Images by Ashley Verse
“In Paris spots haven’t been blown out. If you go to LA or whatever, some cities, all the spots have been fucking destroyed. You get to a spot and you’re like ‘okay, there’s nothing else to do.’ In Paris there’s still a lot of shit to do, you know? It’s always nice to be able to go to some spots and there’s still tons of shit to do, and good spots as well.”
I’m in Paris to interview French skater Oscar Candon ahead of the launch of his new SUPRA shoe, the Chino. We’ve met a few times, and because we’ve got time, we decide to go and shoot some pool, in a bar that houses a bunch of tables and a mini bowling alley. As we walk in, he tells me about the time he managed to smash the entire collection of glass advertising boards behind the lanes; “I’m meant to be banned from here, but I wore a hat that day and now they don’t recognise me”, he says, laughing.
Before he was getting paid to skate, Oscar spent two years from the age of fifteen learning the trade of carpentry. In a deal with his parents who weren’t keen on him dropping out of school, he started learning to work with wood, and intends to put that to use building a house for himself one day. “I just want to have something from skateboarding, I don’t want to live now with all the money that I make from skateboarding, and then at the end when it stops — because it’s going to stop at some point — be like ‘okay what am I doing now, I’m fucked, I have nothing left.’ I wanna save up, buy some land, so at least when I don’t have money from skateboarding anymore I have a place to stay. Then I can say ‘okay, I skateboarded and I got this from it, at least.’ And if it’s really nice, then... Fucking ballin’!”
We head upstairs, drinks and cues in hand, to find a suitable table — he selects one in the corner, as far away from anyone else as possible — where we can get away from what is a drizzly afternoon in the French capital. We start talking about Oscar’s new shoe with SUPRA, the Chino, to which he’s put his name and a signature colourway. It's the perfect show for him; it combines the sole unit from SUPRA’s Cuba — Oscar’s previous go-to, a simple slip-on — with a classic skate silhouette and laced upper, which he says makes it ideal; “the Chino is like a Cuba with the laces, and it’s perfect. I prefer this shoe to the Cuba now, I’m happy — and there’s my name on it.”
He’s been busy in the last year, hitting at least a dozen countries while trying to get footage for his part in an upcoming SUPRA skate film, and dealing with the usual injuries that come with skating. “I was hurt last year, I broke fingers, rolled my ankle pretty bad, but I managed to get some shit done, but the year before was better. Now I’m coming back for 2016.” While we’re talking, Oscar is proving he knows his way around a pool table, meticulously setting up the table and calling out colours and pockets before he takes each shot. He plays a lot on the road — he mentions that when he was living in London he used to frequent Canavan’s Peckham Pool Club — but plays less when he’s spending a bunch of time in one place, which is what he has planned for the next few months; he wants to stay in Paris, where he’s seeing a girl and where he hasn’t managed to film anything yet.
Oscar doesn’t have a house anywhere. He grew up in Montpellier, and his family has a house in the suburbs of Paris, but he doesn’t have anywhere for himself yet. He’s spent a lot of time living in Barcelona on and off, and identifies most with the way of life there; “that’s where I feel most relaxed because the Barcelona way of life is the best. It’s way less stressful — in Paris you have to take the Metro to get everywhere, it’s fucked up, and people are fucking bummed on the Metro. In Barcelona you just take a bike everywhere, it’s super easy. I don’t really take my bike here, but I still have a bike in Barcelona. It’s locked up, but I still have the key.”
He’s also spent time living in East Dulwich in South-East London which suited his skating, if not quite his lifestyle; “London was good because I really enjoy skating in England. The spots are really good, they’re rough and shit, I like that. But there’s too much drugs in London. People with the ketamine, I will always remember, K-holes or whatever? Oh my god, zombies. I had some bad experiences of seeing people just so fucked up. People get fucked up everywhere but for some reason it really stood out in London, I don’t like that.”
By the time we get round to the topic of where he sees himself settling, he’s won most of the games of pool, and we’re starting on second rounds. He doesn’t see himself in a city, that life isn’t for him. “I’ll settle, but in like a forest. I dunno, I wanna buy some land. I’m saving up. Fuck having an apartment here, having a mortgage or whatever. Fuck that! Mortgage life sucks. Land is cheap, I wanna buy land in the south of France.”
That’s what’s great about Oscar. Aside from being a top skater, he’s a very grounded guy, with a real sense of where he wants to go and how he wants to live his life. For right now, he’s enjoying where he’s at, but knows that he’s got to have a plan for later on, and what he’s got planned is pretty damn enviable. Just as we’re finishing our drinks, and he’s beaten me for the final time, he adds “once all of you realise that living in the city sucks then you’ll be like ‘ahh Oscar, whats up?’”
The SUPRA Chino is available now from the SUPRA webstore and selected retailers worldwide.