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Sports

Oscar Candon Is a Man of the World

We sat down with the 23-year-old skateboarder pro in Barcelona to find out more about rock climbing, growing up and the glamour of different European skate scenes.

All pics by Germán Rigol

Co-created with Supra.

Supra team member Oscar Candon was born in Montpellier, France, and raised in Europe and the States, he doesn't belong to one place but the world, which is hippy nonsense but also demonstrably true in this case. For this interview, which was co-created with Supra, we sat down with him in Barcelona on the final leg of the tour he's currently on to find out more about his adventures, being a pro and when he plans to get his hands dirty by building his own home from the ground up. VICE: We heard you're a rock climber now?
Oscar Candon: I've just got into rock climbing but got hooked straight away, for the adrenaline rush, and because it's a good alternative to being in the city the whole time. You can go out in nature and get that same feeling that skateboarding gives you. So you're not bored of skating or anything?
The thing with skateboarding is that the destination always changes, so it's never the same. You travel to different places and get different spots, so even if you do the same shit you've learnt before, it feels different. It's never repetitive. Paris, Barcelona, Washington, London…You've lived a lot of places.
Everyone wants to move and travel around the world! When I was a kid, I got to live in America and learnt English, because as you know, French people are known for not being that great with English, so are the Spanish! That helped me with a lot with my professional career. You get a bit from everywhere you go. Moving so much, has it been hard to feel at home?
To this day, I don't feel at home anywhere. It's kind of fucked up. I have a feeling of belonging, because I have family in Paris, Sweden and around the world. I don't want to say some hippy shit, but yes, I don't consider myself from anywhere in particular. I'm not a Paris kid.

Paris is known for its glamour. How's the skateboard scene over there?
There's glamour in the skateboard scene in Paris. Nah, you know how it is, everyone's a little hyped these days with skateboarding, it's good. A lot of new kids are getting really good at it. It's definitely the new generation coming around to leave their stamp, yet they also respect the elders. I don't consider myself one of the 'old ones' but my generation is sort of in the middle now. It's funny, because before we were the kids and now you go to a skate park and there're faces you don't know… I mean, I'm still a kid, I'm only 23. You hang out in Barcelona a lot. What are your favourite spots?
It's easy to just go and skate, and even easier to get shit done there. There's so many spots here, no wonder why it's known around the world as an amazing city to skate in. That helps, for sure. But I also like the fact that it's by the sea and the mountains are around, so it's really easy to do other stuff too. Take Paris, for example, if you don't want to skate anymore, you'll end up in a bar playing pool and drinking beers. Here you can take your bike and go to the mountains, go fishing. I spend some time doing nothing, like everybody, but I try not to do it that much. I go swimming, rock climbing, even though I broke four fingers few months ago in New York, so it's not going that great at the moment. I always find stuff to do to keep my stupid body moving. What would you do if you weren't a skater?
When I was 14, I told my parents I didn't want to go to school anymore, so they encouraged me to do something else. It was either school or become an apprentice. I'd do two weeks at school learning about carpentry and then two weeks in a workshop learning the job, that lasted for a year. I started working when I was 15 and it was pretty intense. But hey, now I know how to use my hands! If I wasn't skateboarding, I'd definitely be doing something with my hands and be my own boss for sure. I imagine when I'm older building my own wooden house, that's kind of the goal. What's your best memory of being on tour with the SUPRA team?
There are so many of them! I got to go to New York – and broke my fingers – but it wasn't too bad. I was so happy to discover the city, getting the chance to skate its streets. The fact that I don't have to pay for the plane tickets when I travel around the world is the best part and meeting cool kids from the team who have become my friends. What's the next big thing you would like to achieve?
As I said before, I've been working with this video part with Thrasher for more than a year, it's coming out in April, that's the next big thing. I'm pretty happy about that. What's the force behind everything you do these days?
It's different every day. I wake up sometimes and have a shitty day, when I don't want skate. When your hobby becomes your job, and you do a lot of something you love, sometimes you get over it. That's the reason why you also need to do some other stuff, so when you go back to skateboarding, you're ready to go again.