Throwing Shane O’Neill out of a contest before even having any facial hair, skating a lot of contests, probably becoming German champion at some point – maybe even several times –, that’s what people usually have on their radar when they think about Jost Arens. Red Bull cap, team Titus, and born somewhere in the middle of nowhere around Münster (Warendorf, to be exact, the city with the stallions), that’s also pretty well-known and has been rehashed enough times already. So why talk about it again? Why blow up this interview with question after question if Jost’s skating leaves none of them unanswered? Exactly! That’s why we present some short and concise information here and the rest can be seen in the photos. Or in the Claudius Therme…
Paris, Berlin, and London – Europe’s holy trinity: crowded, alive, and packed with spots and opportunities. These cities would arguably stand out as the places to be if you chose to entertain a skateboarding career in Europe. From the group of individuals making up Carhartt WIP’s team, one in particular has gathered a decent share of experience, calling all three his home of choice at some point during his career. So while the WIP crew is busy gathering clips for an upcoming video project, this time around in the region of the French capital, Sylvain Tognelli reflects on his experience of being a Paris local at the moment while dealing with each cities’ peculiarities.
Switch tricks, mannies, and tech stuff – that’s how we know Farid Ulrich. However, the Berlin Mitte resident always had a love for transition as well and is now living it up in the neighboring Prenzlauer Berg, where a crew of do-it-yourself enthusiasts built the Greifswalder DIY. In his parents’ country house in Brandenburg, he was also able to concrete a small tranny domicile called “Wolfstone”. Although he is increasingly enjoying creating spots with a trowel in his hand, he still doesn’t really want to fit into the cliché of the typical DIY skater. Until recently, he didn’t even know the term “hesh”.
If you only know @laura_kaczmarek_ from your phone screen, you may have mentally locked her away in the influencer-photographer drawer. However, unlike in the freely moldable digital world, in the analog life every “now” arises from a “before” and Laura’s “before” wore Rebel Rockers shirts, Emerica shoes, and was skating with the boys somewhere in the Ruhr Area every day – just like she skates in her first Insta post. Primarily focusing on work at the moment and only skating once a week (when things go well), she tries to lower expectations – cause for this article we planned to get some skate shots as well. We want the whole story, of course, but first things first: two days with Laura, here we go.
.
I remember the day when, maybe 12 years ago, the teacher put the new kid next to me. A little guy looking like a rebel that I felt was able to get me into serious trouble. After only two weeks, he invited himself to my home – me being the shy and unpopular kid. Well, you know what? He was cool, we spent the best afternoons of my childhood together, and my mom was in love with him. Since that time, we made fun of his hairstyle, of his inability to focus more than five minutes, and of his rap texts talking about Pokémon. Now I’ll leave you with him (if he’s not late as usual), so try to be nice with him, as nice as he would be with you. He doesn’t deserve it though.
- Hugo Marples
If there is one thing you can count on these days, it's that nothing ever works out as intended. The world we live in has changed. Traveling isn't what it used to be and uniting an international team for a tour has become a whole different beast of a challenge. After being slapped left and right with regulations and travel bans, the Skatedeluxe team finally found themselves enjoying the sun in Greece. And while planes still stay grounded worldwide, at least the Athens Metro runs as if nothing had ever happened.
