Most people probably never heard Deo’s name before but the ones who do, know that he is somewhat of a character. When we were out in Essen working on our Europe Co. story, he stood out and sparked a friendship with our own #placemagpaule. Paul likes to talk and soon they started talking about life, with topics ranging from their day to day, near death experiences and future dreams these conversation provide us all with a look into Deo Katunga who is somewhat of an interesting cat.

You’re originally from Bulgaria. Please tell me about your journey that led you here.

I’ll try to make it short. Basically, I was completely over living in Bulgaria for a number of reasons. My initial plan was to try and win a bunch of the summer contests and dip out with the cash from them. That didn’t happen, plus I almost got killed on the way to one of ‘em. And at that point, I was like, “Damn I’m stuck for one more year.” And outta nowhere this dude that I kinda knew from the main spot we skate just came up to me and was like: “Yo, you wanna go to Germany?!” I told him I was hyped but didn’t have any cash. Then he said I could crash at his place till I figure some shit out and that he was going with a car so I could come free of charge. I was like, “Bro, for sure! When are we going?” And he said on Sunday. Keep in mind he tells me this on Thursday! So I pack all of my shit, ask my sponsors at the time if they could help out because I was going to Germany for a couple of months.

Who is supporting you over there?

Martin, the distributor of Polar in Bulgaria and owner of Amnesia skate shop, hooked me up with some boards. Mad love for that dude, the only shop owner in Bulgaria and anywhere that actually knows how to do shit correctly and treat his riders! Risto, the owner of Stinky Socks and distributor of Ashbury, gave me some cash, which is just one of the things that I can’t thank him enough for. Honestly, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be me as I am now. He and his brother are both my first-ever legit sponsors that over time became my brothers and showed me that it’s perfectly OK to be the weird self that I am.

BS 360

So then you had enough money to leave for Germany?

Yes, at the end I got like €120-160 and three or four boards and packed up all my shit and just left. After some trouble and weird situations that I can’t go into because it’s gonna be too long, I ended up going from Berlin to my sister’s place in Düsseldorf where I stayed for a little over a year and then moved to Essen where I am now.

Currently, you are sharing an apartment with Niels in Essen and you already had a part in the last Europe Co. video. How did you guys meet?

Actually completely random. I was skating the park in D-dorf when Daniel [Ruski] was like: “Yo, let’s go meet up with the other dudes and skate street.” I didn’t know all of the others but was like: “Yeah, for sure.” And Niels was there with his cam – as a side note, that was the first time I ever saw a VX1000 live. And we skated and filmed and he was like: “Yo, would you hyped on filming a small part?” To which I was like: “Fuck yeah! Let’s get it!” And a month or two later he wrote me on Facebook, if I’d be hyped on going to Dortmund to film and I just fare-dodged it on the train there and, yeah, that’s how it started. But back then Europe [Co.] wasn’t Europe [Co.] yet. It was just an idea and a handful of motivated guys.

You have a really tough job that also almost killed you once. Explain your job and the story again.

So I work for “United Paid Slaves,” better known as UPS and I move heavy boxes for three to four hours every morning from 4 to 8AM. Gotta wake up at 2:45AM, get the train at 3:09AM, ride for one hour to Dusseldorf main station and then 30 minutes via bike to my job. From Monday to Friday. What happened was that one day the conveyor belt had stopped and I had to walk on this really thin thing to a high point and move some boxes that were jammed. So I fixed it and on the way down there are these hook type metal things and I slipped and fell with my stomach directly on one of those things and it went into me but I stopped it with my hands and pushed myself out and fell on the ground. The thing came out with a bit of skin and left me a sketchy scar but I’m all good now.

You own a diary that you take with you every day wherever you go. What does recording every little experience mean to you?

Yeah, I started it a while back to write down my steps towards getting where I’m going. The thing is, I don’t write down every little experience – just those that really influence and affect my view on different things and the world as a whole. Also, days and situations that make me feel something really strong – doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. And spontaneous mad good ideas that just have to be done.

You play the guitar. You sing along to any song stuck in your head all day. One could say you would literally die without headphones. You paint and write on your clothes, you even designed the grip-tape of the used board I gave you. Tell me about your relationship to art.

Well, ever since I can remember I’ve been drawing and creating all sorts of stuff. From a very young age, my parents thought me how to do a lot of things like sewing, drawing, playing music, carpentry, electrical engineering, and a bunch of other things. I was just always interested in making and learning as much stuff as possible and my parents saw that and helped me with any questions I had. Later it became an outlet for all the emotions I had in me and that’s also where the writing came from. And even later on, it turned into me really not enjoying being compared to anyone else. Everything I own will have something changed on it so it fits me perfectly.
What kind of modifications are we talking about?
Sometimes it’s something little like a patch or just some text written on it. Sometimes I’ll go as far as to completely change the color of different clothes and to whipstitch them. It’s also a way of inspiring other people and creating different thought processes in them. Make them go like: “Oh, shit that’s sick! I hadn’t thought about it.”

Yank in

We talked a lot about anything and everything. I noticed you are a quite educated and receptive person. Describe your personal perspective on the world to me. What does living mean to you and what do you want from life?

Duuude, this is hard to answer without getting lost in thoughts. What I think of the world is that it’s a beautiful fucked up insanely huge place full of all sorts of people. Where you can always learn something, there’s always something new to experience, see or evolve in. Living and life as a whole is a completely different thing. It has a lot to do with time and the fact that it’s the only thing you can’t buy or get back in any way. Every second is precious and a person should use it to the fullest. Nowadays, people waste their lives taking the “safe” route going to school then to university studying something they don’t really like because there’s jobs in that field. They completely throw away their dreams – if they have any, to begin with – and then work to have money to live the next month to work to have money to live to the next month. And so on, and so on. Nine-to-five emotionless robotic bullshit. Hey, if that’s what you really enjoy doing and what makes you truly happy that’s cool. But, what if you’re 45 and get laid off from the only thing you know how to do because that’s what you’ve been doing your whole life? You’re stuck with no job having wasted half your life on shit you fucking hated doing and thinking, “I should have done this, I should have done that.”

I don’t want to be on my deathbed thinking I’ve wasted even a second of this amazing thing called life. And I sure as hell prefer completely failing in something I truly love doing than completely failing in something I hate. People should stop searching for what to study and what to work. They should begin searching for a dream and what they are really passionate about doing. That way they’ll be 100000% more happy and better at what they’re doing because it will be with complete passion and love for it.

When we talked about books, we noticed that we like kind of the same literature. What was the last book you found especially worth reading?

Some people would think I’m just joking, but the Kamasutra is a book that absolutely has to be read by anyone over 17. You would think it’s only like a sex guide or something but it really is not. Of course, there are things like that in it but it’s a really small part. If you want to understand a bit more about life and people’s behavior, I really recommend this one.

I really liked your thoughts about why you would want to become a pro skateboarder. Can you bring them together again?

Okay, there are about three points. First, I want to get to a point in skating where I go to a spot, look at it and think, “Damn this would look sick here!” And instead of just saying it and leaving actually being able to do it. Second, I want to be able to go to my parents one day and ask them: “What do you want? And regardless of the answer just say, “OK” and give it to them. They’ve given me everything without having anything and that’s something incredibly amazing that I can’t be thankful enough for. And I want to get there with skating because it’s legitimately the one thing I cannot live without and can’t have enough of. I skate absolutely every single day and always feel that I haven’t skated enough. I want to be able to skate as much as possible every day not do anything else like work and shit. And if skating can give me enough to live off, and I don’t mean millions, then I will be the happiest person ever. Third, when you get to a certain point in pro skateboarding popularity you have a huge amount of influence on others and how they do and see things. You are the one dictating fashion trends, what tricks are cool to do, and so on. Which gives you the opportunity and responsibility to change something in this world to have an impact on the minds of a lot of people, especially the younger ones. And it will be amazing when I get there. I will use being pro to inspire others to inspire themselves. I will be there to say and show others: “Yo, you can achieve whatever you want in life. You shouldn’t limit yourself in any way. I made it and I came from nowhere having nothing.” I just try to be a positive role model. I don’t drink, smoke or do whatever. I’m just extremely excited and thankful for every new day and every moment that I can skate, evolve, and live on this planet.

What are your plans for the near and far future?

First, finish filming for autobahn and get all that stuff done. There are also a lot of other things happening lately so fingers crossed you’ll see a bunch of really sick stuff soon enough. Hopefully, I will find some people as hyped as I am so we can create stuff that will get others hyped. As for the far future, I’m really interested in seeing how much time it takes me to get where I’m going and how much of a difference I will make in the end. And of course, skate my freakin’ ass off! I’m out bro, gotta go skate and can’t sit here anymore!

Photos by Laura Kaczmarek
Interview by Paul Röhrs