The third and final installment of a series of collaborative moves that can only be described as bringing the best of both worlds.
Fashion and product design from a company that brings together runway and youth culture combined with the swagger of Portland’s finest, combined with a legend like Eric Koston and you get FRI.day.
Before you press play take a trip down memory lane and check out the first FRI.day 001 video:
Shot in Soulland’s home town of Copenhagen, Denmark. Featuring a strong crew consisting of Eric Koston, Hjalte, Karsten, Hugo, Ville, Jugga & Oski.
Then after we got the sequel with the 002 episode traveling all the way to Eric’s hometown of Los Angeles to show and prove that the first one was not a fluke. Check out our little talk with one of PLACE’s favorites Ville Wester here.
And now we are at the third and final stop, a stop that unlike the first two doesn’t visit a person but visits Soulland’s own Silas Adler’s home of inspiration, Tokyo. We like you are excited so press play and let the FRI.day venom spike into your veins 🐍
For most of you Ville Wester is not a stranger, he came up through social media and the Bryggeriet Gymnasium in Malmö. Ever since we saw him winning our very own “King Of Vulcano” contest two Bright Tradeshow’s ago we have been paying attention to this young Danish lad. We worked together with Ville on our just-released Special Malmö Issue and met him multiple times since at events, parties and on the streets all over Europe. The point being made, young Mr.Wester is coming up and one reason for his ascent are these FRI.day Nike SB x Soulland releases that he is very much a part of. The second video is dropping today and because of that we sat down, connected with Ville and talked about his two FRI.day’s.
Photos by Ben Colen.
Interview by Roland Hoogwater.
Hey Ville, what’s up?
I am sitting in bed right now.
Are you about to go to bed? (8:04 PM)
No, I am just chilling, I am probably going to a party tonight. “Gonna get fucked up tonight!”
(Laughs) Okay, so, let’s start this interview then.
Talk a little bit about the first collabo, how did it happen and how did you get involved? Because, when that one happened, you were not that well known.
No, at that point I wasn’t that well known yet but I had been skating for Nike for a little while before this all happened. This older guy Silas Adler (co-founder of Soulland) got interested in skating again. I think he used to ride for Cityfellaz and some other sponsors back in the day. He does Soulland now and because of his history in skating, he wanted to do something together with Nike SB.
So one day I got a call from Silas, “We are doing it, do you want to be in this? Tao (Tor Ström) is going to film it and the boys have to be in it, it is going to be good.”
Soulland is based in Copenhagen so Hjalte Halberg, Oski, Karsten Kleppan and myself all got involved in the project. Actually, Hugo (Boserup) got brought in as well, he just started skating for Nike at that time. Anyway, they always wanted to have Eric Koston involved as well because he is a Fucking legend.
Did you know the Soulland guys before this all started?
Yes, I knew Silas a little bit, I met him a few years before. I did not know what he was doing though, I was just a little skate kid but I have learned since then (laughs).
The first Nike SB x Soulland collaborational video.
Do you know why they called it FRI.day?
In Danish, F.R.I.day means something like “To have a day off.” At the same time, you have good Friday, Friday is also a good day because it is the start of the weekend, and any day off is a good day.
So I think that is why they chose FRI.day, it seems to have a lot of good different meanings.
What was your favorite thing about the first video?
Hjalte’s lines he has a lot of really good ones in that video, I don’t want to pick a specific one they are all good to me.
How important is Tao in all of this, his style of filming?
I love filming with him, he is a good friend of mine. We also like to hang out and party together but at the same time nobody can get me hyped to film like he can. I know he knows how to film, so I never think “is this going to look whack?” he is on point when it comes to filming and that enables me to focus on doing the skating. He makes me comfortable, I trust him, I know documenting skating is not my job but I do think about the way things look through the lens even though I think I shouldn’t worry.
So after the first project was done did the crew change? If so, what was the crew for the second one?
For the second one, we had David Jakinda, Karsten Kleppan, Eric Koston, Antonio Durao, Me and Tao, Guy Mariano went out skating with us but didn’t film, Vaughan Baker was there, Danijel “Jugga” Stankovic was there, Silas and The Soulland guys came with us to L.A. it was a big crew of people.
Did everybody stay in touch after the first Soulland project ended?
Yeah, we have a Whatsapp group and we write each other every fucking day pretty much. There are two groups actually, one for the L.A. crew and one for the OG crew, both of them are pretty entertaining.
Who is the most active member?
Probably, Eric or Silas, they post some videos that get everybody sparked to talk.
Why did they choose Los Angeles this time?
The first one was in Copenhagen because it was home to Soulland, they wanted to show their city to people. Then for the second one, they wanted to visit L.A., venture out to Eric’s hometown.
How was it being out skating in L.A.?
It is way different than skating back home, here (in CPH) you have a bike and have a lot of spots close by at all times. The cliché is true over there you have to take a car, drive for an hour to a spot that you might want to skate and if nobody likes it, you get back in the car and drive for an hour and a half to the next one. You might hit two or three spots a day whereas here you hit 10 – no problem!
If you want you can push to different spots in CPH.
It is a totally different way of skating the city, it is a lot of fun too but it can also create pressure because the next spot is not around the corner. I did enjoy trying to skate that way because I had never done it. Normally I don’t start thinking of a trick before I get there but it is worth trying to skate something because you made a lot of effort to get there. It is different from what I normally do at home but maybe I should change that. Because some people plan things out and they end up having great video parts and I haven’t even had one yet (laughs).
I don’t know, maybe it is not like you are repeating yourself you did get some cool footage in Tao’s last video. They say “Don’t change a winning formula”.
Okay (laughs), to be honest, I just want to have fun and I think taking things too serious can get in the way of good skateboarding. Truthfully, I don’t see myself getting in a car, driving out to a massive rail trying to get a photo, doing the trick and then driving back home. To be honest, that is not really my way of doing things.
Let’s get back to Los Angeles, did the Soulland guys skate with you in out there?
They did, they said, “We can’t leave L.A. until we all do a tre-flip.” I didn’t see any of them land one but they tried a few times (laughs).
What is the favorite trick you did on your trip to L.A.?
Can you tell us more about the trip, what about the times you were not skating?
The first week we had this great apartment with a huge swimming pool and a jacuzzi that was really nice. We ate a lot of great food, taco’s, Indian food and on some evenings we drank margaritas at “El Compadre” together with Koston. We had some great times amongst friends.
How was skating with Koston in L.A.?
It was different because his family is out there. He is a dad so he had more family time in L.A. compared to CPH but he went skating with us almost every day. He also invited us to his house, we had a pool party with all the boys and his family. He had catering at his house and these people served us taco’s and gave us beers while we were hanging out in the jacuzzi, great times.
Let’s segue into the fashion part of this collabo can you tell me what your favorite Soulland x Nike SB pieces are?
I remember when they did the first collabo they did these pink shoes and I think they only made a hundred or two of them, those were so great and very comfortable. I still have my pair but I did fuck them up a bit during a New Years Eve party last year but still, those are great!
This time around the Dunk Hi is by far my favorite. I think that out of the twwo designs both last and this year it is the best shoe they did. The new deconstructed design of the Dunk looks so good on your feet especially with the baggy big boy pants that I am wearing.
Nike SB x Soulland: Zoom Eric Koston QS (No, these are not Ville’s pants obviously)
What has your Soulland x Nike SB non-skate highlight been so far?
I think the first premiere at Chateau Motel was my personal favorite. Chateau Motel had just opened and the premiere was the first event in that club. The screening was outside in the garden, it looked like an open-air theater. At one point I got so drunk and blacked out for a bit, came back to my senses around 4:00 AM met Silas he gave me a wine glass filled with Hennessy I drank it in one big gulp and blacked out again (laughs).
Last Question, will there be a third collaboration?
I don’t know but you never know with these guys, they are fucking crazy.
Eric Koston recently effected a collaboration between Soulland and Nike SB, which is called FRI.day and then went out to Copenhagen to join the Euro riders to produce one of the best Swoosh clips I have ever witnessed. The collection is looking pretty dope as well!
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