Some days ago Chus Asensio and I attended the Bright Skate Trade Show in Berlin, which is one of the most established streetwear, fashion and boardsports fairs in Europe. Everything is boardsports related, specially skateboarding.
Chus and I arrived to Berlin with -4º, so that was not fun, but went immediately to the Funky Summer Longboard Shop where Peter Markgraf -our host- was waiting for us. He’s a pro longboarder and has the loveliest girlfriend ever, Svantje. The four of us plus the craziest polish person I’ve ever met -Maciej Żołnierkiewicz from GoLongboard.pl– lived as a dysfunctional happy family for 5 days… even Maciej’s threats of killing us all while we were sleeping didn’t ruin our stay.
From left to right: Peter, Svantje, Chus and I at the Funky Summer Longboard Shop
The first day in the fair was great, met a lot of people and saw Bright’s environment. That night we had our first skating night in Berlin. We met with Simon Arsenidis, a long-time German friend from Madrid who’s now back in Berlin and all the other local riders. We also met most of the Bastl Boards family members, which came from Leipzig to the fair and hanged out together most of the days. I instantly fell in love with everyone… such nice people and such great vibes!
Esther Suave kills it! One foot manual. Pic by Ian Joe Dutch
The second day of the fair was exhausting, but again we got to talk and meet many people from the industry. All of us were there, so party started early in the Longboard Stock booth and ended up in the SkateHalle, which is an old train factory turned into a skating paradise. Indoor, outdoor, street, vertical… you have everything. We even attended a spontaneous competition. The skateboarding scene is Berlin is rad.
Hanging out at the Longboard Stock booth with Peter, Maciej, Yogi, Ian & Chus. Photo by Esther Suave.
Maciej & Peter feeling the love. Pic by Esther Suave.
Ian Joe Dutch is awesome. Pic by Ian Joe Dutch.
The energies for the third day were not at its top, but we still managed to get to Bright and some sight seeing with Simon. It was -8º, so that’s not what I call an “outside” weather. The last night we hung out all together, as Maciej had lost his train back to Poland and his plans of killing us all had failed one more time.
Simon, Chus & me having a laugh in the photo booth
We came back to Madrid’s warm weather but missed our new friends immediately. I always say that cities are the people that build them, and I’ll keep saying that when there’s a longboard community, you’ve got friends. Peter, Svantje, Maciej, Simon, Esther, Sebastian, Ian, Wolf, Alexander, CelLo & all the Bastl Boards family: We can’t thank you enough for these amazing, exhausting and super fun days in Berlin. Will see you soon our friends!
Can’t help but love this sport and the people we meet everyday a little more -if something like that is possible.
Thanks for the photos Esther Suave & Ian Joe Dutch!
Valeria Kechichian