Vans Europe presents: Valomerkki
The Moment (Vans Europe in Helsinki)
Photography by DVL
Words by Will Harmon
“I can’t believe like, since I won Prague, my life just changed so quick. I hooked up with good sponsors, I meet so many people, started travelling so much… For me it’s crazy like, it’s like a dream come true.” The immortal words of Rodrigo TX in the intro of Menikmati… What everyone saw that day, at that Mystic Cup in 1999, was Rodrigo’s breakout moment. He was the guy that suddenly everyone was talking about. A similar thing happened this July in Helsinki, but this time the name on everyone’s lips was Simon Hallberg. After dazzling the crowds at the HELride comp Simon joined the Vans Europe squad for their jaunt through the Finnish capital. “There was like 38 people in the group chat for this one,” Chris Pfanner said, adding that it was the biggest trip he’s ever been on, and Simon was crowned MVP at the end of it. Via the photos in this article and the edit coming out to accompany it, you’ll see why…
Simon Hallberg, switch bluntslide 270
Chris Pfanner
Over the span of your skate career, can you pinpoint a moment where everything clicked, or you had a particular breakout moment, where suddenly things started really going right for you?
Chris Pfanner: I would say like around 2006, when I first met Anthony Acosta in Long Beach. I was staying with Johnny Layton and Nick Trapasso at that time and Johnny had just turned pro, and was waiting on his pro shoe (from Vans). And you can imagine the situation, Johnny was living the good life: the boys were just smoking weed, playing PlayStation all the time and weren’t really bothered. And I was just there for a limited amount of time, I couldn’t drive or do anything, so I was depending on other people to go out to skate. But luckily Anthony Acosta and Joe Krolick took me under their wing, and I was so grateful that I could just get out of the house and go and skate my last week there. So Anthony Acosta took me to the Santa Monica triple set on my last day, like hours before my flight to fly back to Europe… And that’s where I did the full cab down it. But yeah, it was a battle, and I was kind of getting over it, but then Anthony motivated me. I finally made it and got on my flight back to Europe. When I landed, that’s when I realised what I had done. And from then on, things started picking up. The footage came out in 411VM and photos from that week in California came out in a question mark interview in The Skateboard Mag.
And this was before you were on Anti Hero?
Chris Pfanner: Yes, this was before. So previously I had full cabbed a triple set that was in Barcelona, which is like the same size, but no one kind of cared about that. But then a few months later I did it down the Santa Monica triple set and all of a sudden, like everybody got aware of me. That was like the turning point of things. And then Jim (Thiebaud) saw that and started sending me Real boards. And shortly after that, in 2007, Julien (Stranger) was visiting Barcelona and we got to hang out and skate a little bit together. And at the end of 2007 he invited me over to San Francisco and that’s when I got on Anti Hero.
Chris Pfanner, frontside smith grind
Sick. So this line of questioning is basically due to Simon Hallberg, a member of the Vans Scandinavian squad, who just crushed it on this Helsinki trip. Would you say this trip was Simon’s breakout moment?
Chris Pfanner: Most definitely, because… Damn, what he put down on this trip was just unbelievable. And I mean, I’ve known of Simon for a while already and I’ve been speaking to Björn Holmenäs at Sour about him, and I was always curious to know a little more about him, so when we planned this Helsinki thing, he was one of the first ones to be on my list to come out there as well. But yeah, I was just blown away by the guy because his skateboarding speaks for itself; he’s on a different level. But as a person, his personality, as a human being… He’s such a sweetheart. And you can see that the guy had a solid upbringing and has a good head on his shoulders, you know? And I think this is really important for our operation, because like, you can see how our whole crew functions with the group dynamic and everything. And just him being a solid person, like it was just a matter of two, three days to get warmed up with the crew and feel comfortable in the whole environment. And I think after the first week, the whole crew crowned him the king already, so it was kind of obvious that he was having his breakout moment on that trip, for sure. I mean, I’ve seen footage of him before, and he’s been on another level… He’s such a talented skateboarder, but I just feel like being around the crew, you know, and just experiencing the whole vibe that he’s always been dreaming about just gave him that extra push. And man, it was all next level! You guys have seen the photos!
We have! He’s definitely on one…
Chris Pfanner: Also being on Sour now, he’s in a comfortable place and it shows in his own skating and his own persona, like things are set up well for him. So it’s just up to him to come out swinging and he’s doing that right now… So I think everything’s gonna work out if he just keeps on this path.
Schianta Lepori, frontside smith grind
Albert Nyberg
Over the span of your skate career, can you pinpoint a moment where everything clicked, or you had a particular breakout moment where suddenly things started really going right for you? You started to get offered more trips, either you got new sponsors, or your sponsors started to pay more attention to you, something like that… Was there a moment like that for you?
Albert Nyberg: Yeah, I guess the moment where things started going a bit more well, or when it started to click, was after my Newsoul part came out.
The one where you’re wearing the Elmo top…
Albert Nyberg: Exactly. My Elmo phase, that must have been my minor breakthrough.
I think it got everyone’s attention; I remember it.
Albert Nyberg: YouTube was already big then, and this guy Vianouz or something, who had a big YouTube channel that posted skate parts, he posted my Newsoul part, it got a lot of views, and then it kind of took off from there, I guess.
Tania Cruz, frontside hurricane
He just uploaded your part from the full Newsoul video?
Albert Nyberg: Yeah exactly. Just my part from the full Newsoul video, which (Jonathan) Lomar filmed and edited, and I got to pick the music. I think there were only like four or five people on that team. It was just a promo video.
I remember seeing it, maybe on the Slap message boards or whatever it was before, before Instagram, and I remember thinking, “Wow, this guy is excellent.”
Albert Nyberg: Ah that’s fun to hear. I guess that’s the moment, yeah. Because it was right after I graduated, so I was kind of lucky to go on trips and stuff right after. This must have been 2010 I think.
What happened after that part came out? Did you get new sponsors?
Albert Nyberg: I skated for Etnies through a Swedish distribution company at the time, and after that, Oli Buergin reached out to me and invited me to join the European team. And I was like, “Of course, I’ll join.” And from there on out I was going on trips a lot more often abroad. Prior to this I was just going on a lot of trips around Sweden through the distribution.
Aleksi “Aatsi” Suovaara, kickflip backside smith grind
The reason I’m asking this is because of fellow Swedish skater Simon Hallberg. He is a member of Vans Scandinavian squad, and he obviously crushed it on the Helsinki trip, I mean you were there, you witnessed it… Would you say that that trip was kind of his breakout moment?
Albert Nyberg: I feel like it was. I was there, but not like the entire trip. I had spoken to Simon a few months ago in Gothenburg, and he was talking about him coming on the trip, and I was more or less like, “You’re going to be fine,” because I knew how good he was. “Just be you, skate like you do, and you’re gonna be fine…” is pretty much what I said. So I’m happy that he crushed it so well. I’m really happy for him and he deserves a lot of recognition for being a great guy and a great skater.
Joscha Aicher, backside 50-50
You knew him for a while before this… Obviously, you skated with him on Jante missions with Fritte and stuff right?
Albert Nyberg: Yeah, a few Jante missions. I haven’t hung out with him loads, but I’ve definitely been around him, and he’s always been a very pleasant guy to be around. I think also, like nowadays, it’s harder to get recognised, because there’s so much skating and skaters out there. It’s a lot…
And everyone’s good at skating.
Albert Nyberg: Everyone’s good, so being on the Helsinki trip for him, I think it’s really good. Not only to see his skating, but also to see that he’s an awesome dude. He has a lot of good times to look forward to from now on I think.
Martino Cattaneo, pop shove-it
Martino Cattaneo
Through all the years of your skate career, can you pinpoint a moment where everything clicked, or you had a particular breakout moment?
Martino Cattaneo: I think filming for Tom’s Tales and the whole rollout of how the video came together and when it came out. Because I didn’t really have a clue of what I was doing… All I knew was that I was going on trips and skating on these trips and I was just enjoying that moment in that process. And basically, I didn’t even really realise I was going to have a part in the video. I wasn’t even trying to film a part… I was going on these trips and I was skating… I still wanted to get footage on every single trip of course, and I was also filming with my homie Andres in Lugano. So I was still like, collecting footage, but it just seemed so random. It felt so casual to me. When I saw the part, I was really surprised that there was so much footage.
Surprise video part, that doesn’t happen often!
Martino Cattaneo: That made me feel like, “oh yeah, I can do this. I’m doing this, actually.”
When I spoke to (Chris) Pfanner he also said he thought right after the Tom’s Tales part was your moment…
Martino Cattaneo: I definitely got a lot of motivation from the Tom’s Tales project.
What was the response after that video then? You had the first part; things must have really started happening…
Martino Cattaneo: Definitely. It solidified the things with Vans and yeah, I got to go on more of their trips. Also I picked up more sponsors as well and was just invited on more trips in general.
Alexey Krasniy, early-grab backside wallride
Something Pfanner was saying is that he had faith in you for a long time, actually. I think it was the first Vans trip he went on with you when he became TM (a trip in Germany) and he said you were skating just amazingly. But shortly after that you broke your foot, you had the Lisfranc fracture, which took you out for a long time. This is why you don’t have a part in Natural Born Cooler. But then he said that after you came back from that injury that’s when you were filming for Tom’s Tales, and you were really focused and skating better than ever…
Martino Cattaneo: Well yeah actually, that was definitely a thing…
I swear you told me you changed your diet and got really into fitness and stretching and whatnot…
Martino Cattaneo: True. You know there’s just so much stuff that’s been going on through all these years… I’ve actually been thinking about it a lot. And since I’ve been back from Helsinki, I’ve just restarted my workout routine, as I’ve been slacking on it since November last year. That happened to me before, actually, when I broke my ankle, I had to get surgery and everything, but it was really quick, like three and a half months and I was back on my board. But with the Lisfranc injury, that was a really tricky one to recover from. So I ended up learning, like, looking into things, learning stuff about how your feet work, and in general how the body works. And I also started paying more attention to what I was eating and everything, and that made my body stronger. That made me more aware of things and that definitely triggered a lot of motivation to skate, film and get back at it and get something together.
Willow Voges Fernandes, ride-on 50-50 pop into the bank
When you were filming for Tom’s Tales, you were probably skating better than you ever were, but you didn’t even realise it yet, because your body was so much more conditioned. You maybe didn’t even understand it until you saw that part come out.
Martino Cattaneo: I also think that a big part of it was that for about 11 months (when I couldn’t skate) there were these moments where I was facing challenges that were pretty hard, like recovering from this injury and going through surgery and everything… But also missing skating so much, I think that on the mental side, facing those challenges of the rehab, the recovery from the injury, definitely helped me condition my mind to keep pushing. So probably after that, with all the hype from getting back to skating and all the new things that I learned and feeling stronger, I was more prepared to push my limits on skateboarding levels.
Simon Hallberg, backside nosebluntslide
The reason I’m asking these questions is because Simon Hallberg, who is a member of the Vans Scandinavian squad, but not on Vans Europe, was the MVP on the Helsinki trip according to many people I’ve talked to. Would you say that this trip was Simon’s breakout moment?
Martino Cattaneo: I feel like it certainly could be. He had a very, very good energy. It seemed like he was having the most fun on his board and he was actually doing the gnarliest stuff consistently on the trip. It was sick to witness.
What did you know about Simon before this trip?
Martino Cattaneo: I think I had heard of him pretty much, but I don’t think I stumbled upon his clips before. I had a vague image of him, but I didn’t really know him at all. But yeah, it was really impressive to see him skate pretty much anything. Any terrain, any object or thing, he killed it. I’m so glad I got to meet him and skate with him.
Alex Tsagalidis, crooked grind
Axel Cruysberghs
So I was speaking with (Chris) Pfanner about you and he said: “Whenever I showed up at any Euro championships, I was like, ‘God damn it, this kid’s here already. He’s gonna battle me for my rent money again and shit.’” You’ve had a long and prosperous career in skating, from contest grom to established pro, the question is, can you pinpoint a moment where everything clicked, or you had a particular breakout moment where suddenly things started really going right for you?
Axel Cruysberghs: I won this trip to Rotterdam to the World Championships in 2005, and that was a huge contest… I won the trip there because I did well in this contest series in Belgium. So this trip to this event I thought we were all going there to watch the World Championships, and then when I showed up, I was like, “Oh my God, this is so sick!” And then they’re like, “Yeah, are you excited to skate it?” And I was like, “Skate it? Hell, no!” and I started crying. I started crying because I looked around and I could see everybody was there, you know, like Bastien (Salabanzi) was there, Arto (Saari) was there, Leo Romero… Everybody that I knew in skating, or like from videos, was there. And I was like, “There’s no way I can skate this.”
You must have been pretty young then right?
Axel Cruysberghs: I was 12 or something, like, “What the fuck? Like, there’s no way…” And then I skated it, and I guess I did pretty well and then that’s when I met Oli Buergin, and he put me on Etnies literally right there. I remember we were about to leave Rotterdam, and he showed up to the hotel, and was just like, “Hey, we want to sponsor you,” or he asked my parents, I didn’t really…
Gabriel Bjørsvik, gap to backside lipslide
Yeah, you were 12!
Axel Cruysberghs: Yeah. And I feel like that from that moment on, that’s when everything started going well for me. That was the first thing where things came together, because after getting on Etnies I got a board sponsor, you know? And everything just kind of started going well, and they sent me on trips, to other contests, etc.
That’s pretty incredible, going to a contest where you didn’t even think you were skating in it and then skating it and doing well…
Axel Cruysberghs: I fully panicked, you know, when they said, “Oh, you’re skating.” I was in tears, like, “No, don’t make me skate! I’m here to watch!” I was just so scared. But I feel like in the end I did good, and it was a big moment for me.
Yeah it turned out well for you. Speaking of big moments: the Helsinki trip… Do you think that was Simon Hallberg’s breakout moment?
Axel Cruysberghs: I think so. I had only seen the cover he had with you guys, then you know you meet someone new and everything just works, yeah? It’s like, they are really nice, they are killing it, they are not complaining, and it all just fits in, you know? You’re just like, “Ah, this person has been part of this for a while,” but it’s not, it’s their first trip… So I feel like that was really nice. I was only on the trip for part of it, but then we have this group text, and I would keep looking after I left, I would keep seeing that this person did this, and then a lot of Simon, like, “Oh, he did that? He did this!” And I was like, “Wow, he’s killing it!” So that was really cool. I think for him that was for sure where it all clicked.
Schianta Lepori, frontside 50-50 to bank ride
Have you been on trips before and witnessed other people having these breakout moments?
Axel Cruysberghs: I’ve definitely seen this before. I feel like back in the day with Skankie (Daan van der Linden), when he was coming up… We went on a bunch of trips together then, and there was definitely a moment there where he was really fucking shit up. I was there for a couple of those trips where everyone was just like, “Wow!”
These were old Volcom trips?
Axel Cruysberghs: Yeah, so it’s been a while, but definitely when we were filming for the one video, and he got a cover, things were really going well for him there. He’d basically shoot enough for an interview every trip. It was really cool to see.
The cover of issue 56, Simon Hallberg backside 50-50ing in Helsinki.
Simon Hallberg
So how was your first trip with Pfanner and the Vans Europe crew?
Simon Hallberg: I must say it was really nice, because I was a bit nervous before, because I just heard that I was gonna stay in some house with like 20+ people and I didn’t really know anyone. But by the end of the trip, to go home and feel like I made so many new friends and had the best time, it was really sick. And everyone was just very loving and welcoming. So it was really cool.
How different was this Vans trip compared to the trips you take with the Jante guys?
Simon Hallberg: Well, it was a lot different, because, I mean, with the Jante guys it kind of feels like just the ordinary crew I skate with at home in Stockholm, but on a trip pretty much. I guess this was much more structured, they had three vans and all of that stuff. And Frida, Chris Pfanner’s mum, was there to cook food. Like to have that, and just wake up with a breakfast buffet, and then just go out skating, and you come home and have dinner, use the sauna… I feel like it’s a perfect schedule for getting footy.
Alexey Krasniy, backside boardslide to fakie
You got a Free cover there in Helsinki when you went last year with the Jante crew, and this year, from what everyone was saying, and the photos show this, you absolutely smashed it. What is it about Helsinki?
Simon Hallberg: That’s a good question… I think it’s maybe the community… Like everyone you meet there is so stoked and in tune with everything that goes on in skating. And then just the city in itself is incredible; I think the street spots are so good.
Who was showing you all the spots this time? Because looking at the raw footage, you skated a lot of different spots than the Jante trip.
Simon Hallberg: It was Eniz (Fazliov) and Tommi (Björk), also Aatsi (Aleksi Suovaara) showed us around. And I guess Doobie maybe knew some spots, because he lives there now.
Tommi Björk, gap to bluntslide
So I spoke to Axel, Martino, Pfanner and Albert before speaking to you and we talked about their respective breakout moments, and they all said that they thought this trip for you was your breakout moment, the moment where everything clicked. What do you think about that? Would you agree?
Simon Hallberg: Oh, it’s cool to hear that. But yeah, I guess it was actually… I felt like everything was just working out for me. Yeah, maybe it’s true.
At the start of the trip was the HELride comp, and I saw a bunch of clips of you skating in that, and you were skating really well; it was impressive. You weren’t too worn out after when the Vans trip started? Seems like a heavy start for a skate trip.
Simon Hallberg: I know… I think it was, like I said, with Frida cooking and everything, I could keep myself going kind of. But I don’t understand how I didn’t get more sore from skating…
Maybe the sauna helped and the good food. Did you guys drink a lot or no?
Simon Hallberg: I wasn’t really drinking. I think one evening we had a big night at the end of HELride, but then I was just like skating and going to sleep pretty early until the end of the trip with the Koff race. But then yeah, that was another big night.
Joseph Biais, frontside boardslide shove-it transfer
I know you were on Polar flow for quite a long time, but a few months ago, you made the move to Sour where you’re fully on the team. In fact, yourself and Axel (Berggren) are Sour’s only Ams. How much of a motivator has that been?
Simon Hallberg: Well, a massive one I would say. Being on Sour has always been my biggest dream with skating, because when it was still Sweet I had those DVDs and I went to the premiere when I was kid I thought it was the sickest video. So yeah, I think being accepted into the Sour crew really gave me a confidence boost.
What’s next for you then? What do you have planned?
Simon Hallberg: Well, Fritte and I have been filming this Free part, which I think will be ready after the summer. Also we’re filming this Sour project that I’m very excited about, that Fritte is also filming. We’re going on some trips for that… We’re going with Fritte to Croatia for the Vladimir Film Festival too, and then hopefully to Serbia this autumn.
And then of course this Vans Helsinki edit will be coming out in September or October. We’ll have to check back in with you later on to see how your life will have changed, because I’m sure it will.
Simon Hallberg: Yeah, hopefully. I mean, if I can get on Vans Europe… If that happens, then it would be really, really big for me.
Is he gonna…?
Yep he does, bluntslide to 50-50 by Simon Hallberg.
