Tag: skateboarding

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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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

On the 21st of June we as skateboarders will go out to celebrate our day, Go Skateboarding Day! Skateboarders all over the world will celebrate this day and skate the streets together, Berlin will be no different.

Together with Nike SB, Civilist and Titus Berlin we are gathering all skaters in Berlin and it’s surrounding areas, we invite you to push through the streets with us. As a bonus for every skater that shows up, Nike will donate 15 Euro towards a new local Skate-Spot-Project support your local scene (donation receipt included).

We will start at 14:00 at Civilist, where you will receive a Nike SB GSD 2015 Goodie Bag. Supplies are limited so get there while you can and sign up here.

After that we’ll be pushing through the streets! The route will take us through Alexanderplatz to Titus Berlin where we will make a stop and have a Stuff for Tricks session on a curb. After that we will push on to the main stop of the day, the Warschauer Strasse where PLACE will host Battle At The Bänke 5. There will be both a best line and best trick session with a total prize purse of 1000 Euro Cash! At the end of the day we will introduce the new Spot-Project, this event will take place at the spot itself and after that it’s every skater for himself!

See what went down last year:

Battle At The Bänke 2014 from PLACE Magazine on Vimeo.

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See you on Go Skateboarding Day!
#skateeverydamnday

This summer, PLACE and adidas Skateboarding proudly present the 3Stripes3Tricks video contest. It’s all about dynamic skateboarding – easy but stylish, fast and light-footed. In order to enter, all you need to do is film three tricks – either in a line or three single tricks in a clip – and upload the video to your Instagram account, using #3stripes3tricks while also tagging @placemag and @adidasskateboarding. That’s it – all entries get the chance to win amazing prices. We’ll choose three winners and repost your videos on the PLACE Instagram channel.

And there’s more: the winning footage will also take part in the big final edit featuring the German adidas team with riders like Sandro Trovato, Lem Villemin, Patrick Zentgraf, Kai Hillebrand, and more. Last but not least, all three winners will receive a big adidas surprise stuff package delivered straight to their front door. Whether it’s stripes or tricks – three is the magic number and we hope to see your footage soon. Good luck!

Part 1: Sandro Trovato

Vans announces the official debut of the Geoff Rowley Signature Collection, hitting shelves worldwide June, 13th. On Vans since 1999, pro skateboarder Geoff Rowley is influential in modern street skating for pioneering big technical tricks and a go-for-broke style, a true legend whose impact on the culture endures. Not surprisingly, Geoff demands the same qualities of style and durability from his gear.

Geoff Rowley on his new collection:

Purpose-built for skateboarding in construction and design, Geoff Rowleys Collection reflects his energetic lifestyle by infusing workwear and military-spec detailing to emphasize classic styles. Inspired by the original Vans Era, the all-new Vans [ROWLEY] SOLOS transform the legendary Vans silhouette to create a revolutionary model that performs even better.

Geoff’s first Vans apparel collection includes chinos, a cotton canvas workwear shirt and jacket, a 6-panel cotton snapback cap and four tees – see the whole collection here:

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GR Workshirt

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I was drunk last night. Drunk and high. It wasn’t too crazy, but enough to make me talk shit about my boss to one of his closest assistants. I’m sure this won’t cause any trouble for me, but it’ll definitely make me feel a bit uncomfortable at the lunch meeting later on today. A wall of six screens, various desks, neatly arranged in a room the size of a swimming pool. 12 people in dark suits competing over today’s biggest deal. I’m here to put them in their places.

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I like my job, I really do. I couldn’t see myself working anywhere else right now. I work as a banking administrator in the Corporate Finance Department of a big bank that’s based in Frankfurt am Main. Born and raised in London, I’ve always been able to hold my liquor. My siblings and I were born drinking, my whole family drinks. What is a hangover anyways? Isn’t that a city in Germany? I usually wake up early, I need to be in the office at around 7 a.m.

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The first meeting is on at 7:15 and the last one usually around 8:30-ish. That’s normal. I’m not complaining. I love it! If I could, I’d probably sleep less and drink more. Having a successful career is a family tradition. When I look out of my office window I can see the “Silberturm”, also known as the DB Tower, and its marble entrance plaza. Some days you can watch the most fucked up things happening down there. Pure entertainment!

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Although I have a pretty terrific car collection back home in London, I never really use my own car out here. Frankfurt is small, and I can take a cab in less than a minute if I really need a ride. Since my new apartment is only a block away from my office, I often take a quick walk instead. Probably the only time I actually spend outside. I’m sure I’d catch the flu if someone threw me into the woods, or even just close to a tree. I rather smoke a cigarette; they do me better anyway. Life is what you make of it, right? Nature only makes me nervous.

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As a kid you have a different view on things; I always thought of myself as someone who goes on a journey to discover the planet. I wanted to plant a seed on every single mainland, help people, feed those in need, maybe become a doctor or a professor, just to do some good. That was before I went to college and everything. Before girls, money, drugs. I was wet behind the ears, a real virgin. So after I discovered my strengths, I slowly started to forget about all that good-will bull crap and became a businessman. I do business!

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So, today I arrived pretty late. It must have been around 7:14. That means not much time to actually prepare a meeting, although that’s something I usually don’t do anyways. My job is to chair the meeting and talk about yesterday’s numbers and today’s forecasts. My secretary is this 23-year-old German girl, born and raised in Frankfurt. Married to a policeman. No kids. So, why not? I mean I would, and maybe I will at one point.

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I saw her once, at an office party, making out with the younger brother of my boss. They left the room for a good 15 minutes. Whatever it takes, I always try to get what I want. Since I was a young kid, I walked my own path in my very own shoes. My father was a cold-hearted man and I taught myself how to take a shit on the toilet, ride a bike and smoke a cigarette. My mum died when I was two years old and I never really learned to love my stepmother. What I’m trying to say is, I’m good.

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Sometimes, when I look out of the window, down to the DB entrance plaza I see grown men on skateboards. Guys around 20, 25. Playing with a toy for kids, in the streets. I always wonder what their parents might think about that. Do they still have a parent that tells them to get a life? Skater-punks, prostitutes, drug-dealers, all kinds of crooked people and in between you have us: good-looking men in suits. What a contrast! Like there is only black and white. Rich and poor. Clean and dirty. Day and night. Call me whatever you want, but this is pretty fucked up and I kind of like it. I feel like I belong in a situation like that. I was born for this. Give me more of that.

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This meeting is useless. Every single banker in this room is looking at me as if they really care, as if they like what I’m saying… they want to know, they want to get a raise and I am the one in charge. Bullshit. Don’t look at me like that and stop kissing my ass. You pricks don’t know shit. My mood is on a low. This might be the closest I ever get to a “hangover”.

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All these thoughts come to mind as I sit here and I talk about millions of Euros. It’s easy for me. After ten years in the business and three years in a position like this, it’s a fucking breeze. God, how I love it. Actually, I do three things at once. 1: Talk about yesterday’s Indonesian stock market. 2: Make fun of my colleagues. 3: Picture my secretary butt naked while screaming at me – maybe that makes it even four. This place is like hell and I seem to be the devil.

Words: Daniel Pannemann
Photos: Danny Sommerfeld

Skaters: Valentin Cafuk, Jonas Hess, Alex Ullmann

Can you see that little man on the bottom of the photo, skating between two very modern tree houses? Yup, that’s made for skating and it’s in the middle of nowhere. A bunch of friends dared the step and created their very own world, somewhere in the state of Washington.

“In the Spring of 2014 a small group of close friends broke ground on a building project in Skamania County, Washington in the Columbia River Gorge. Their primary endeavor was a multi-platform tree house, but also included a skate bowl and a wood fired soaking tub as well. The crew came from all over the country and from a variety of backgrounds. Some were professional carpenters, others learned on the job, gaining experience along the way. The Cinder Cone is Foster Huntington’s short film that documents this year-long process of building his dream home with this community of tight knit friends.”

For more information and a purchasable book about the whole story check out THIS website.

Carhartt released “A Skateboarding Annual” these days and we can’t wait to get our hands on this beautiful piece of printed paper – looks great. Whoever said that print is dead was wrong. Obviously.

“A Skateboarding Annual” is our very own contribution to skateboarding, adding some diversity to an already rich panorama of magazines, blogs, books and other media. This publication was initially intended to include all of the projects that the Carhartt WIP skateboarding dept. worked on last year, but since there are always many aspects that remain unseen to the public, we thought they deserved some exposure of their own. Instead of listing and recycling what we had already done, we chose to further explore these projects. We had the time and the hindsight to approach them from other angles, to put together images that had never cohabited, to give more space and depth, to commission work and essentially approach the editorial exercise with a bit more freedom than usual.We hope you enjoy our last 12 months of pushing around!

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Available now in Carhartt WIP stores, selected retailers and online.

There’s always new people coming to the German capital. Some of them leave, some of them stay. Roland Hoogwater made his way from Groningen, The Netherlands, to Berlin and is definitely here to stay. Time for a short introduction…

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Roland, please give us some basic information about your person.
My full name is Roland Jacques Hoogwater and I’m 28 years young. I was born in the city of Groningen, The Netherlands, and I’ve lived there for about 28 years. I have been a skater and a skate nerd for about 15 years. I also have a background in the arts. My first skate video was [Toy Machine’s] Welcome to Hell.

When did you come to Berlin and what were the reasons?
I came to Berlin on my birthday, the 28th of January. The reasons for the move aren’t really straightforward. My girlfriend and I both finished art school in my old hometown and I was working at the skate shop, Stigmatic. I guess my girlfriend thought we needed something – a change of scenery, perhaps of rhythm – so out of the blue she said, “Let’s move to Berlin.” I replied in a positive manner and now we are here. It was very spontaneous and we really hadn’t planned anything, but we knew some people here and I thought it might be good for my creativity.  

What do you do for a living?
I’m living the artist dream, working in the Mall of Berlin as a stock boy. “Started from the bottom, now we here!” At the same time, I’m doing odd jobs for PLACE mag and I’m helping Carsten “Barney” Beneker with a project on which I am illustrating.

We heard about your T-shirt label, Jacques – what’s the story behind that?

It’s a project I started in the winter of 2014/2015. After I finished art school, I suddenly had the urge to make stuff with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Which was actually kind of stupid, because I should have started doing that while in art school, that would have made things so much easier. I wanted to make a book containing some of the artwork I had made, which is coming out soon under the title, Doe maar normaal dan doe je al gek genoeg (English: “Just act normal and you are acting crazy enough”). But at the same time, I had these ideas that just didn’t connect well with my other works of art. So I created a different outlet for those ideas, which became Jacques. The logo I use is a garbage bag, because I like to buy vintage clothes and turn them into one-off pieces. At the same time, all the stuff I make will either be in a second hand shop or in a garbage bag someday. And Jacques is my grandfather’s name, that has been passed on to me. At the moment I’m working on a couple of new pieces like shirts, hats, coats, and possibly some bags. I’m sewing things myself, and am hands-on with the screen printing. I try keep the quality of the product as high as possible and have the stuff be fair trade; some of the stuff we do is certified Earth Positive climate neutral. I have been getting a lot of support and good feedback on the products, so as far as that goes, I’m extremely grateful. It’s a wonderful feeling to have people wear your stuff, and as for the future, I am opening a Jacques Web store, and also hope to be in some stores by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!

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Who are your favorite people to skate with?
My all-time favorite person to skate with is probably my old roommate G-Dog (Gerben Scharft), but he recently quit skating and started boxing. Nowadays, the people I call to go skate with are Dr. Lensing, Danny Sommerfeld, Tjark Thielker, Nils Brauer, and Daniel Pannemann, who all play a part in making Berlin my new home while simultaneously making me feel like I suck at skating (laughs).

Photos: Danny Sommerfeld
Interview: Pille Pop

Looks like the new thing for this year is having skateboard events by the beachside. And guess what: we don’t mind that! Mille Grazie to Vans for the invitation to this year’s edition of the Vans Spring Classic. It’s the most popular mini ramp contest in Italy, not only showcasing some of the best transition skaters from Europe but also from the U.S.. The Anti Hero team showed up including Grant Taylor who definitely turned out to be the biggest name to annihilate this amazing and newly built ramp. Located in the beach town of Riccione, close to Rimini, the Spring Classic not only offered insanely great skateboarding, but also a lot nice entertainment surrounding the main event – from concerts, to parties, free beers, all the way to girls in blue dresses dancing like there’s no tomorrow. All in all, it was a weekend where it was easy to get a solid sunburn while watching mini ramp skating at it’s best while meeting awesome people. The Italians call it la dolce vita – and we want more!

Top 3:

1st – Aurelien Giraud (FR)
2nd – Alex Hallford (UK)
3rd – Ivan Federico (IT)

Final Video:

By Benni Markstein
BS Ollie Grant Taylor by Federico Romanello

More Recaps

A dark grey sky is looming overhead, and a mixture between rain and snow has been pouring down all day. Surprisingly, Patrick arrives on his cruiser board despite this total mess; what’s more, he’s smiling and seems to be in a very good mood. But then again, that’s just how he is, smiling and laughing all the time. Plus, what probably helps him stay positive even on a horrid day like this is the fact that he just returned from Bangkok, from a four-week trip that saw him skating with friends like Farid, Joscha, and Burny every single day.

Still in high spirits after this month-long Asian adventure, Patrick is something I’d like to call a “the sun made me do it” kind of guy. Prior to meeting him I even thought he was a hippie child, but he’s actually not. He grew up in a small town called Goslar, where he was able to choose between two indoor skateparks. That’s also where he learned everything about backside noseblunt slides.

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I’m a little bit surprised to find out that you’re actually not a hippie child, attending Waldorf school and growing up with laughing adults dancing around a campfire, singing songs and being just happy.
I grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of immigrants, and everyone had a different cultural background. I liked it because most of the time the people were open-minded and they didn’t judge you. Everybody had to find some way to make things work, to find an arrangement. I have always been on my own track and sometimes I got a “What’s this for a German kid?” thrown after me. Though actually I’m half Polish, but I was born in Germany. A lot of them didn’t really like my style but we used to hang out together anyway. They were more the Nike Shox and leather jacket types, and I was wearing baggy pants and skate shoes. It was okay.

How much would another company have to pay for you to join their team?
To me, it’s not about a price, it’s about that you get along with everybody in a good way, that you’re able to do lots of tours and that you can be in touch at any time. This is very important to me when it comes to riding for a company. At Titus, we’re all super down, that’s great. If another company made an offer, it’s not about the money. It’s rather the whole thing, the whole picture, you know?

There’s a football player named Patrick Rogalski and his current market value is 25.000 Euros. Would you change teams for 25K?
Ha-ha… no idea! But, for example, Louis Taubert got an offer by (German TV station) Pro 7 for a long-term documentary on him. He said that he’d never sell his soul for such crap, although they were willing to pay him a lot of money. That really impressed me and this is way more real than doing stupid shit for a few bucks.

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SW Kickflip

You changed your profile picture on Facebook four days ago and got 230 likes since then. How does that feel?
Feels fucking awesome, ha-ha… seems like 230 people like my photo. It’s just a confirmation that I did it right, don’t you think?

So it’s more about the right photo – and not because of your looks?
Dwag shot a good photo I guess! It’s just for the homies.

20.000 views on your last video part on YouTube. Are you satisfied?
Could always be better. But it’s better than having less that 20.000, isn’t it?

Someone in the comments section asked why you always seem to be so out of it. Are you?
How can anyone judge based on a video part?

What has changed since you turned pro for Titus?
Not much, just more hustle. I don’t work at the Titus Zoopreme store anymore so I have to make my money from skating. Or else I’d have to find another job.

So how much is it worth to be a pro then?
Personally it means a lot to me, it’s like a dream come true! When I was a kid I could never understand why all the pros where skating so good, so I always wanted to have my own board one day. I thought it would be cool. Ten years later it happened, I got my own board and I’m really happy about it! But of course it’s a known fact that you can’t buy a Ferrari when you turn pro so I am not kidding myself. I turned pro but I have to do something else on top to make it work. Like studying, which my mum has been forcing me to do a lot lately.

What are you interested in?
I think when you study it’s not about your interests. I finished economic high school so I know what I don’t want to do. I think I’m more drawn to something in the social sector, but let’s see. I don’t have a bigger goal, at the moment I’m simply working on short-term schedules.

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BS Nosebluntslide

Did you know before traveling to Thailand that you were going to do the backnoseblunt?
I guess so. We went straight to the hubba the first day we arrived. I shot a photo of the spot and looked at it for days. The spot is very crowded with pedestrians so it’s definitely not easy to skate. I saved one board for the last day.

To be honest, I wasn’t surprised that you did it.
Because it’s my signature move?

Yes, you kind of destroyed this trick already before. I have seen you doing it so many times; I know how comfortable you feel with this trick. Of course, it’s a big spot but I guess it was only a question of guts and the day’s form, wasn’t it?
It’s definitely a serious hubba, and to be honest I almost shat my pants. But I had to do it. It was the day before I was going to fly home, and I needed the best possible ender. So I could enjoy a nice Gin & Tonic on the plane and be very happy after a successful trip.

You buried this trick forever.
Ha-ha, everybody should do whatever they want!

Do you think the backnoseblunt is the king of the tricks?
For me, personally and emotionally, I would say yes. It took me a long time to learn it and now every time I do it, it just feels amazing. To do it in a proper way you really need to put everything you have into it. But okay, if it’s dead now, I will stop doing that trick, ha-ha. I don’t know where to do it anymore anyway.

by Benni Markstein
Photos: Burny

Globe sends its team to Europe’s major cities this July for the #GLOBEEUTRIPPIN‬ Tour. Mark Appleyard, David Gonzalez, Rodney Mullen, Louie Barletta, Ryan Decenzo, Chris Haslam, Paul Hart, Anton Myhrvold, Philipp Schuster, Fries Taillieu and Charles Collet will join the trip – finest skateboarding guaranteed. Check out the Facebook Event for more information and the trailer as well:

Globe-EU-trippin-tour

#GLOBEEUTRIPPIN‬

To all our friends,

… how are you? We hope this news finds you well. Hopefully resting in a state of serious GEMÜTLICHKEIT, you may have already noticed that this text is actually written in English. As a dedicated, committed reader of this website and companion over many issues and years, you already know that we’ve repeatedly fooled around with articles written in English. “Keep the natives native” – I guess you could say this used to be our motto. And did you know that the young German generation speaks better English than ever before? Probably the World Wide Web played a significant role in this evolution of communication. Anyway…

… here at PLACE we have a problem. Because we have many friends (which is actually great), and they simply can’t read most articles because they’re not German. To us, this is very sad because we have mad respect for the skills of so many people from other parts of the world – editors, photographers and of course the skaters we love to work (and play) with. For example, there’s Sylvain Tognelli from France, who likes to go on a SONDERWEG and just recently did an amazing trick on a brand new obstacle at the Dog Shit spot, which happens to be just a few hundred meters away from our office. There’s Davy van Laere from Belgium, who is one of our favorite photographers: a man with a special outlook on his UMWELT. There is also Dan Zvereff from New York City, a guy with Russian roots who has been capturing WELTSCHMERZ all over the world. They all contributed amazing stuff to our latest issue and we want to make everything readable for them.

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Denis Yuzefovich, Mexico City by Dan Zvereff

Imagine inviting someone to a party. The invitee (as cool as he is) brings two beautiful FRÄULEINS with him, one to his left, one to his right. At the entrance, the girls get in easily so the club looks beautiful from the inside, but the invitee doesn’t make it because of the language-bouncer who shows off his SCHADENFREUDE. The invitee is doomed to wait outside, hearing the bass and all the commotion from the inside. Somehow mean, don’t you think?

So how about we have an amazing party together instead? We’re opening the German door and everybody who wants to join us is cordially invited. PLACE is a meeting point for the whole community that speaks the same language in one HEIMAT. Drinks are on us!

PROST,
Benni Markstein

Opener: Michi Mackrodt, One Foot by DVL

Der talentierte Filmemacher Phil Evans hat heute eine neue Kurzfilmreihe namens “Lightbox” angekündigt. Ab jetzt wird jeden Dienstag ein neuer Film online gehen und die erste Episode “Grey” macht schonmal richtig Lust auf das Projekt, das von Levi’s Skateboarding supported wird. Der erste Film wurde komplett in Super 8 gedreht, mit Illustrationen von Mike O’Shea verziert und mit Musik von Andrew Gibbons unterlegt – in den Hauptrollen: Luka Pinto, Joe Gavin, Jeremy Jones, Jak Pietryga, John Bell und Darius Trabalza. Viel Vergnügen:

Mehr Infos zu Lightbox gibt es hier!

Foto: Henry Kingsford

Als wir vor dem Hotel unser Shuttle nach Badalona betreten wollen öffnet uns der Fahrer mit den Worten “Living the dream!” die Tür und wir amüsieren uns köstlich darüber. Warum hat er das gesagt? Wie konnte er nur wissen? Barcelona ist noch immer ein Traum für Skateboarder – Streetlife am MACBA mit 300 Leuten, kaltes Cerveza, ein Contest in der Stadt, durch den ein längst vergangenes Mastership-Feeling aufkommt, perfekte Bodenverhältnisse, usw., etc. pp.. Vier Tage lang treiben wir uns auf unseren Boards zwischen Street League, Strandpromenade, Tapasbars, Curblines und Contestparties herum, bewaffnet mit den berühmt berüchtigten PLACE Snapshot Kameras, um das einzufangen was außerhalb des Skateparks passiert – ganz normaler, investigativer Skateboard-Journalismus eben.

By Benni Markstein & Bmin Boje

Im Rahmen des diesjährigen Street League Events in Barcelona nutzen wir die Gelegenheit uns mit Paul Rodriguez zusammen zu setzen, denn es gibt ein paar Dinge, die uns wirklich interessieren – warum wir in letzter Zeit so wenig Street Footage zu Gesicht bekommen haben, wie er an Nyjah vorbei kommen will und ob es nicht langweilig ist, krasse Tricks bei jedem Versuch zu schaffen. Während des Interviews schraubt er sich gemütlich ein neues Board zusammen und wir erleben einen gewohnt professionellen, aber auch ehrlichen und offenen P-Rod. Nach dem Interview entsorgt er seinen Müll und räumt in aller Ruhe den Tisch ab – nicht dass man so etwas nicht erwarten darf, es ist uns einfach nur aufgefallen…

Hi Paul, wie oft warst du schon in Barcelona?
Puh, so ungefähr 15 Mal würde ich sagen. Ich bin gerne hier – es ist einer der besten Orte der Welt. Hier ist immer ein guter Vibe, man kann sehr gut skaten wegen der ganzen Spots, das Essen ist super und die Leute sind gut drauf. Ich fühle mich hier wirklich wohl!

Wie läuft dieses Jahr bis jetzt für dich?
Bis jetzt ziemlich gut, ich bin fit und mache noch immer das, was mir am meisten Spaß macht. Von daher: Alles gut!

Du hast gerade die Fitness angesprochen – keine Verletzungen?
Im Moment ist Gott sei Dank alles gut. Heute hab ich ein bisschen schwere Beine – ich bin viel geskatet die letzten zwei Tage. Aber ansonsten kann ich mich nicht beschweren… Hoffentlich bleibt das so… (lacht)

Wo liegt denn im Moment dein Fokus – eher auf Contests oder gehst du viel Streetskaten?
Es kommt darauf an – im Moment ist jeder Tag anders. Wenn ich zuhause bin, fahre ich viel in meinem Park, am Wochenende bin ich dann meistens auf der Straße. Wenn Contests anstehen ist es manchmal ziemlich schwierig sich auf eine Sache zu konzentrieren. Während der Contestsaison probiere ich an meinen Tricks zu arbeiten und eine gewisse Routine zu bekommen. Die Tricks, die ich auf Contests mache, versuche ich dann später auf der Straße umzusetzen. Im Moment versuche ich beim Streetskaten einfach Spaß zu haben und mir keinen Druck zu machen – wenn ich dann noch etwas filmen kann ist alles gut! Aber da liegt gerade nicht meine Priorität…

In der letzten Zeit gab es tatsächlich nicht so viel Streetfootage von dir – ich habe mir deinen Youtube Channel angeguckt und dort viel Contest Footage gefunden…
Ich habe schon gefilmt, aber das meiste davon geht in „We are blood“ – den Film von mir und Ty Evans, der diesen Sommer kommen wird. Im Moment geht es mir mehr um den Spaß beim skaten als darum Footage zu sammeln… Ich lasse die Tricks einfach passieren – oder auch nicht… (lacht)

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Was ich zuletzt von dir im Netz gesehen habe war „Path Unseen“ oder die Nixon x Primitive Collabo… Gibt es viele Leute, die sich darüber wundern, dass es im Moment so wenig Footage, aber relativ viel dokumentarisches von dir zu sehen gibt?
Mit Sicherheit. Klar fragen sich die Leute wann es wieder mal Footage zu sehen gibt. Das ist nicht immer so leicht: Footage gibt’s, wenn sie da ist… (lacht) Für „We are blood“ war ich aber fleißig…

„Path Unseen“ ist ziemlich episch, viel Slow Motion, dramatische Musik und so weiter. Für meinen Geschmack war das fast ein bisschen zu viel des Guten.
Das kann sein, aber ich bin nicht der Produzent – ich sorge für die Tricks, das ist mein Job bei so einem Projekt. Für den Rest sind andere Leute verantwortlich…

Es sieht so dramatisch aus, aber ich weiss, dass du die meisten dieser Tricks, die man in Slow Motion sieht, einfach aus dem Ärmel schütteln kannst.
„Path Unseen“ ist ja für unseren Brand Saint Archer, ein Bier. Und auch wenn wir alle unseren Wurzeln im Skateboarding haben, geht es eben bei diesem Film um Bier. Das ist eine ganz andere Zielgruppe und nicht alle, die Bier trinken, kennen sich mit Skateboardig aus. „Path Unseen“ wurde für Leute gemacht, die nicht unbedingt wissen, was ein Switch FS Feeble ist… (lacht)

Vor zwei Jahren bist du hier in Barcelona beim Street League Contest Zweiter geworden. Was ist deine Strategie um dieses Jahr den Sieg nach Hause zu fahren, gibt es eine?
Gute Frage. Klar würde ich hier gerne gewinnen und einen guten Job machen. Ich habe mir natürlich ein paar Tricks überlegt, die ich gerne machen würde – die Strategie ist, sie auch zu schaffen… (lacht) Wenn ich all meine Tricks schaffe denke ich, dass ich vorne mitmischen kann. Vielleicht klappt’s, vielleicht auch nicht.

Viel Glück auf jeden Fall. Ich habe dich in München beim Street League Event gesehen, wie du SW Backtails die Hubba runtergemacht hast – bei jedem Versuch, drei Tage lang. Wird das nicht langweilig auf die Dauer?
Oh, auf jeden Fall! Aber auf der anderen Seite, macht es auch extrem viel Spaß – es ist irgendwie weird. Bei Contests geht es darum consistant unterwegs zu sein, man hat eben nicht soviele Versuche für seine Tricks wie beim Streetskaten oder filmen. Man muss on point sein, wenn man was reißen will. Man geht auf Contests weniger Risiko ein – so funktioniert das eben. Schon als Kind habe ich mich nicht damit zufrieden gegeben einen Trick geschafft zu haben, ich wollte ihn beherrschen. So kann man Tricks weiterentwickeln – Flip in oder Flip out oder wie auch immer. Das macht mir Spaß! Als ich klein war, fand ich Tom Penny super – der hat seine FS Flips und SW FS Flips bei jedem Versuch gemacht. Ich wollte sein wie Tom Penny und meine Tricks immer schaffen…

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SW BS TS – bei jedem Versuch.

Ich habe eine Quote von dir rausgesucht: „I had this desire, i wanted to be more as just a sponsored Skater, i wanted to be big!“ Wie groß fühlst du dich im Moment?
Nicht besonders. Ich habe früher aufgeschaut zu Leuten wie Penny, Koston oder Reynolds. Ich dachte mir, wie cool es wohl wäre so eine Größe zu sein. Aber es ist eine Illusion, denn wenn man selbst groß ist, merkt man es selbst am wenigsten. Ich bin sehr dankbar und zufrieden mit meiner derzeitigen Situation, ich bin auch stolz auf meine Karriere, die ich gemacht habe, aber ich fühle mich immer noch wie das Kid von damals…

Du hast mal gesagt, du hörst auf deine innere Stimme, was sagt sie für die nächsten drei Tage bei diesem Contest?
Dass ich mir vertrauen und meine Pläne nicht über den Haufen werfen soll… (lacht). Manchmal entscheide ich ganz spontan, doch einen anderen Trick zu machen – das funktioniert nie. Ich sollte mich an das halten, was ich mir vorgenommen habe, ich habe gelernt auf meine innere Stimme zu hören!

Bald kommt dein neuer Schuh raus, richtig? Hast du den an gerade?
Nein, der hier ist aus der 8er Serie – mein neues Pro Modell, der P-Rod 9 kommt im Juni oder Juli.

Bald hast du die zehn voll!
Ja, total verrückt…

Machst du eigentlich immer noch deinen Move mit der Kappe?
Immer. Egal ob auf Contests, in den Straßen, im Skatepark, in der Practise: Immer, vor jedem Versuch!

Vielen Dank für das Interview, Paul! Hat Spaß gemacht.
Danke euch!

Interview & Fotos: Benni Markstein

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