Issue 4 by Essay

Foreword New year, new issue, new size, new logo, new font, new everything. But some things never change. Like writing forewords, who the hell came up with this idea? Are there any guidelines for forewords? Or should I just call it an editorial? Let's start by telling how this issue was put together. To start, I came up with a lot of potential content, way back in November. Some of these ideas you'll see in this issue, others not. Once an idea for content is approved by both Martijn and me, we try to schedule a day (maybe more) to shoot photos and do an accompanying interview. Here's what an average day of shooting looks like: Martijn usually puts himself in the firing line to shoot all the action, while I join the rest of the crew and watch from a small distance. Occasionally, I point my own camera at a member of the crew, or just some random shit (like shopping carts). At the end of the day Martijn sends me the photos, and then it takes me another two months to write out an interview. But not all content is my idea, Martijn comes up with good things as well (like the statue gallery) or people from outside ask me if I want to include something they did (like Thijmen), which is cool too. And of course a lot of people send me photos and other things, like Dominic Palarchio (all the way from Detroit), who shot the cover of this issue with Quentin Boyer and Mikey Waite. Our boy Wouter Molenaar, currently owner of the record of having the most photos in Essay so far, send my some illustrations made by Patrick Vugt. So I hit him up to see if he was down to create the masterpiece you see on the left. After gathering all the photos and interviews it's time to start working on the layout of the magazine. This is nothing more than spending a lot of hours behind my laptop, endlessly moving things around until I think it looks good. Then I make a screenshot and send it to someone I need advice from: some days that's Martijn, other days it's Jim or ZoĂŤ. Thanks for putting up with me constantly sending you stupid ideas and never giving up on me. Once I figure out how to do the layout, I realise I should probably start with getting the finances for the new issue together. I usually start sending out emails to potential advertisers way too late. Anyway, printing paper is not cheap so thanks to everyone supporting this. Then the last phase of making the new issue starts: deciding where to do the release party. I also tried to come up with interesting things to give out with the magazine, like stickers, a postcard and a puzzle. Hopefully this gives the magazine more value for collectors so we pop up on one of those vintage skateboard magazine Instagram accounts in twenty years. After finishing the new issue, chaos arrives. Sending out the magazines is somehow never an organised process. My office turns into a room with magazines everywhere, envelopes scattered across the place which makes it impossible to find any packing tape whatsoever. And then, when all the magazines are gone, normal life starts again. After two months of not going outside and spending hours behind my laptop the sun starts to shine again, bringing colour into my pale face with sleepy eyes. Okay, it's not all that bad. I hope I didn't scare anyone, if anyone of you wants to run your own magazine: please do it, it's fucking sick. - Sander Rodenhuis

Cover photo by Dominic Palarchio,9contents illustration by Patrick Vugt

EDITOR IN CHIEF Sander Rodenhuis SENIOR PHOTOGRAHER Martijn van Velden ASSISTENT ART DIRECTION ZoÃ« Horsten CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jameson Olivas, Alex Ramsell, Jasper van den Ham, Ryan Sausers, Romain Bardet, Ethan Roads, Marcel Veldman, Ziggy Schaap, Dominic Palarchio CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Wouter Molenaar EDITORIAL OFFICE You'd like to know, eh? SPECIAL THANKS To everyone that gives a shit about magazines @essayzine essayzine.tumblr.com essayskatezine@gmail.com

If you've ever asked yourself thi Essay look so good, what Well, here's t Left page: Sander

s question: "Wow, the photos in would they shoot with?" the answer. Right page: Martijn

Mila n Sch ets - feeb le stal l

/ pho to: Martijn van Veld en

Maikel van de Paverd - noseslide, Lelystad / Photo: Sander Rodenhuis

Marc Francis van den Arend - Boneless to wallride, Nijmegen / Photo: Martijn van Velden

Justin Wagener - Kickflip, Den Haag / Photo: Martijn van Velden

Wouter Molenaar - Step-off ollie to ollie north, Nesselande / Photo: Martijn van Velden

Tim Daniels - front smith, Paris / Photo: Sander Rodenhuis

Mike Mollahan - kickflip, Detroit / Photo: Ryan Sausers

Justin Bohl - fs blunt, Detroit / Photo: Dominic Palarchio

Quentin Boyer - ollie, Detroit / Photo: Dominic Palarchio

Henry Fox - bs 5-0

Right: Cie Denison - fs 5-0 / Photos: Alex Ramsell

Duncan Casey - nollie

Jim Klok - ollie / Photos: Jasper van den Ham

James Russo - 5050, LA / Photo: Jameson Olivas

Danny Barrera - bs flip, Phoenix / Photo: Ethan Roads

Mikey Waite - ollie, Detroit / Photo: Dominic Palarchio

Marcel Veldman I n terview: Sa n der R oden h u is & Ma rtijn va n Velden

Martijn: It’s weird since I was born in ’99, haha! Really? Shit, time flies. Before you know it you’re 21 +.

Maybe you've noticed already, but Martijn and me usually have quite a difference as to what 'style' of skateboard photography we like. I'm usually more into the rawer, not perfectly lighted and experimental photos, while Martijn likes the classic stuff more: a clean photo, usually with flash. However, if there's one photographer we can always agree on it's Marcel Veldman. Marcel is one of the two people behind Fluff Magazine, the biggest magazine that has ever come from Dutch soil and, until Essay came around, also the best. One of the best things about skateboarding is that your heroes are so reachable, so we sent Marcel an email and he invited us over to a sick private indoor park to drink some beers with him.

What does the name Fluff stand for? I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone for an interview. But yeah, it comes from an inside joke and like all inside jokes, you should have been there to really understand it.

What’s the best thing about making your own magazine? I can do whatever I want. I can make it however I feel like skateboarding should be, or at least how skateboarding is to me. How I see skateboarding is what I want to show with my magazine. That’s why we make it different every time. I don’t want to do the same trick every time, you know? I want to do different things as Okay so, for the people that don't know you: well. With Fluff, each time we make a new who are you, what do you do? magazine we start from scratch. Usually, when I’m Marcel Veldman, I skate and take photos you’ve got a concept, you’ll be able to optimise sometimes. Even though I still prefer skating. it. So we always start with a clean slate, different paper, printing techniques, folding Yeah, I can relate to that. Okay, how did you techniques, you know? And because of that start with Fluff magazine? Well, I once made a zine, called ‘Guilty!’, while I we’re never really too sure about the outcome. That makes it exciting. I can do anything I want, still lived in Rotterdam. Let me see. Oh yeah, I don’t rely on other people. When I work for then Miesj, from LEFT, said “Hey, let’s start a real magazine!”. That became the Fluff, we did it other magazines there’s always their editor who with a few different people. It was probably ’99 decides what gets in the magazine and how big, but for Fluff I can put anything I want to in the or 2000, I’m never too sure about it. The first magazine. Not just skateboard photos, but prints didn’t have a year printed on them, I’ve tried searching for the original invoices haha. I everything around it as well. That’s what I want to show. think it was ’99 though. 33

Marcel Veldman

Martijn: I noticed that Fluff is definitely Big Brother-influenced, like the different formats. Marcel: Well, I kind of grew up with Big Brother, I actually own ‘m all. Martijn: Really? Marcel: All of them. Including all the different covers. My whole house is filled with magazines, I’ve got a lot of them, but if I ever had to get rid of something it would be anything except for the Big Brothers. And that’s, well, Big Brother is definitely an influence. Especially in the beginning of Big Brother, there were no two issues the same, that’s what I really liked. To me, that’s what skateboarding is about. Sander: Keeping it varied. Marcel: Exactly. Although the other magazines are sick as well, you could call me a magazine junkie, but when I do it myself we can do whatever we want.

like that. The use of language, the people, tricks, ads, it’s really a frozen moment in time. And that’s what’s so important about print, and it should never be gone because of that. I mean, a lot of magazines are out of business now, but when I open a magazine from my archive I’m immediately emerged into that specific time. That’s what you lose with online magazines, eventually a magazine will be ended, or you might find a photo on one of these retro Instagram accounts. Really sick, since not everyone has these mags but it’s more important that magazines keep getting printed. You can’t change them anymore, it is what it is that way. Martijn: I can relate to you 1 00%. Marcel: It really is a shame that making print magazines is so expensive these days. Sander: Not everyone wants to spend their money on print either. Marcel: Which is why it’s become so expensive. Is there a bad thing about running your own You can’t always pay for everything yourself, magazine? Well, maybe not a bad thing but plus spending a lot of time on it. Which is something you’re never looking forward to. exactly what I’m doing with Fluff, haha. Marcel: It varies. Finances are always shitty Advertisement incomes are really small when though. you look at the whole picture. My colleague, Sander: I feel you on that one. Marcel: It’s been like that since the start, and we Marco Jongeneel, who does all the design work, don’t make the cheapest prints either. It always sometimes says “Hey, we can leave this and this out, and it will save us some money”. Than costs a lot of money. we look at each other and go “Naah!” and just Sander: Print is really expensive. keep it in there. It will never be as sick as the Marcel: If you look at the things we make, like the last one with 1 826 pages, you’ll understand original idea that way if you leave stuff out that makes the whole concept of the issue. that it won’t cost €3. Sander: Printing this magazine with 1 00 copies Sander: I’ve got that too sometimes, thinking that I can merge a few pages together, but if costs me like, €600. it’s not the idea you had it will never look as Marcel: That’s not cheap indeed. But it’s sick good. that you’re doing this. Marcel: Exactly. Now we’re talking about print, how important Sander: My favourite series of yours is the one is print media for skateboarding? where you shot the Tour de France. Marcel: Really important, not just for Marcel: Ah, yeah. skateboarding. But specifically for skateboarding, right now, say you can upload a Sander: I’m not really a cyclist myself but I do magazine 1 on 1 to the internet, and it looks the always follow the Tour. How did you get same as a real magazine, apart from the paper. involved with that? But the problem is, when you want to check that Marcel: Well, I do more things besides skateboarding photography. So one of the guys magazine in five, ten or maybe twenty years, you’ll never be able to find that specific order of that worked witht the Lotto-Jumbo team said pages and photos, I mean the mag could have “You should do something else instead of gone out of business and the URL is gone. Plus, skateboarding photography all the time, I’ll give you can change it all the time when it’s online. you a call when I’ve got something for you.” So when you print something, it will always be Eventually he called me and “Hey, do you want 34

Jarne Verbruggen - wallride, Rotterdam

Oski - boardslide, LA

Marcel Veldman

to shoot the Tour de France? We’re leaving in three weeks.” I had to cancel some other things but yeah, why not? It was super sick. In the beginning it was a bit weird, for the guys on the team as well. After all, they’re surrounded by paparazzi all the time, and I could literally come everywhere: the tourbus, meetings, everything. So they were a bit suspicious in the beginning, like, what is he doing? Then they found out what I was doing, what kind of photos I made. Since this was all behind the scenes I shot everything with my Leica, nothing else. I just said “I’m not here to make you look bad or good, just to show what you’re doing.” These guys are really gnarly. Sander: Going down a hill super fast… Marcel: They bail so damn hard and then get back onto their bikes immediately. I asked “what’s wrong with you?” to which they said “if we don’t get back on track we might have to leave the Tour.” And I was in the follow cars, so I could literally see cyclists getting bandages while hanging onto the car. Gnarly dudes, never complaining about anything. Super sick thing to do.

shows that the market is getting bigger again. Marcel: Yeah, but it is getting more expensive. I remember shooting sequences on film. Per trick you’d use like, five to twenty five rolls. Sander: Gotta shoot every try. Marcel: Three tries for each roll. It was pretty nerve wracking for the skater too, it used to be really special to see a sequence in a magazine. You can’t try that trick for three weeks if you’re shooting film, you know? Now you can shoot the same trick for three weeks and get a decent sequence. I’d say sequences don’t have the same value now as it used to have. Martijn: I think photos in general don’t have the same value anymore. Marcel: Yeah, everyone is a photographer these days, they all have a DSLR or even a decent camera on their phone. Everyone takes photos nowadays. Maybe I should have become a painter or something, haha.

What’s it like to go on a skateboard trip as a photographer? I mean, I didn’t really like skating around Paris with my minimal setup, so I wonder what it’s like for you. You shot it with your Leica. Perhaps the most Marcel: I usually take like two rolling cases plus standard photographer interview question, but tripods, without these tripods I weigh in at 3035 kilo. Usually the people on the trip help me what’s your usual setup? out, someone takes a tripod, another takes a Marcel: For skateboarding I’ve got two Canon bag. It’s all on wheels though, when you’ve got bodies, one for sequences and one for stills. Other than that, I always have my Leica around this much weight on your back you’ll start feeling it in your knees. Really, pushing around my neck, and a Rollei compact camera for with 20 kilo on your back will leave it’s marks. during the night. And a bunch of flashes, So that’s why I got these rolling cases. batteries and wires. Martijn: When did you switch to digital? How much do you travel each year? Marcel: Yeah, that took me some time. I still Marcel: Half of the year, probably. 50/50. A lot, shoot film, with the Rollei for the Rollmodels but sometimes I’m only gone for a few days, or series, been shooting that since like, 2003 or a lot of trips after each other. something. Always the same film and camera for that, and I think it’s sick that I’m not shooting How do you get asked for these trips? digital for that series. Film is still sick, sicker than digital, but it’s just too slow. I’ve postponed Marcel: The past few years I’ve mostly been shooting digital for as long as possible until the working for Nike. But it’s mostly automatic, after a while they’ll know what you do so they know companies that gave me assignments how to find you. Best job ever. demanded me to get the photos to them quicker. I still shoot film, although not that much Sander: So, when can we expect the new Fluff? skateboarding. Sander: So where possible you will shoot film. Marcel: Who knows, perhaps this year. You never know until it’s there. Marcel: I don’t think film will ever disappear. It does suck that all the Polaroids disappeared. Sander: On the other hand, a new version of Ektachrome was announced recently. So that 38

Sneep - wallride, Rotterdam

Tim Zom - fs nosepick, Rotterdam

Tim Zom - 5050, Alblasserdam

Jeroen Sars a conversation at his homebase I n terview: Wou ter Molen a a r / Ph otos: Zig g y Sch a a p

Firstly: Keenan Milton switch flip or Jason Jesse frontside ollie? Jason Jesse, it’s a hard choice between these two. They’re both different. Truthfully, nobody could do a switch flip over a picknick bench anymore since Keenan already killed it. But still Jason Jesse, always with these frontside ollies and the photos of them.

addiction of skateboarding.

Favourite graphic? The Santa Monica Airlines Julien Stranger board with the needle on it, it captures the

What’s the best trick you’ve seen at Piazza, the classic spot of Eindhoven? Kees, pop shovit 5-0 shovit out on the

Favourite trick? Frontside ollie in transition.

What would you do if you could spend a day with Mark Gonzales? I’ve actually met him already. He was in the Hague some time ago, I also have a painting from him from when he was in the Hague. Will skateboarding ever die again? It won’t die like it did in the past. Perhaps it’s Gonz and Ron Chatman were on Milk not even that bad if it dies now haha. Nah, I skateboard and stayed with this dude in the don’t think it will die now with the Olympics Hague. Anyway, we were super hyped to and the street league stuff, and there are a lot skate with him but he only went to a few different musea. We really wanted to skate of big brands in skateboarding now. So it with him but he was just doing his own thing. won’t be as dead as it was in the 90’s. If I’d see him now I would just want to skate Wat was your first setup? with him. My first board was this hand-me-down board I got from my niece. It was a red plastic thing What’s a spot that you really want to skate? Arto Saari’s backyard pool. Or the old Upland that she didn’t use anymore. At that time I Pipeline skatepark or the old Del Mar Skate was still mountain biking so I was only Ranch but they’re gone of course. cruising around. My first real board was a special edition Santa Cruz with a Black Flag or Bad Brains? neoncoloured fish on the graphic. It was a Black Flag. size 1 0.

Slash transfer.

Jeroen Sars

medium block. But really, that spot was more Do you rather see a video or a photo? about lines and Wieger did some great lines There’s a lot of sick photos and a lot of sick at that place. videos. I’ve grown up with photos, videos were really hard to get. The videos would What’s a trick you’ve always wanted to make the photos come alive, so with the first learn? Vision, Santa Cruz and Powell videos you’d Good handplants. Daan [van der Linden] is see how to do everything, and you could see trying to explain them, but he says it’s easier the different styles of the skaters. So I’m on higher and steeper things, but obviously choosing video. that’s more scary to do. But you’re never too old to learn. What’s the sickest skateboard magazine then? What do you think about brands like SLAP magazine, it had an artsy feel, like with Thrasher being worn by more and more the old stereo from Jason Lee and Greg Hunt. people from the ‘mainstream’? Their covers were sick. Juice magazine is Being a shop owner I think it’s sick since I sick as well. can sell multiple Thrasher shirts on one day. I’ve been selling them for 20 years and What is your favourite SLAP cover? nobody really cared about it, and suddenly I That cover with all the portrait photos on it. can have a good day at the store thanks to the people buying Thrasher. But I still think Who do you prefer, Natas Kaupas or Neil Thrasher is sick overall. It’s just a hype, that’s Blender? how these things go with Instagram, Justin When I started skating I found Natas sicker. I come from a small village called Drunen and Bieber and Rihanna. there was no transition to skate, so guys like What makes 1 00% Skateshop a good Natas showed us you could simply skate skateshop? sidewalks as well. Neil is more a transition The shop is skaterowned, to me that’s the guy so I learned about him later on. most important thing. I think we offer a good service and explain things to our customers Where do you get your inspiration? clearly. And we try to do things back for the Old videos, AntiHero vids, and Instagram. It scene. Our shop is also a meeting place for seems like Instagram has become the new magazine. Ten minutes after something locals. We sell brands that support happened it’s already on Instagram instead skateboarding and that’s how you help of waiting three months to see it in the new eachother. Thrasher. When I wake up in the morning, Who’s your favourite skater from make coffe, open Instagram and see a photo Eindhoven? of Cardiel my day has instantly become a Daan, Wieger, [Nick] Bax, Othmar [van whole lot better. Rijswijk], just the dudes we skate with. What do you want to say to older skaters? What’s the sickest video from the I guess that older skaters would still like to do Netherlands? it. It’s not about the tricks anymore, but more The latest 1 00% video, lots of different terrain, about the feeling. I mean, I could enjoy skaters and tricks. Every time I see it I feel like myself by having a slappy session on a curb there’s a good mix between skating and fun around the corner. Perhaps it might not be a stuff and music. It is our own video though, heavy thing to do but it’s a lot of fun. And I haha. hope the older guys that are still skating can stay skating for a long time. 47

Left: tailgrab.

Tailgrab

Another slash transfer

Dufarge

L'equipe esthetique I n terview: Sa n der R oden h u is / Ph otos: Ma rtijn va n Velden

Woetoe - fs ollie

Dufarge

Ah, the good old Rotterdam. Dutch skatecapital, aspiring world city and home of the worst football club of the Netherlands. Ha. It's also the homebase of Dufarge. Now, even though they like to be seen as a Dutch brand instead of a Rotterdam brand, it's undeniable that the city is a source of inspiration to the people behind Dufarge. We set out to Rotterdam to find out what they're all about.

skaters didn’t get the surf influence and viceversa. So we took that out, but the graphic influence stayed. Like, the typo comes from a really old book about arranging shop windows. It’s also a nice platform to work with friends that are on the creative side.

You said you guys also surf, why did you choose for making skateboard products instead of focusing on the surfing market? Hugo: Because we’re essentially still skaters, we’ve both been skating since we’re ten years old. I mean, surfing is cool but I mostly see myself as skateboarder.

What does the name ‘Dufarge’ stand for? Niels van der Zwan: Hugo can answer that one. Hugo de Pagter: It comes from Salinger, he’s my favourite writer. His books are about the innocence of youth and keeping that innocence for as long as possible. We found that to be a good metaphor for skateboarding, that’s wat you do when you skate, staying young as long as possible. Dufarge is a character from one of his stories, called ‘The Laughing man'. Have you ever read one of his books? I know who he is but I haven’t read a book from him, no. Hugo: So yeah, that’s where Dufarge comes from.

Can you guys explain how the team is set up? Hugo: Well, Sneep does slappy noseslides, Denny sex changes, haha. Niels: Sneep was the first. We started with making T-shirts, and then other things like boards. How long has Sneep been on the team? Four years or something like that? Hugo: We asked him to be part of the team right in front of this bar, actually. How romantic. Niels: He was the only team rider for a while, he How did Dufarge start? has his own way of skating, but he’s also busy Hugo: Niels and I have known eachother for a with filming and stuff. After that Denny long time, and we wanted to begin a T-shirt [Wagner] joined, he’s so sick! All style, all smile. brand at first, but that never became anything. I really like it when people ride for Dufarge and I’m a graphic designer myself, and had a design they’re approachable, instead of arrogant, you agency together with someone else. We were know? I’m not really sure who got on after that, looking for a way to make things that were free maybe German Stefan? work, so we wanted to do things besides the Hugo: Could be true. We asked him right here assignments we had to for our work. If there as well, haha. Our team roots at the Tiki Bar, was no deadline or plan, nothing happened. and we end up here as well, haha. Then, together with Niels, we got the idea to do Niels: There’s also the stickerteam, led by Thijs. what we always wanted to do: making Nah, that’s just all the people around Dufarge, skateboards for ourselves. Basically Dufarge the people we drink beers and skate with. It’s was started to make all the things that we more just a group of friends. Eventually Marcel wanted to make. [Beemster] was kicked off by Sevenply Niels: I remember how we had a big list with Hugo: Dufarge is like a resthouse for old potential names from which we chose Dufarge. skaters that are not sponsored anymore. Hugo: I’m not sure what names we came up Niels: Michael also rides for Dufarge but he’s with. been missing for a year now I think. Niels: A lot of names, for sure. And I think we Hugo: Stefan doesn’t skate anymore I think. decided on the typography right away as well. Niels: That’s all cool, there’s no rules or Hugo: Yeah, at first everything was mixed anything as far as the team goes. together, all the influences we liked. We both surfed as well, but it didn’t really work out: You recently made Woetoe ‘bro’, can we 53

Sneep - nosemanual

Dufarge

expect more of this soon? Niels: We can't say anything about this. Hugo: No comment.

morning that he didn’t sleep since he had this great idea. That was the OMA board. It’s just a super hard idea to realise because it’s a design of one of the biggest architects in the world. The other guys worked it out on paper, and Greg, a skater we’ve known for 25 years or something, works at OMA. So Greg pitched the idea to Rem Koolhaas and he loved it. Which is really sick, because you can really make it something special that way. The first twenty people that bought a board got a screenprinted bag, for instance. And everything that’s on the board has to be exactly right, all the colours and dimensions. We had them made at Generator, where Magenta also buys their boards, and made sure they were screenprinted so the colours were absolutely perfect. Just like a hat, there should be embroidery like this on the back of it to make it perfect. Also with a hoody, I’ll finish designing one pretty quickly, but then the other designers look at it and add a label here and there. Which is the best thing about it, making good products. Same with the OMA board, where we really did a lot for it besides just that board. Instead of having the pressure of releasing a new board every

Who made the graphics for Woetoes board? Hugo:Michiel Walrave. I’ve known him for a long time. I once asked him for a cruiser, his style just fits skating. For Woetoes board we already had an idea of what we wanted, which fit perfectly to how he made the graphic. Michiel really liked making this graphic. Niels: You made our first graphic right, Hugo? After that Michiel came with that shark graphic. Hugo: No, we came up with that. Niels: Did we make the Koen decks after that? No wait, with the OMA deck, together with Rem Koolhaas. Do you prefer to work on projects instead of just designing something, and if it looks sick put it on a board? Hugo: Both, we still have a lot of ideas that we never did anything with. For the OMA deck, I was just thinking about it, made a sketch and then with Niels and Ties Niels: No, he sent me a message in the

Dufarge

season, this feels way better to do.

hanging in the Booijmans, goes abroad for three months, then he’s on TV proudly showing the three boards he made. That’s really sick. Another board we made, a wooden cruiser, someone just came to us with the idea and we made it. Screenprinted it by hand, lasercut the griptape, how many wheels did you look at before finding the perfect fit for the board, Hugo? A lot of times we have an idea and then it can take a long time before it’s worked out, which is nice. At the beginning we felt some pressure about following the general brand strategy about releasing products per season, but we dropped that now. That makes it more fun really. Like the Woetoe board, we got the idea around Pooligans, now look at when it’s done. Everyone’s hyped on it.

So you rather have something well thought out than releasing something every two weeks, let’s say. Hugo: Everything we make we want to use ourselves, of course you want to make a good product then. Niels: Like the T-shirts we made at the beginning, we tested a lot of different ones because we don’t want anyone to spend their hard earned money on a T-shirt that doesn’t fit anymore after washing it three times. That’s really essential for Dufarge, yeah. Is Dufarge a full time thing for you guys? Niels: It’s a side project. Hugo: Sadly. The market in the Netherlands is just too small to really do it full time. Plus there’s all the politic and bullshit, people look at you as this brand from Rotterdam while you don’t want to be like that, but still people from Amsterdam think a Rotterdam based brand is lame, that stuff. I think it’s easier to go European than making something that sells good everywhere in the Netherlands. Going European is something else though, we both don’t really have the time for it.

So you could say Dufarge stands for doing things together, and making things that are thoroughly thought out. Hugo: Yeah, it’s all about doing things with your friends, whether it’s skating, designing a graphic or drinking beers in the Tiki Bar, that’s where it came from and I think you can really see it as well. I mean, we don’t have the best… Actually, we do have the best skaters of this country. But that’s not necessary to do something rad. Niels: We were in Barcelona once, and nobody had lists of tricks and spots they wanted to skate, which is really relaxed. Skating like it should be, of course you’re filming stuff but it’s all about fun at the end.

Do you guys have a specific goal or anything? Niels: I just think it’s sick that we make things together with other people and that they’re hyped on it. Like Koen, he designed three boards and some T-shirts for us, and now he’s Justin Ghijsen - layback grind

56 57

Gallery

Photo: Sander Rodenhuis

'Cornelis Lely' by Piet Esser Granite, basalt, bronze Lelystad, 1 984

pt. 2

Wouter Molenaar - beanplant Photo: Martijn van Velden

'Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp' by Jozef Geefs Bronze Rotterdam, 1 865

Sebastiaan Vijverberg - backside flip Photo: Martijn van Velden

'Pressed Circles' by AndrĂŠ van Lier Stainless steel Den Haag, 1 980

Maikel van de Paverd - fs 1 80 nosegrind Photo: Sander Rodenhuis

Wave (Panta Rhei) by Jeroen Stok Granito, stainless steel Lelystad, 1 994

Joey Vreugdenhil - nosegrind

Photo: Martijn van Velden

'La Grande Musicienne' by Henri Laurens Bronze Rotterdam, 1 966

Marc-Francis van den Arend - nosegrind Photo: Martijn van Velden

'Feniks' by Ossip Zadkine Bronze Arnhem, 1 955

Photo: Sander Rodenhuis

'Prancing horse' by Fons Bemelmans Concrete, bronze Lelystad, 1 993

Alex van Zwietering - no Photo: Martijn van Velden

'Cornucopia' by Bas Maters Aluminium Delft, 1 994

Romain Bardet

about filming, friends and photos Interview: Sander Rodenhuis Photos: Romain Bardet

Hi Romain, can you introduce yourself a little? Who are you, what

besides that the first is filmed in HD and the latter on VX?

do you do?

I didn't like the look of my HD setup and didn't have much money at

I am a motion designer from a town called Le Mans, France, and I

the time so I went back to the good old VX1 000. That's the only

am currently living in Paris.

difference to my eyes.

Since I wasn't that good at skateboarding, I started filming my

Each of them contain a year of footage that was staying in my hard

friends at the age of 1 3, and haven't stopped since then.

drive, and had to come out. I edited Rebound as a sequel to

I rapidly connected with people from the towns around mine, and

Bounced because they were made the same way: filming with no

made a website called "behind the lens" regrouping filmers and

goal in mind.

photographers from the region. We then decided to make a skate DVD alltogether and "Frame by Frame" was born.

How did you film the intro for Rebound? The camera keeps on

Since then I filmed what happened during sessions with my friends

filming from higher until it seems like you have to be flying.

and people I encounter, without thinking too much about it.

It's just filming my friend from the top of the highest tower of Nantes city.

I became a fan of your work through watching 'Rebound', which seems like the perfect mix of good skating, solid filming but

You are a photographer as well, do you combine filming and

mostly a lot of fun. How important is showing the fun side of

photographing or do you always choose to do only one of these at

skateboarding to you?

a time, like go out for a specific photo?

I think because me and my friends don't take ourselves too

I always carry my Xpan in my camera bag. When I can't film

seriously, almost every session is funny. All I have to do is to film it.

because of another filmer, or when I like the look of a spot and a

We were in Barcelona a few days ago and a friend started trying a

trick, I ask the skater to do it again for a photo. Also I have no flash

wallride on stairs, the others didn't like the spot so everybody was

so I can't shoot at night. My priority on the spot is filming.

watching. He spent the whole afternoon trying his wallride and

If you mean mixing photography and video in an edit, I have seen it

didn't even make it. Many guys would be pissed off to have to wait

nicely made but never did it myself. That's something I should look

but not my friends. Even though he went full madness mode,

forward to. I like mixed media, I used 3D on Alexis Jamet's part for

everybody was joking around! I guess I'm lucky!

Liveskateboardmedia, and I loved making it, but I need a purpose to

Thanks for the filming part! I try to keep it clean and it can be hard

do it.

sometimes but it's good to challenge yourself. The thing I take a lot

You also made this small video called 'c'est bien ĂŠcoute', which is

of heart on is finding unknown music, or some that were not used

on skate videos to my knowledge. I've been a skate rat spending my an absolute masterpiece. What went into making this video? time on Mirc, and discovered so much music through skate videos.

I don't feel like it's a masterpiece. Alexis and I made it for a video

So I don't want to see anyone else than Saari skating to rock 'n roll

contest. He made the animations, we filmed in an afternoon and I

suicide for example.

edited it in one night. The music is from the friends at Galerie 1 26, in

Which videos would you say influence your own videos?

any ugly logo!

Rennes. Since we lost the contest, we decided uploading it without I can't really answer this one so I'll tell you the ones i really liked

Do you think there's a difference between the skate scene in Paris

those last 5 years, and at the same time the people I look for.

Pontus Alv's and especially TSOTS, FESN Overground broadcasting, and the skate scene in the rest of France? Magenta's, Yoan Taillandier's, Tonic skateboard's and Brothervids',

The big difference is that there is way more media coverage in Paris,

GX1 000's, The LurkNYC series, Johnny Wilson's, Dime's, and Colin

and more foreigners passing by. Other than that it's pretty much the

Read's especially his "new york clip" series, the Isle video, Sabotage same as the rest of France, in my opinion. 3, and recently I really liked TULIP from Sirus F. Gahan.

That's about it, thanks Romain! What are the differences between 'Bounced' and 'Rebound'

TE VER OM TE FIETSEN On a slightly sunny sunday in December, we set out to Rotterdam to meet up with the Backstreet Boys of the Dutch skateboard capital. They usually go under the name of 'Te Ver Om Te Fietsen', literally translated to 'Too Far To Cycle'. If there is an award for best skatecrew out there, TVOTF are heavy contenders. During that one day I spend with the crew, I had so much fun I kind of forgot to take notes for this article. Words & not-skatephotos: Sander Skatephotos: Martijn

Yannick Witvoet - 5050.

Te Ver Om Te Fietsen

Milan Schets - wallride to fakie. Martijn almost died while shooting this.

Rick den Ouden- wallride to fakie. Not impressed.

This spot is called the 'Haaienvin'. It's basically two banks that come together at the end. This spot is a classic Rotterdam spot, at least in my book. Apparantly this pole was put there only recently, so it created a few new options to skate this spot Top: Bottom:

Yannick

Witvoet Rachid

77Addou

no -

comply ollie.

Jeremy 'Pils" van der Eijk blasts a swtich polejam indy while Rick gets the footy.

Marnix van Tol, ollie from bump to bump.

If you're an avid Essay-reader, Thijmen Brinkman is no stranger to you. We interviewed him for issue two, about his skateboard company called 'Loose Skate Co'. Recently, his company turned one year old. Thijmen saw this is as a good reason to throw a birthday party, but not one like other birthday parties. He built an object to skate, brought it to a spot in Rotterdam and held a best-trick contest. We were there and asked him some question some time later. Interview & not-skatephotos: Sander / Skatephotos: Martijn

Hey Thijmen, where are you at right now? I’m in Bristol, UK. What are you doing there? I’m doing this exchange thing for my illustration study, so I’m currently studying at the University of the West of England. How’s the skatescene over there? Sick, it’s lifely. But of course the weather over here is quite shit so there’s not a lot happening these months, even though there are some indoor spots. School’s taking up a lot of time as well so yeah.

Thijmen Brinkman - 5-0 up and off

How did the first year of Loose Skate Co. go? Pretty quick at the beginning, I printed the boards by hand so I could make new things quite fast. After some time I wanted more professional looking boards, which cost me a lot of time researching different producers and workshops. While I was still making new designs I also spent a lot of my efforts on finding the best wood and shapes for new products. When I finally found it, Loose already existed for about seven months, and before you know it it’s your one-year anniversary. Have you had any setbacks? Steven Sainz - beanplant Not really any big setbacks, apart from the fact that I’m still at school which costs me a lot of time. Whenever I have a deadline coming up, I can spend a month not doing anything on Loose. I’ve got a lot of ideas but Loose is always second, school first. But yeah, nothing too bad happened this year.

What’s the best thing that happened this year? I know it’s kind of cliché but seeing someone skating your product is a great feeling. It’s really sick. Also the fact that people know Loose and have an opinion about it. Giving a birthday party and having fifty people turn up is also pretty cool. What’s on your agenda for the next year? When I’m back from England we’ll bring out a new board. Plus I’m going to start screenprinting T-shirts, and a new griptape will be available. You can also expect a new teamrider, but it’s all just ideas for now. Expect a lot for when I’m back, haha! When will you be back? Probably at the end of June, somewhere in the summer. That’s a good time to drop new stuff. Other than that, mostly small, strictly business stuff like a new webshop and website. Not really interesting haha, but these things gotta happen too. Hopefully I can make a video one day too. And I want to organise an exposition when the new board drops, with my own drawings and photos. Do you have any tips for people looking to do the same thing? It might sound lame, but just do it. Don’t aim to sell 2000 boards and being in every skateshop in Europe. Start with handmade boards, a small run so it’s easier to handle. Selling 1 5 handmade boards feels way better than not selling 40 professional made board, haha. After a while you’ll gain momentum, and keep researching about things that exist already and things that are popular at the moment. You just have to do it, really. The most important thing is to have a good target audience, which is pretty easy for skaters. Skaters tend to support something small relatively easy. I completely back the not expecting too much part. Essay started out as a

Joey Vreugdenhil - ollie up, crooked down

twenty paged photozine, and now look at where are. Also keep it fun for yourself. The sickest part is that small things get bigger, just enjoy it.

Woetoes column

The terms frontside and backside are really important in skateboarding. It tells how you do your trick. For some frontside is more approachable than backside, or opposite. Most people seem to find backside skating easier. Because you can spot your landing. Most beginners start doing stuff backside first. Tricks such as a boardslide, an axle stall and a rock n' roll. But frontside has more style according to a lot of skaters. It looks better, it looks kinda aggro and it gets more style points. Frontside skating is pretty hard at some points. 'Cause a frontside boardslide is harder than a backside one, right? And a frontside rock n roll is way more awkward than a backside one. People choose between frontside and backside skating with their street or tranny skills. I like the fact that you can do tricks frontside or backside, it makes you become more creative. Some spots are only skateable if you do your trick backside,

Backside boardslide

Frontside vs backside

for example. If you have a variety in your bag of tricks according to the way you approach your obstacle you can skate lots of different stuff. Skating is more fun when you can skate both sides. Every skater is different so every skater choses different sides to do their trick. I personally do most tricks frontside. That works better for me since the first tricks I learned. I learned frontside 5050's first on a ledge and tranny as well. I learned frontside disasters first, frontside tailslides, frontside 1 80's/360's, frontside smith grinds and frontside slappies all before the backside versions. The statement that contains an opinion about frontside being more stylish is kind of bullshit. It totally depends on the personal style of the skaters. A frontside boneless can be less stylish than a backside boneless. Your back smith can look way sicker than your friends frontside smith. It's all about the skater him or herself.

Frontside boardslide / Photos: Martijn

Dé Bowl

Jeroen: I tightened three screws. [laughs] Douwe really made this thing all by himself. At the moment, it’s not completely finished yet, but are you planning on making it a public skate spot, when it’s done? Douwe: Yes, the idea is that whenever I’m working here On the 1 st of march our fellow columnist, and people ask if they can skate the bowl, they can Wouter Molenaar, invited me to come skate usually skate it. I’m definitely planning on announcing this new bowl I had heard about. We met up skate sessions as well. Skating with a bunch of people there with builders and all around rad guys gets me more hyped to skate as well. Douwe Beerda and Jeroen van Sluis. Even Allright, so you want to have an official opening of the though this issue was already packed with bowl soon? content, I decided to ask Douwe a few questions about his bowl and try to fit it in the Douwe: Yes, I’m not really sure how I’m going to do it yet, but I just chose a date and asked a friend if she wanted to magazine somewhere. play music. I want it to be fun and interesting for people, Interview & photos: Martijn van Velden who aren’t necessarily skaters as well. The date you chose was the 1 st of april? First of all, thanks for doing this, on the spur of the Douwe: Yes, but it might change, because there is moment. another event on the same day (Cruise & booze in Area Douwe: I probably would’ve said no if it was set up 51 , Eindhoven). So, it might be better to do it on a beforehand. [laughs] Could you start off with telling a little bit about yourself? different day. Woetoe: How did the other people in this building react, Who are you and where are you from? when you started building this bowl? Douwe: I’m Douwe. I’ve been living in Rotterdam for the past three or four years and I’m originally from Friesland. Douwe: I’ve only heard positive comments so far. A lot of people, like neighbours, know something is going on. And I’ve built shit. When they see it they are very surprised by the fact that Where did the idea for this bowl initially come from? Douwe: I’ve had the idea for a very long time. When I was there is such a sick thing hidden here. Jeroen: You can’t tell it’s here at all either. You just enter a young, we lived in a town with nothing to skate, so we workshop, climb up these crappy small stairs and then started to build our own ramps. I’ve always dreamed of building a concrete pool, so that’s where the idea of this you find this. bowl came from. That’s the one thing we don’t have here in Holland, Douwe: No, I’ve never skated an actual pool, but I always empty pools. thought it’d be super sick. So, I just fantasized about how Douwe: When I found this place, to start a wood workshop, I immediately thought about how cool it would it should look and then I built it. I had a few things in mind be if there would be something to skate as well. My initial I really wanted. I wanted two tight corners and I didn’t idea was a proper indoor vert ramp, but I would need too want it to be very wide, so you could make a very fast carve. much space and height, leaving no room for the Jeroen: I tried to make a drawing for Douwe. I made it workshop itself. A bowl was possible though. very skateable and Douwe was like: “You’re such a pussy! Jeroen: It’s not possible at all! [laughs] Douwe: But it should be impossible. You have to do things It has to be almost impossible to skate.” So, that’s what he did. It’s totally skateable, it’s just really hard and that’s that aren’t possible to keep it exciting. The location is really nice. You have a wood workshop what makes it so sick. Douwe: Yes, that’s definitely something I’m very stoked here as well? Douwe: Yes, I make windows, doors, window frames, stuff on. I didn’t make any concessions and it just worked out really good. It was all a big experiment and at first I really like that. Anything I come across really. I like making didn’t know how to approach certain things. I just tried it these things a lot, but once in a while I want to do and it worked out. something different. Something for fun. That’s really sick. There’s not a lot of people out there You made everything yourself, up to pouring the poolcoping yourself. Who helped you with building the that just do something like this. Jeroen: A lot of people fantasize about it, but only a few bowl? actually end up doing it. Douwe: Jeroen has helped building a few afternoons.

Top: Douwe Beerda - smith / Bottom: Woetoe - lien to tail

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Horizontal 1 Danny backside flips in (7) 2 Tim Zom 5050s a very small rail in (1 2) 4 What is Woetoes favorite side? (9) 5 Keenan Milton or Jason Jesse? (1 0) 1 0 Jeremy ... van der Eijk (4) 1 1 Marcel Veldman owns all issues of (1 0) 1 3 What's the name of the best skateboard magazine? (5) Vertical 3 The only boat in this magazine (6) 6 How much Ziggy Schaap photos do you count? (4) 7 Best footballclub of the Netherlands? (4) 8 Where was the intro for Rebound filmed? (6) 9 Where does the name Dufarge come from? (8) 1 2 How much Woetoe photos do you count? (5) 1 4 Where does the Cornucopia statue stand? (5)