a brief glance issue_50

issue

50

Photo Davide Biondani

Alessandro Benedetti. Warsaw, 2018.

Ale Benedetti is a young skater from Trieste, a beautiful city in the extreme north-eastern part of Italy, but he actually lives in Milano at the present time. He’s the kind of skater you don’t notice at first, but after a while you realize he has a unique vision of skateboarding: the way he skates perfectly reflects his personality, quiet and creative.

This photo was supposed to be the cover of issue 50. Ale found an original and sick way to Bs kickflip

skate this spot. Sorry Ale, but

transfer

we had to use another shot this

to fs nose

time. We love you and owe you

bs tailslide

a cover.

blazer chukka

nikesb.com @nikesb

Photo Davide Biondani.

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When I started skating, people over 30 were considered too old for skateboarding. Simone Bertozzi and Giorgio Zattoni started at the same time more or less, in 1987 and 1988, respectively. They have never stopped skating since then, Giorgio has become one of the top professional skateboarders in the world and was also the second pera brief glance

son to ever land the 900, while Simone keeps skating for himself with his friends. How many 42 and 43-year-olds do you know that can blast a 6-meters high vert ramp with a sick double like this one?! This shot couldn’t end up anywhere else but on the cover of our 50th issue. The fact that they are two of our best friends and two of our favorite skateboarders makes us even happier for this one. For the record, they are the only skaters that have already had another a brief glance cover. db_

Marianna HC Ramp, Mazzano, Italy

Giorgio Zattoni fs air over Simone Bertozzi’s fs rock.

Photo Davide Biondani [Canon]

CALIFORNIA SPORT- TEL 011-9277943 WWW.CALIFORNIASPORT.INFO

hat’s the point in making a skateboard magazine in 2018? In a time when life moves quickly, when things get old the next day, and people are like, “Oh, cool, is there any footage of that?” what’s the use in spending thousands of Euros in photo equipment and weeks of hard work, of spending entire nights writing articles, and of laying on the filthy, smelly ground for hours, trying to get the best possible angle, all just to come out with an issue of the mag?

Skateboarding is a difficult “sport,” technically too difficult, you have to make a foreign body (your skateboard) perform hundreds of different movements using your feet... skateboarding is something you can’t do just as a “hobby,” like kicking around a soccer ball, which is super fun and that more or less everyone knows how to do.

You can’t only skate every now and then, you have to be constant, otherwise you won’t be able to do it well.

You can’t pretend to skate. It’s too difficult, it wouldn’t work.

50

Making a skateboard magazine is like skating, you can’t fake it, you’ve got to do it 24/7, you have to put in lots of passion, hard work, dedication, enthusiasm, and the right dose of madness to push you to keep on doing it.

We’re here to present to you issue 50 of this adventure that began almost 8 years ago, time during which we have published over 8000 pages of content. We are excited to have reached this goal, and we are even more excited to still be doing this awesome job that drives us crazy at times but we love it so much.

A thank you to all the people who have concretely helped and supported us over the years, to our families, and to those who have believed in this project, to the skaters who have dedicated their time and energy to us, and above all, to the photographers who still believe in skate photography and who have contributed to our mag with their awesome shots.

Personal note: this issue of the mag and the whole a brief glance project are dedicated to my dad. [ Davide Biondani ]

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2018

WWW.CARHARTT-WIP.COM MAX PALMER — POLE JAM • PHOTO — ALEXANDRE PIRES

216 pages. Hard cover.

SOMETIMES is the second

24 x 17 cm. Quality print.

book from a brief glance skateboardmag. The best photos, articles, interviews

CLICK HERE

and special features we have released during the

TO ORDER

second six months of 2017

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magazine.

on the web editions of our

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a brief glance

Quietness

Fragments

01

a brief glance photo gallery

02 04

Skateboard Alphabet

Nicola Giordano

Glances of Warsaw

03

New Balance Numeric Italy in Poland

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b

it . s d oar

fo

za a l p @

r

in ds.it

.p

boa a z la

Pietro BontĂ - bs smith / ph: Federico Casella

www

a brief glance | year VIII n°50

EDITOR and CONCEPT_ Davide Biondani. {davide@abriefglance.com} ASSOCIATE EDITOR_ Guido Bendotti. {guido@abriefglance.com} ASSISTANT EDITOR_ Andrew Zolin.

TRANSLATIONS_ Jonathan Levin.

PHOTOGRAPHERS_ Leo Sharp, Jonathan Mehring, DVL, Craig Dodds, Brian Gaberman, Marcello Guardigli, Davide Biondani, Giulia Romano, Rafski, Reece Leung, Kuba Bączkowski, Sebastiano Bartoloni, Fred Mortagne, Joel Peck, Sergio Pontillo, Henry Kingsford.

CONTRIBUTORS_ Francesco Paolo Chielli, Mario Torre, Mark Baines.

DESIGN_ M. Bod Ciceri {Question Mark, ink!#?} GET ALL THE INFO at: info@abriefglance.com

a brief glance skateboard mag is a bulletin published by Fake Donkey Skateboard asd.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher.

All rights reserved.

Thanks to Canon Italia for the support.

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Lukas Kolasowski [Crooked grind] Photo_Davide Biondani.

Levi Brown. Portrait Davide Biondani.

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F

R

A

G

M

E

N

T

S

Pietro BontĂ ........................................... Lecce Fabio Montagner .................................... Treviso Jonathan Levin ......................................... Roma Danny Wainwright ........................... Barcelona

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Pietro BontĂ Bs tailslide Lecce, Italy Photo Davide Biondani / Canon

Fabio Montagner Wallie bluntslide bs out Treviso, Italy Photo Davide Biondani / Canon

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Jonathan Levin Fs lipslide Roma, Italy Photo Davide Biondani / Canon

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Danny Wainwright Layback ollie Barcelona, Spain Photo Rafski

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Nicola is the kind of skater whom you could start to hate for the way he lands every trick first try with the most amazing grace you could ever imagine… ha ha. Naaah, you cannot hate Nico, he’s too good and nice!

He’s from Milano and he’s one of the locals at the train station spot; you can catch him skating the white ledges there with his buddies every day.

*

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The funny thing is that none of the photos in this interview were shot in Milano, because we spent 4 days in the Naples area as a backup plan after another shooting mission had failed.

This was a chance for me to spend some time together and get to know him better.

Nico is a quiet, clever, and super polite person with a deep sense of humor.

The way he skates is the way you would’ve always wanted to skate, at 27 he’s out with his board every day unless he’s busy with modeling jobs, on tour with DC Shoes, or helping out the guys at Samurai Suicide Distribution that support him with Dumb Skateboards.

Hey Nico, we’re working on a new mission, get your stuff ready.

[ kickflip ]

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Hi Nicola, present yourself briefly.

Romero, and bs noseblunt nollie flip to fakie

Hi, I’m Nicola Giordano, I’m 27 years old and live

over the gap by Jacopo Carozzi.

in Milan.

How is living in Milan? It seems like the city is

going through a rebirth, both in general and skate-wise.

Centrale is dope but it’s also a black hole that

keeps skaters from moving around more.

The city has other crews, spots, and scenes though...

Yes, Milan is super chill and in the last few years

Damn, yeah Centrale is the best, but it’s also

the city has been revolutionized urbanistically,

true that hanging out in the piazza for too long

which is something us skaters really appreciate.

causes a state of mystical alienation, ha ha ha.

This is the reason why I like to skate around to

You skate Milano Centrale every day, how’s

different street spots and not get stuck there.

with lots of new young skaters who are good.

After wandering about for a while, a year ago

has once again become the hottest spot not

how’s it going with them? The team seems

the scene there? It seems to be very alive

After a decade of oblivion, it seems like MC only in Italy.

more or less you got on the DC Shoes team,

pretty active with tours and other activities...

Stazione Centrale is our meet-up spot, our

I immediately felt at home with the Italian DC

second home. It’s unique, in fact you can always

team. It’s almost like a second family, going

find someone skating there and many kids and

around with the guys is really fun: each guy has

skaters from all over the world hang out there.

his own skills and we motivate each other! Only good vibes: we have mad fun and Federico the

Who do you usually skate with?

team manager is a boss.

I usually skate with Ruben Spelta, Jacopo Carozzi, Torre, or with my brother Marco when

Regarding boards, you’re part of a solid reality like Dumb Skateboards...

we manage to see each other.

Dumb? It’s the shit!!!! We’re always on the road If you had to name three top tricks done at

skating, just out of this world, ha ha ha. I love

Centrale, which would you choose?

it. Tomorrow I’m catching up with the others in

Switch heel bs tailslide on the ledge by Stevie

Pescara, I can’t wait to get there. Gio is the best

Williams, flip fs krooked over the grate by Leo

for real.

[ fs nose grind ]

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[ nosebonk ]

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Apart from skating, what are your interests

everything! Ha ha ha.

mentioned the fact that you like drawing

The photos for this article were all shot

industry, what are you up to?

four days, on a mission born pretty much by

and what do you do for a living? You and that you sometimes work in the fashion At present I’m helping out at the Samurai Distribution

warehouse,

which

I

alternate

between Naples and Salerno over a period of

chance; how was skating alone and outside of the comfort zone of your home spots?

between working as a model and doing TV

I love casual missions! I must admit that skating

commercial extras, stuff like that. Apart from

alone was a bit strange, I’m not so used to it;

skating, I’ve always loved drawing and creating

I like company and homies are at the heart of

things.

skateboarding for me. Luckily I was with you and Mario, who I thank again for the hospitality.

As a child you learned to play the piano, how did this passion come about? Do you still play

It was your first time in the Campania region,

I’ve been playing the piano since I was small. My

Mozzarelle,

parents used to make me study and do concerts,

zizzone... the weather is dope and the people

but I didn’t like it; so this is why I do it for myself

are super friendly and warm.

from time to time?

what impressed you the most? burrate,

seasoned

mozzarelle,

when I feel the need to relax.

Playing the piano requires concentration, balance, inspiration, and coordination, just like skateboarding! Is this why you’re so good at skating?

Ha ha ha! Yes, the example fits the bill! They’re

Of all the places you’ve seen in your life, where would you live?

I have a weakness for Barcelona and New York.

What are your plans for the next few months?

What are you working on right now, any

surely connected and share many similarities,

videoparts?

like the perseverance needed to try something

I’m working on a videopart for DC shoes that will

again and again.

be out at the end of the year, probably together with the boss Kevin Duman. I’m also working on

For one hundred Euros would you tell me the

other more material projects that include Stinky

secret to doing such graceful 360 flips?

Trouble and Depiazza, but for the time being I

Ha ha ha, ok, when we meet in person I’ll tell you

can’t say much more.

[ bs nose grind bs out ]

[ wallie ]

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[ impossible ] a brief glance

[ ollie up to fs kickflip ]

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[ fs 180 switch 5-0 revert ]

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THE WAY HE SKATES IS THE WAY YOU WOULD’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SKATE

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Words & Photography Davide Biondani / Canon.

[ NEW BALANCE NUMERIC Italy IN POLAND ]

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The idea of going to Warsaw came up with Lukasz Kolasowski’s entry into the Italian NB Numeric team; he was born in Poland and his family moved to Italy when he was 3 years old, so he speaks a fluent dialect of Verona, the city where he lives and where he has spent more time than in Poland. So we went to Warsaw for the spots and also to welcome Lukasz and pay homage to his roots.

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LUKASZ KOLASOWSKI [ FS SMITH GRIND ]

[ the CITY ] Warsaw is a great city, it’s big but not extremely so, its architecture is a mix of classic Eastern European buildings and super modern skyscrapers, something you’ll notice especially in the city center. In general, the city looks alive with a lot of young people around and a lot of urban renewal; it seems that they are investing in the growth of the city and of future generations.

RAFFAELE POLA [ BS 50-50 ]

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ALE BENEDETTI [ BS KICKFLIP TO BS TAIL & FS NOSESLIDE ]

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DAVIDE HOLZKNECHT [ GAP TO 5-0 ]

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[ NEW BALANCE NUMERIC Italy IN POLAND ]

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[ best GUIDE ] In 90% of the cases, having a good tour guide on a skate trip is the balance between it being a great success or a loss of time and money. Our guide was the one and only Michal Juras, who spent the whole week with us, showing us around all the best spots and how to get to them. He took us to all the right places to eat or chill at after skating. He skated with the boys and of course he killed it. Thanks Michal.

MICHAL JURAS [ NOSEBONK ]

MASSIMO CRISTOFOLETTI [ SWITCH FS HEELFLIP ]

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DAVIDE HOLZKNECHT [ SWITCH 360 FLIP ]

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[ the HOTEL ] Our hotel was in a suburb close to Michal’s house. It was a 4-star, actually a 2, but it was ok in the end. They were doing some construction work and on the first morning at 6.45am two workers started knocking down a wall with a jackhammer right outside Greg’s room... the whole floor literally shook… ha ha. It was funny to think about Greg (NB Numeric’s TM) being woken up that way! Ha ha ha. What was not so funny was the fact that we were just next door.

[ the MUSIC ] Trap music is officially the worst music of the last 3 centuries. It’s worse than country music, samba, and even reggaeton!!! Davide Holzknecht constantly blasted trap music in the van, especially this one song with meaningless Italian lyrics that in the end became fun to listen to. Trap music still sucks though!

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GUIDO ZANOTTO [ SWITCH FLIP ]

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MASSIMO CRISTOFOLETTI [ BS BIGSPIN ]

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DAVIDE HOLZKNECHT [ VARIAL FLIP ]

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LUKASZ KOLASOWSKI [ KICKFLIP ]

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[ our PLAYGROUND ] Warsaw is full of spots. I knew there were some good ones, but honestly I didn’t expect to find so many. Along the Vistula River the city council has built an area with skateable concrete ledges, and not far from there is a bike track made of asphalt where you can have a sesh and get a drink at the nearby bar. Every metro station has a concrete bank with a glass wall. It looks like they were designed by a skater. Only in the city center there are at least 15/20 really good spots to skate. The DIY park the locals built inside an unfinished 4-storey car parking, with a street area and bowls, definitely deserves a special mention.

Perfect for when it rains. The impression is that in Warsaw the skate scene is very alive, and the city is more and more welcoming of skateboarding, in fact they are building a brand new concrete park under a bridge along the Vistula river.

RAFFAELE POLA [ NOSEBLUNT BOMB DROP ]

ALE BENEDETTI [ FS BLUNTSLIDE ]

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[ TIPS ] In Warsaw you are not allowed to drink alcohol on the street, so while we were having a beer at the ledge spot two cops came up to us and tried to explain in Polish that we couldn’t do that and that we had to go to the river embankment to drink. It sounded strange to us. Thanks Michal for the translation. 84.8% of Polish guys are big, really big, and they look mean. Gym and the hooligan attitude seems to be very popular there.

We had to leave a spot we were skating at because of a big, dumb-looking, wannabe badboy dressed like 50 Cents who spent an hour of his useless life shouting at us in Polish and threatening to call his friends at the gym to come and kick our asses.

For the record, he could have kicked our asses by himself, but he just kept talking and acting tough while on the phone, and talking aggressively to Massi, the youngest of the crew. What a wanker. His friends never showed up so after filming five sick lines we left. He’s probably still on the phone waiting for his big buddies. Local photographer Kuba told us that spot is off-limits from 5pm for this very reason.

[ ABUNDANCE ] This was one of the most productive tours I’ve taken part in; on the last day I shot 12 good photos including three bangers down a 5 flat 5 double set as the sun was going down. You can get 12 good photos if you are lucky, but in one week! At the end of the trip Nick, the filmer, had 6+ minutes of footage. When the crew is good, the mood is positive, and the spots are interesting it’s easy to get quality stuff.

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[ the BOYS]

This trip saw two new faces on the team, Lukasz Kolasowski and Ale Benedetti.

Lukasz is the classic skater that you watch and think, “How can he be so smooth and light on his board and land every trick he tries, while I feel like an elephant every time I pop an ollie?”.

Ale Benedetti is the very last addition to the Italian NB Numeric team. He was invited to the tour two days before our departure, and since he likes to skate strange spots, while his team mates are all ledge masters, the first two days of ledge spots almost killed him mentally. But being one of the best and chillest guys out there, he waited for the right terrain where he blasted some gems. It’s always good to shoot new skaters who have an original style and a personal vision of skateboarding.

The rest of the team killed it, as always: Massimo is always silent and lands every trick he tries; Davide is a beast when he’s not listening to shitty trap music, while Guido is always down for a line or a chance to meet some milfs in restaurants at night.

Raffaele joined the crew for the weekend only, because he’s currently living in Amsterdam where he said he’s attending an art academy. We all know he actually moved to Holland to live the mid-90s techno scene revamp. Ha ha ha.

RAFFAELE POLA [ FOOTPLANT ] a brief glance

[ NEW BALANCE NUMERIC Italy IN POLAND ]

Interview / Davide Biondani | Intro / Alberto Chimenti Dezani

Alphabet by Evergreen design house / The Good Life Studio Aa

Bb

Cc

Dd

Ee

Ff

Gg

Hh

Ii

Jj

Kk

Ll

Mm

Nn

Oo

Pp

Qq

Rr

Ss

Tt

Uu

Vv

Ww

Xx

Yy

Zz

SKATEBOARD ALPHABET

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t times, an uncontrollable surge of nostalgia sweeps over you. A nostalgia tied to some memories, to specific, more or less key moments of your life and perhaps of your adolescence. A nostalgia tied to some places, songs, or images.

Images that have accompanied us along the way, that have left a mark, that have remained fixed in our mind but that with the passing of time, we may have forgotten.

But when that uncontrollable surge of nostalgia knocks on your door, all those images - little by little - come back to mind.

So you try not to forget them again, you want to ensure that somehow they will not be lost in some remote corner of your memory, as you wait for the next uncontrollable surge of nostalgia... ...So what do you do? You try not to let it happen again.

In a world more and more focused on the moment, on instant gratification, and on disposable contents, we have decided to respond with a small tribute to that which for us has signified a period of authentic discovery, of burning passion, and of a slow and steady falling in love with something that, in one way or another, is destined to remain in our memory forever.

Thank You Skateboarding.

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George Boutall Interview

How was the idea for this project born?

I had been wanting to create an alphabet dedicated to skateboarding for some time, as a sort of recognition for all that skateboarding has “given” us over the years. 36daysoftype is an Instagram initiative dedicated to drawing alphabets, and it seemed to me like the perfect moment to create the alphabet that had been floating around in my mind for a while. So I brought in Alberto Chimenti of The Good Life Studio, who really knows the deal when it comes to skateboarding, so we took off from there!

For the selection of photos to work on did you start

from images that you liked or did you give precedence to their adaptability to lettering?

Even before selecting the images we had to couple every letter of the alphabet to a certain trick. For some letters, like the “A” for example, we didn’t have many alternatives so we chose “Air,” while for other letters, such as the “B” we had to choose between “Boardslide,” “Backside air,” or “Bigspin,” and we always used tricks that are important to the history of skateboarding.

Once we chose a trick, we tried to figure out who did that trick better or what version of the trick was more “legendary.” For the boardslide, I grew up watching videos of Steve Caballero boardsliding longer and longer rails, so our choice fell upon him. Then, we found a photo of the selected skater doing that trick and we adapted the lettering to the photo.

How long have you been into lettering and what do

you take care of usually?

I studied graphic design and in 2007 I spent the year in Finland, where they have a much more “hand-made” approach to graphic design, and there I discovered that you do not need a computer to draw fonts and types, to the contrary, by drawing them by hand they come out more natural and “authentic.” So I eventually fell in love with lettering, strictly hand-made of course, and when I opened my studio called Evergreen design house, we were among the first to offer this hand-made style, which nowadays has become much more common. At Evergreen we take care of everything that is visual, which obviously means lettering and graphic illustration, but now above all we take care of branding, publishing, and web design, and together with The Good Life Studio we also take care of video production and animation.

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What were the main problems you had to face?

Let’s say that the only real problem was trying to find the photos online that we had in mind. For example, one of us wanted to use a certain kickflip of such and such a skater that he had seen on Thrasher mag, but we couldn’t find it anywhere online so we had to choose another photo.

What techniques did you adopt while developing the

project?

The letters are all hand-drawn with Indian ink over a penciled sketch of the letter with the skater, we then scanned and colored them digitally and finalized them using photoshop.

Was it just you two guys who worked on it or were

other Good Life Studio members involved?

Actually six hands were involved in the making: the photo and trick selection was done by Alberto Chimenti, I took care of the creative side of it, while the drawings were done by our super illustrator Diego Marmi.

Which is your favorite letter and why?

It’s difficult to choose only one... For sure the “A” is one of the more important ones because it gave birth to it all. Tony Alva’s photo is truly a classic and we like how the letter becomes the transition for the trick. Also, the “H” is fantastic because the trick ties in perfectly with the shape of the letter, and being able to use the Gonz was exciting. Alberto’s favorite letter is surely the “V” because he was able to combine his passion for filming with the VX1000.

What feedback did you receive and are there any

developments tied to this or other particular projects at the moment?

We were amazed by the positive response we received from the skate community in general, but the biggest satisfaction was receiving feedback from the very skaters we depicted. Receiving compliments from Jamie Thomas for example was really epic!

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Thanks to all the positive feedback and the many requests we have received, we have decided to print a series of silkscreen posters with the whole alphabet,

STAY TUNED!

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SKATEBOARD ALPHABET

INSPIRATION

A__

Fs Air - Tony Alva - Grant Brittain

B__

Boardslide - Steve Caballero - Video screen da THPS2

C__

Crailslide - Daniel Cardone

D__

Darkslide - Rodney Mullen - ph. Daniel Harold Sturt

E__

Eggplant - Lance Mountain - ph. Glenn Friedman

F__

Fifty fifty - John Cardiel - ph. Gabe Morford

G__

Fs air - Tony Hawk - Cover THPS2

H__

Hippie jump - Mark Gonzales

I__

Impossible - Dylan Rieder

J__

Judo - Cristian Hosoi

K__

Kickflip - Brandon Westgate - ph. Cronan

L__

Lipslide - Heath Kirchart - ph. Atiba

M__

Melon - Jamie Thomas - ph.Grant Brittain

N__

Noseblunt - Eric Koston - ph. Blabac

O__

Ollie - Danny Wainwright - ph. Wig Worland

P__

Push - Tod Swank - ph. Grant Brittain

Q__

Quarterpipe - Peter Hewitt

R__

Rock to Fakie - Rick McCranck - ph. Ben Colen

S__

Smith grind - Jason Dill - ph. Anthony Acosta

T__

360 Flip - Josh Kalis - ph. Blabac

U__

Underflip - Rodney Mullen

V__

VX100 - filmer Bobby McCutchen - ph. Weston Kruse

W__

Wallride - Pontus Alv

X__ Y__

YoYo Plant - Joachim Schulz

Z__

Z Boys - Jay Adams - ph. Craig Stecyk

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Photo / Davide Biondani

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