Jochen Smuda Interview

Tags: berlin, germany, interview, jochen smuda, lukas von monkiewitsch, sascha krautz, ucon

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Life is great. Ups and downs here and there like everybody, but I am really happy with how things developed lately. I just love Berlin and everything the city has to offer. I am very happy I took that step about 2 years ago.

LvM: Hi, Jochen. How's life?

JS: Life is great. Ups and downs here and there like everybody, but I am really happy with how things developed lately. I just love Berlin and everything the city has to offer. I am very happy I took that step about 2 years ago.

LvM: There hasn't been a major video profile or interview recently. How’s your skating career going beside your business with Ucon?

JS: I still love skating. It was and still is a big part of my life. We skated a lot last summer when Dan worked here at Ucon, but way less these last months. It just depends, I go skating when I am in the mood to go. Of course Ucon takes a lot of energy and time, but it is just the thing I really want to do at the moment. It is interesting and really is a lot of fun. Anyways, I am always down for a good session with my friends.

Jochen Smuda

LvM: You are one, if not the most consistent face in European rollerblading. Can we count on your future involvement?

JS: Like I said, it is still a big part of my life, although I don’t skate that much. It definitely has influenced me a lot and opened my eyes for a lot of things. This is something I won’t forget. Skating taught me a lot and I am more than thankful to have had this experience over the last 15 years. I will try my best to keep skating as much as possible, because it just gives me good times! At least I will be around with the boys from Ucon and contribute our part to the whole thing.

LvM: You have been pro for RB and Salomon since the mid 90s – a time with insanely much money in the industry. If you had to choose, which was your most impressive experience from that time?

JS: Hard to tell. That time was totally different compared to now. A lot of tours all around the world, interviews, photo shootings, etc. It was way easier for us back then than for any of the pros nowadays. But If I have to pick one thing, I would say skating in Lausanne was always an unbelievable feeling. 80.000 people screaming during your run is unpayable I would say.

Jochen Smuda - AO Topsoul

Ao Topsoul

LvM: ...any crazy stories from that time you would like to share? (insert sex/drug/rocknroll story here)

JS: I think the times as a Salomon pro in 1997 were the craziest (funniest). Partying with Aaron was always a big highlight for me. I remember he gambled all his cash away he won at the ASA championships in Vegas once – getting wasted in Liverpool without knowing any hotel address or the way back was also a big hassle. Generally I think you just make good and bad experiences. That’s life and I don’t want to miss any of them.

LvM: You've been a vegetarian for 15 years. But now it seems that you devour 5 currywursts a day. How come? And how does it feel to be one of the cool guys now?

JS: Hehe. It was a big change in my life. Everybody seams to be happy that it has changed. My parents, my girl, my friends... Like a year ago I just felt like something was missing, and I thought more and more about it. The first time I ate fish again was when we were filming for CLIP in San Francisco (thanks Azikiwee for paying the biblical sushi bill). Actually it was you who finally brought me back into business ? So from that day it got more and more. Now I really love good meat and everything that comes with it. Meat is murder and murder tastes good (by the way, I still own that shirt from Medium)

Jochen Smuda - Bs Backslide

Bs Backslide

LvM: You are the boss of Ucon – a company that you have brought from zero to hero. You have a lot of fans inside but most importantly also outside of rollerblading. Give us an update on your current situation.

JS: A lot has changed, especially with the move to Berlin about 2 years ago. We have a lot more streetwear shops involved in the Ucon family as well as more people from outside rollerblading who love our clothes. It feels great to meet people in the streets of Berlin wearing the Asym Hood. I think it is just the way we want to push Ucon in the future. We see great potential for us to let Ucon grow in different directions beside rollerblading. On the other side we never forget where we come from. Rollerblading made us the company we are at the moment. That is still the reason why we support the magazines, online mags and of course contests. Especially with the new office and showroom, we are so happy. It is great to work from here, it feels like there is much more possible in the future. We will see what will happen, we don’t want to push it too much. We just try to do our homework, go one step after another, and then we will see where all this leads to.

LvM: Your engagement with skating has changed over the last years. Not too long ago you had a pro team with big names like Jona Messerli, Jon Julio and Erik Bailey. What is your concept in this regard.

JS: Right. We still support skaters all around the world. We give them free stuff and now work more or less with a, how we call it, “friends“ team. Due the fact that we don’t have the money to send out the team to all the events we try to support our friends with clothes.

Jochen Smuda - Fishbrain

Fishbrain

LvM: How about a Ucon team/friends video? I know someone who could do it for a steal!

JS: To make a good video, you need a lot of money to travel and a lot of time. We both made the experience with CLIP. You work for the love of it. But in general, for sure, we would love to do it someday. It is not something we thought about until now, but who knows what will happen in the future.

LvM: What are your plans for Ucon in the future? What’s the next big step?

JS: You make the big steps with a lot of small ones. Hard to tell what THE next thing would be. It grows on all sites. Showroom, shops, trade shows, video ads, distributions. It is really hard to pick one thing. For sure we focus on some main points, but you have to keep an eye on a lot of different things to let the baby grow right. We are on a good way, we just have to be patient and move intelligently. We are young, motivated and hungry for more.

LvM: Shoutouts?

JS: If I write down names, I will forget a lot. So I prefer to shoutout to all the people who supported me and Ucon in the past. They will know. Much love.

Photos: Sascha Krautz

Jochen Smuda - Wallride