I’m currently sat inside the Arena, home of the glorious Bright trade-show in Berlin.
It’s 11am and a DJ is playing loud techno music in front of me. He’s set up just next to an old Mercedes, rebranded by a certain sportswear brand. As I admire the ingenious set up and try to write this article, a group of women approach me and offer me a Gin Tonic…
Tradeshows are a sort of parallel universe… A universe where people solely wear designer trench coats and brands do their best to get you hyped on their new collection (aka get you drunk). I knew working in these conditions would be complicated, but things are getting trickier by the minute as Benjamin Jeanjean comes at me, with a cheeky smile and two Augustiners in hands.
This trip is a bit of a reunion for us, as I’m joined by fellow editor Robin Pailler and our graphic design Michal Sukup. It is supposed to be a warm up up, as we’re heading to Michal’s hometown of Prague in a few days to attack the layout of our second print magazine.
Anyway, I digress… We’re late.
But we’ve got excuses, and I’m talking about something more interesting than Dr. Maurice’s fake note. If we’re late, it’s mostly because we’ve been too busy driving Beyrick De Vries on dirt roads toward that south African pointbreak, or trying to keep up racing behind Leo Valls in the streets of Milan, or chassing wedge bowls with Metal Neck in Hossegor. Or… it could maybe come from taking Evan Mock on an extended trip through France and Spain, or hanging out way too long on the marvelous roofs of NYC with Balaram Stack…
We’re not sure.
But we tend to agree to a mix of all the above, and we can’t wait to present you our excuse note. Without further ado, here’s a visual preview of what’s coming your way in a printer manner in the next few weeks… watch this space.
Photography by Guillem Cruells, Yentl Touboul, Robin Pailler, Josh Nice and Alexei Obolensky.
