is a different one. You can almost say he seems to be grown up…in a very Dill way of course. This man is a good-looking, very polite man and one of the most influential figures in skateboarding worldwide. Jason Dill is leading the cool guys and everyone wants a piece of him. Here is a talk with the one and only Dill-Man about République, Bill and Paris in general.

by Benjamin Deberdt

There have been rumours going around Supreme was interested in opening a shop in Berlin. Is this ever going to happen?

That might just be a rumour… about a year, year and a half ago, I spent a little over a month there. I love Berlin. The Paris store is now open. We had a great opening and I hope people are happy to have us.

Who is the woman in the photo-print from your last FA Board?

The one and only Michelle. Passport photo, 2008. First loves last.

Does Chloë Sevigny have her board set up at home?

Yeah, she keeps it right by her front door so all her friends see it when they walk in… ha, no, I dunno. I know she has one or two of her decks…yeah Chloë, you’re the best!

Strobeck seems to be in love with this one Kid (Leo) from République. What is so different about the French youth culture?

Bill has a very large set of eyes. He sees little things that maybe most people don’t take the time to see. Actually what Bill does is meet a kid like Leo at République and tell him “hey, you’re pretty cool”. That goes a long way when you are 14 and an adult says “keep doing your thing”. He told me all about Little Leo– this epic kid I’m gonna meet at République. I met Leo and he said “Hey man” in a way that almost mimicked an American twang, and sure enough he was as cool as Bill said. We took him skating with us a couple times outside of République. Him, JB, and another kid from here, they’d just come skate if it was a mellow day. They say the funniest shit… Little Leo is just funny. He’s a good kid… Nos, the little guy at the beginning of the Pussy Gangster video is an epic epic kid. Liam and his brother Tom, August, all of the République kids. I just like how these kids live and skate and that they all have certain things that make them particularly special.

And what’s so good about République?

Anywhere there is one collective spot where people can skate near the center of any city is a good thing…and it’s Karl’s spot motherfucker. [Karl Salah]

So, could you see yourself living in Paris? Do you speak the language?

You know I don’t speak French, silly. Live here? Shit I’ve been here a month, I’ve got over two more weeks to go… I think I could live here though. I’m starting to get beat over the head with ultra modern Americanism at home: the pending elections, daily shootings in public, fuckin’ assholes all over the television and in the news, bad looks, freaked out faces… show me a populist city that’s not mega freaked out these days. I really like it here, although since I speak so little French, I get discriminated against for being American and not speaking French almost everyday here. I completely welcome it. It’s my fault for not knowing how to order a meal in the native tongue…only an American asks for extra ice. Hate me… Comme si comme ça!

How is it going out skating with Kevin Rodrigues?

Oh man Kevin is cool. I like Kev. Who doesn’t? He’s just doing his thing hard and running his own deal, I really like what he does on a board. I have had a really great time skating with him, Roman, Greg, Vincent, Manuel, Val, Alex, all them dudes have so much fun when we are out skating…it’s hard to explain and I kinda hate the word “fun”, but these motherfuckers have FUN…them Bloby’s. It was quite a filming trip here to Paris watching the FA kids from Sage to Nak to Tyshawn and KB skate with them. Made me feel old but happy for skateboarding’s future.

Who is your favourite European skater at the moment and why?

I’m gonna have to still pin that one on Lucas Puig…cause he’s really just too ill. He does it again and again. His tricks are like bullets or some shit.

The best thing about having a Supreme shop in Paris?

Lots of things. My old buddy Samir [Krim] being so heavily involved and his history alone when it comes to this city. Also just what will come of it being available to the younger dudes in the years to come…I think people will be surprised how it will develop over time. I’d like to thank Samir for telling me to come back out and film…thanks bud.

You look very healthy lately. Is it the French food? Haha.

I do? Ha, thanks, ummmm… I eat at Chez Justine a lot…shout out to Jon Monie (French skater and owner of the bar).

Benjamin Debert is a mainstay in the contemporary European skate scene. He runs Live Skateboard Media, a website that provides us with our daily doses of quality skate content. Scrolling through the site you catch a glimpse of Benjamin’s taste. Live is a platform for him to show that taste, albeit through his own work or through collaborative efforts.

We ventured out to meet him at his house, and once we entered the Parisian apartment, we started off doing the usual things: drinking coffee and tea, talking about the industry, and of course exchanging obscure skate nerd knowledge. What we did not expect was to walk into a museum of sorts. His living room walls are decorated with gifts – both attached to and positioned against the walls. His shelves are filled with books about photography, art, skateboarding or all three combined. His study is full of old VHS tapes and scanned and unscanned negatives are lying around dispersed throughout the space. What struck me the most was an old photo showing a group of NYC skaters, “that photo was shot on my first trip to New York in 1995.” Benjamin tells us, “Is that Quim Cardona?” I ask “Yeah! Did you know everybody used to call him Mini Gonz?” The truth is that we did not know.

But Benjamin was there for all that. He was there in the heydays of the Brooklyn banks and he was there when skateboarding landed in France. He started Sugar magazine and then he moved to London to work on Kingpin magazine. What I am getting at is that he has been around the block a couple of times and whereas most people get jaded he has not lost his appetite. He knows the up-and-comers and the legends personally, and if you are in Paris working on a project – like we were – he can be a helping hand when it comes to spots, people and stories. Even though he is not as mobile as he used to be, he is still out there in the streets with the same Nikon FM2 – the one that he bought on that first trip to New York back in ’95. Speaking about his FM2, he says he still exclusively shoots on film. We all know film is not getting cheaper but it is arguably still the best way to capture light. Even though Benjamin has said he is just too lazy to go digital, we have a hard time believing that. Benjamin is somebody who is vocal about his opinions and he likes the direction in which the Paris skate scene is moving: Away from the one crew one spot identity of the past and towards an always changing group of people that explores the Paris city streets in their own way.

by Roland Hoogwater
Photo: Danny Sommerfeld

For a lot of you, FUTUR might be an unknown brand, but who can blame them? The brand does not have a Snapchat, Instagram or a Facebook account and their website hasn’t been updated in a while. At first glance, it’s kind of special in this day and age that you can see products in your stream before you see it on the street or in the shops, but that is just what Dutch-born Felix Schaper and Parisian Ben Frédonie don’t want! They want you to discover their brand via a magazine, a friend or a shop, “This is the first time we are doing an article in a magazine.” Felix tells me. Rather than making waves, the focus lies in creating a high-quality product that can survive without the hype and can compete with other high-end brands. Like trends, hype can die down quickly. Instead, the brand moves at its own pace and in its own way. It is always more exciting to “find” something than to have it shoved in your face. That search makes the people that know FUTUR come back for more every time they have a new drop.

By Roland Hoogwater

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How did FUTUR as a brand come about and what was the initial idea behind starting the brand?

Ben and I do the brand. The idea was to start a premium apparel line and do fun projects. A lot of ‘fashion apparel brands’ use skateboarding for image purposes but in fact, they don’t give anything back to the community. Ideally, we wanted to switch things around with FUTUR. We want to sell good quality premium products that can compete with other high-end brands and still be able to take our crew on skate trips.

As far as I can tell from your new lookbook, you produce most of the products in Europe and a small portion in the US. How important is manufacturing in first world regions for you as a brand?

We produce all of our textiles in Europe. The caps are done in the US. This is purely a quality related decision. The factory where the clothes are made is very important to a brand and we’ve been very lucky to find the right one. We are not against producing outside of Europe but it is easier and faster to work close to home.

Who decides the direction the brand goes in both visually and conceptually?

It is just me and Ben. We make all the decisions regarding the quality of products and the direction of the brand. We were both working for other brands before FUTUR and you always have to deal with a lot of bureaucracy when it comes to making decisions. Now we are on our own calling all the shots.

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Do you make your own designs or do you work with other designers?

Again it’s just us. Ben is more skilled than me at finding new fits and lining out the product. I’m more involved in overseeing the graphic design side of things: the colors of the collection, the layouts and so on. For now, we haven’t had the means to hire another person but ideally we would like to find someone who can help us out with the production side of things.

There are recurring designs every season. What those graphics do mean to the brand?

We’ve got some graphic parts like the capital F and the No.1 woman graphic that reoccur in almost every collection. It’s kind of like a logo I guess. Every collection we work on starts with the colors. We pick a limited amount of colors and build the collection from there. It’s a good way to built a coherent collection that looks good on the rack. We do not do too many color options on a piece. Maybe two max depending on the styles.

How does the connection between fashion and skateboarding function? (It seems like a lot of people are inspired by the skateboard lifestyle and vice versa)

Like I said before, skateboarding is very visible nowadays. It used to be more tight-knit and now it’s way more reachable for everybody through the Internet. It can function but sometimes the fashion industry comes up with some pretty boneheaded shit. But so do skaters (laughs).

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Why did you decide to create a FUTUR skate team and how important is it to the brand?

It’s very important to us. Almost every penny we earn goes into our trips (laughs). Guys like Santiago (Sasson) and Juan (Saavedra) have basically been there since day one. Juan was having beers with us when we came up with the name months before we started the brand in 2014. So, the connection is quite tight. We’ve done most of the lookbooks with them and ask for their opinion regarding the products. We try to involve them as much as possible.

How do the Timeline edits connect to the rest of the brand? Because it feels like way more than just a skate edit in which the team skates in the clothes.

When it comes to the Timeline videos we usually work with Yoan (Taillandier) so obviously he has a lot of input in the way the videos look and feel. We try to go on trips as often as possible. We really like the format of +/- 5 minute videos. It is not like a full video. We see it more as the result of a tour and the footage from that tour is what we try to edit in a nice way. If the timing is right, we give the crew some new samples to skate in and ideally we try to drop the clips around the time the new collection ships out. But if it doesn’t fit or we feel there isn’t enough footy we don’t force it. Apart from the team, we also like having guests and friends in our clips.

Coming back to the direction of the brand, what are some of the future goals for the company and in what way do you feel the company has evolved from the first season up until this one (season 3)?

Season 0 consisted of like 10 pieces. Six drops later, we are at Season 03 consisting of close to 60 pieces. At the same time, the number of shops that carry FUTUR has grown each season. For the future, we’d ideally like to have a real office to start with 🙂 possibly in combination with a photo studio that we and our friends can use and continue to go on cool trips and develop some more technical products. Maybe we might even open an Instagram account (laughs).

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Motivation.

A group of about six guys showed up whenever we met to go and skate around the city and each one had a “down for whatever” face. Although we were strangers to them, they trusted us from the very beginning. We quickly forgot about the language barrier. It felt like we didn’t even have to speak a language, and if we did, we definitely spoke the same one. We felt more than welcomed the whole time. I kept on wondering who might have started spreading the rumours that French people can be assholes…well, except for that one time outside of a bar when a very charming young lady asked for a cigarette and everyone started screaming at her for fun like she just won the Champions League finals. Our time in Paris was really about the flow of cruising; meeting up, having coffee and finding the adventure right in front of us. Things are just going to happen if you wait long enough and we had time to spare. Meet a new generation of young Parisian skateboarders:

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Communication.

The French people have a well-known love for their own language and talking in general. Speaking French is like driving a red 70’s Mercedes-Benz 280 SL Cabriolet into the sunset while on the way to the ocean…at least for German people. Our neighbours are aware of their beautiful language, and confidence was always helpful in most situations. As we took the Metro every now and then, we noticed something very different about how they announce the upcoming stop. The first announcement is much more kindly than the second one. They say it sounds more aggressive to people that are from out of town or people who had a second glass of champagne. It makes you feel like you’ve fucked up in a way, and even reminds you of situations in your childhood like, for example, when your mom told you to immediately step off the see-saw. It’s an interesting form of communication, and I kept on thinking about the moment they recorded the two different emphases of the very same word. Wonderful!

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The Best Pavement in the World.

Look at the way the French people skate. A lot of them use their body language way more often than others do. They can express themselves in a unique way. This probably comes from their self-assurance. While others try to be someone else, the people we have met are just themselves, but also very special. Pierre Subra, Edouard Depaz, Santiago Sasson, Joseph Biais, Franz and Clement Bossard were just a few of the guys we got to go skating with. They say the city has the best pavement in the world and they’re right, at least if you compare it to the rather rough pavement in Berlin. I guess there are a few cities in the world which could actually claim that title too, but none of them might be as beautiful and vast as the French capital. One can practically skate from A to B doing tricks and going fast. There are a lot of concrete pavements and those are definitely the best. So, if you happen to meet a crew during your next stay in Paris, make sure to skate a lot. They cruise their way through the Arrondissements and stop whenever, wherever for whatever reason – just for the fun of it. If skateboarding had only one single crucial element, it would probably be good pavement.

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Mood.

Mood is absolutely everything. One single person can influence a whole crew of people, in good or bad directions. We felt weightless while hanging with the Parisians. After only a day it felt like we had known each other for a lot longer than just a couple hours. While in other cities you might get a cold shoulder, there are some very good people in this city with the ability to create the harmony we loved to experience. It is almost like the city gives an extra portion of strength, a smile, and on the other hand, exhaustion when you finally call it a day.
Well, it is more like the city itself calls it a day for you, and it can call you out!

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Time.

There is no such thing as time. It is either bright outside or dark. It is either dry streets or soaking wet ones. As time went by while preparing for the day in our AirBNB apartment, (located in the third Arrondissements) we noticed that the people did actually wait for each other and every single person to show up, but waiting is definitely the wrong word for it. They had a special mentality about time management. If someone was late it felt like it didn’t really matter. Meanwhile, the crew was waiting but they weren’t sitting around doing nothing. Instead, they were either skating or occupying themselves with activities. With that calmness, it seemed as if there was nothing they were actually waiting for. This is probably the best way to not waste time and definitely healthier too. Your heart will thank you when you’re old.

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Fashion.

Isn’t it fantastic that we wake up, take a shower, get some breakfast and then can decide to dress up in a way we never have before? Tomorrow we can wear pink pants while yesterday we wore a suit. There are no rules for anybody at any time and don’t ever let anyone tell you differently. There are a lot of people who actually complain about fashion a lot. In Paris, there are probably people who feel the same though we didn’t find them during our stay. But there are people who are trying to set up rules for fashion… These people are afraid of otherness, afraid of losing control, and afraid of the new. This is weak! Do it your own way and make sure to feel comfortable before you leave the house because that is what people notice. Parisians feel comfortable with what they do and they have a certain charisma that we can learn from. We really wish that all of you guys could, just once, experience your own time in the wonderful city called Paris. We want to thank all the people we met in Paris very much and all the people that helped us during our stay. Have you seen Midnight in Paris yet? You’ll love Paris in the rain so go for a walk. “Walking by the Seine at midnight, Gil bumps into Gabrielle and, after it starts to rain, he offers to walk her home and they learn that they share the love of Paris in the rain.”

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by Daniel Pannemann
Photos: Danny Sommerfeld

Although Thomas Busuttil is a very versatile person, he considers himself first and foremost, a skateboarder. The reason might be that for him, everything he does is somehow linked to this lifestyle.
His passion for photography started about eighteen years ago when he was living in a small city called Beauvais, which is located 80 kilometers north of Paris. He got to know Yoann Kim there who was also a skateboarder and living on the same street as Thomas. Today Yoann is one of Paris’ most well-known skateboard photographers.
While in the beginning, Thomas preferred to skate in front of Yoann’s camera, over time he became interested in shooting photos himself. Through watching and following Yoann’s photography work, Thomas was influenced to start photographing too. He got to know the different formats and all the materials being used. Thomas dove into the world of infinite possibilities behind shooting the “right” photo. Today, Thomas is the man behind the De PARIS Yearbooks, which are published annually and depict the lives of skateboarders in different cities, not only Paris. As Thomas is currently working on the next edition about the French capital, we thought it would be the right time to do a short interview about his upcoming project. 

by Paul Röhrs
Photos: Jocelyn Tam

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Thomas, I know you do a lot of lifestyle and street photography, but do you shoot skateboard photos, too?

No, not really. Sometimes I do, but actually, I don’t want to pretend like I would be better than other skate photographers here in Paris because they already do an amazing job and invest a lot of time in it. When I shoot skateboarding I like to not be recognized as “the” photographer. You know? I like to participate more as a guest and do my own thing. I don’t really want to show myself up.

You were born in Nice and then lived some time in Beauvais. What changed for you when you came to Paris?

That’s right. My first six years in skateboarding were in a rather small city where we did not really have any spots. That, of course, changed with moving to Paris. I also met a lot of guys from the scene here. The Parisians are very open-minded which is totally different to the smaller cities I was living in before.

Do you have any other professions besides skateboarding and photography?

Actually, I have been doing everything from being a skate-teacher to working for magazines, being a photo assistant or a film director, to being an actor in commercials.

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Would you say that with the De PARIS Yearbooks you found the thing that you actually wanted to do?

I was waiting for a long time to find a project that fits me and that demands my total dedication. I always wanted to do something around media, image, skateboarding and photography. So I started the company.

How did the whole thing about the De PARIS Yearbooks come about and what is the idea behind it?

It began after I finished working for à propos and Soma. I just wanted to work with the skateboard media image and I really liked publishing but at the same time, I really wanted to do it with my own ideas. I found this concept of the De PARIS Yearbook very convenient because it can be applied to every city, every year and also to different subject matter. So, we do skateboarding now, but maybe one day it would be also interesting to make it about other topics like the environment, for example. I also wanted to create something relevant, something that could help the city, something that won’t be absorbed too fast and after one month it’s done. To me, it is of great importance that it is a book, which depicts a given city at a certain time.

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Have you been inspired by other photo-books?

I really did like the connection with Anzeige Berlin and à propos, which both have kind of the same format. They’re doing their own thing and I think they both also transport a similar feeling, but I wanted to give this feeling a larger space, which is why I decided to do a whole book instead of a magazine.

Putting together such a work is very complex, at least in my mind. Tell me something about the process. How long does it take, what are typical problems you have to cope with and what keeps you motivated?

It’s a good question. I think I am doing this because I believe in it. I am really hard on what I am doing and that makes it even harder to really like something I created in the end. I always try to be as honest as possible with myself and if I really like the work I did I feel… well, “proud” might be the wrong word, but I probably feel satisfied about the progress because I always want to improve myself every time. It is a really personal work. I do not want to express myself with it but it is something coming from inside me, something that I want to share. It takes me almost a year to finish a book. Sometimes it can be stressful finding photographers, doing sessions, trying to help build DIY spots because it is not enough to just put the photos together–you also have to be outside and be part of this life and the city to get an authentic feeling for what you are going to do. We recently went to San Francisco and we really had a good time with the guys over there. I think sometimes you do not even need to spend three or more months in a city to get a feeling from it. If you are lucky and connect with the right people at the right time, you can share many things in like one or two days already.

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As you have to choose from hundreds or maybe thousands of photos by an innumerable number of different photographers, what does a photo need to have so it makes its way into the book? What inspires you the most?

A photo has to tell a story and transport a feeling. I also don’t need too many pictures of the same spot. It is more about showing what kind of possibilities a city has as a whole, how we play with the given environment and how is the connection to the people around us. To give an example: let’s say we have a scene of an empty boulevard which normally is never empty but fully crowded when you want to skate there, but it is the right timing and that is what makes it interesting. So, it is more about someone who is passing by, or a hot girl is watching someone skate. You know? It is about the little stuff going on around a scene. This is what creates an authentic feeling.

As this is not going to be the first yearbook that is concerned with skateboarding from Paris, is there something new to it in regards to the concept or the layout?

It is actually the same concept as last year but we do have a new art director. This year it is Nicolas Malinowksy, who was working for Ill Studio and Chill Skateboard Magazine before. As everyone contributing to this project is coming from the skateboard scene, he also does. He is a great guy doing a really good job and has lots of nice ideas. We try to have a similar layout as last time but it still will be a little different. We also have new portfolios by new photographers we invited such as Marcel Veldman, Kab, Kevin Metallier, Vincent Coupeau, and Pierre Prospero. We also tried to make a full video that is not only about Paris but also about London and Berlin.

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From your perspective, what does a finished yearbook mean to you personally? What feelings do you have when the job is done?

I have bad feelings (laughs). I only see the mistakes I made. When the first copies arrive I just see all the defects and cannot even enjoy it a bit. That is really tough. But a friend of mine told me something that really fits this situation: “You don’t get high from your own supply.” Although I cannot immediately enjoy the feeling of having something done after another week passed I could take a step back from it and then I am kind of like okay with it. I come to the conclusion that it still is a good work, that we have always tried our best and most importantly, did everything the way we wanted. What makes me really happy is when people take some time to look through the book and precisely concern themselves with it. Furthermore, we want to do something for skateboarders but also for people that are probably just interested in the culture. For me, it is a success when let’s say a skateboard kid shows the book to his or her parents and in a way they could get an understanding of the culture and enjoy the book too. I can tell a small anecdote related to that: We have a very conservative French newspaper called Le Figaro, which actually never would talk about street photography or skateboarding or anything like that and they asked me if we could do a feature in their newspaper. This would never have been thinkable before but if you start to share your thoughts with other people they might start to understand.

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