Léo is one of the most skilled guys that I know in skateboarding. You could even say he’s one of the “chosen ones.” You know, those who can learn a trick on the first try, who don’t need much effort because their style speaks for itself; those who possess a crazy pop; those who can be both powerful and elegant on a board. The chosen ones are also the ones who give you chills with a simple kickflip on flat, the ones to whom you suggest dream tricks, and they say, “Yeah, I think it’s doable.” Those who always surprise you but are never satisfied with themselves even though they’ve just landed an insane trick; or simply those who have no problem skating even when they’re hungover…
- Clément Le Gall
Over the past two years, we were lucky enough to spend time in the van with Rune Glifberg, touring around Europe, constantly in awe of how he’s able to skate any demo and bust out one crowd-pleaser after another. Whenever the crew decides to hit yet another street spot, Rune doesn’t just simply sit down and watch but instead opens his backpack (loaded with some of the finest analog photo gear imaginable), chooses his weapon of the day, walks off to find a creative angle vastly different from what the skate photographer on duty would ever think of shooting, and snaps away. Over time, he’s built a body of work spanning from said skate photography to portraits, architectural images, and street photography, often shot during the morning on trips when the crew is still sleeping. We dug into his archive for this issue and spent a morning on tour walking through the streets of Milan, which can be seen soon on our YouTube channel.
There’s a certain kind of magic surrounding Bear that shines through his skating as well as through the way he carries himself and interacts with his environment. We asked a few of the guys in his closer circle to tell us a little bit about Bear – be it an anecdote, lesser known intel, or just a little bit of backstory. As expected, it turned into a whole lot of praise, but you damn well know it won’t be getting to his head anytime soon – humble as he is. He’ll continue to be the same down-to-earth guy that he is and keep lighting up sessions around the world with his energy.
Becoming a sponsored skater needs a lot of dedication and time and can even take over your entire life. It could become problematic then if you couldn’t skate anymore for whatever reason or, in fact, wanted to transition out of the skate industry. For Parisian Lilian Fev, this is not a problem at all. At only 25 years old, he and his girlfriend Clara Victorya have already built a successful business about a passion they both share: vintage clothing. At the beginning, it kept him so busy that he barely had time for skating anymore, but he can finally harvest the fruits of his labor. We visited him in the Relique shop in Paris.
Greyson and I have been roommates for about three years now. You really get to learn about someone when you live under the same roof as them. He is someone who’s always been optimistic and persistent with any situation he’s in. That did not change when he was dealt with the injury he’ll tell you about in this article (spoiler alert: we each broke our humerus bones only two days apart). It’s a shitty situation for any skateboarder, but misery loves company and I’m glad I was able to be there for him through it as he was there for me. I sped through my recovery, but Greyson’s healing time took a little longer because he didn’t get surgery. As he watched me recover, get back on the board, and start to travel again, Greyson was still dealing with his slow recovery. I got to witness his patience get tested and his spirits remained high during the whole process. It was really admirable how he carried himself through it all. I’m stoked for him to be on the other side now and for us to be back on the board together.
– Patrick Praman
In the 1940s, the German Nazi regime began the construction of many fortification systems along the coastline of the occupied territory from Norway to France over a length of more than 2,500 km. The idea behind these enormous concrete buildings was to protect the territory from an invasion of the Allies. In the process, German authorities imposed a regime of forced labor on the local population to build thousands of those massive bunkers. In the end, the “Atlantic Wall” was useless. It was never fully finished and overrun in less than 24 hours, but its ruins still exist to this day. Friedjof Feye and I visited them in the dunes of the Danish coast, where we saw the traces of the fortunately long-gone World War II and turned them into skateable spots.
