Luka Pinto interview

Interview & photography: Genualdo Kingsford

It feels like you were a little under the radar for a while. I know you had two quite serious injuries. Tell us about those.
When I was 14, I broke my left ankle, and then when I was 15, I broke my right ankle. Around 2016, I started getting some real issues with my knee, but the doctor told me that there was nothing wrong with me. I had been on this massive trip to Europe with a couple of Polish friends and after I got back, I was like: “I think I’m done. I don’t think I can skate any more.” I didn’t really skate properly for about three years after that.

Were you trying to figure out what was wrong during that time?
Yeah. After a few years, I saw my chiropractor, Olivia Jackson, who told me: “I can see that your ankle and knee are not aligned correctly. I think this is probably to do with your accident when you were younger.” I was working with my dad, gardening until around 2019, when I started working in this jeweller’s shop, like polishing jewellery. I was at Vladimir Film Festival and I’d planned to just film, but I ended up skating loads. I realised I could actually hold down filming everyone and skating as well. From then on, I gradually started skating more and more.

So the physical labour was part of the problem?
I think it was a bit of everything. I just hadn’t given my body a break. I’d been skating my whole life and I never really stopped. I thought that I couldn’t skate, but I was just using all my energy to do physical work. When I slowed down on the gardening, I realised: “Oh, I do actually have energy.”

Did your chiropractor give you any advice on how to solve the problem other than avoiding physical labour?
She gave me orthotic insoles, tape for my knee and some exercises. It all got better, then I had another accident last year.

You got carried away learning to skate the bowl at the new skatepark.
Yeah (laughs). After almost four years of building back up my confidence and strength on a skateboard, I snapped two ligaments in my ankle at the start of last summer. It was a big shock and for about six months, I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to skate again. I’d heard from people who have torn ligaments that they were never the same again, so I was really worried.

Did you have surgery?
Yeah, I had surgery straight away. It’s the same ankle I had surgery on when I was 15. Back then, they put in a plate with 15 pins. This time, they put like a button on either side of the ankle, with a wire going through – it’s called a tightrope – and that makes sure it stays in place.

How are you feeling on your board now?
I’m feeling pretty good. I’ve been skating since around January. I had really good support from my mum. She came back from Ireland and spent the first six weeks after the injury with me, helping me to feel good and looking out for me, which was nice. I also got really good support from Olivia, her son Sam and from the physio department at the hospital as well. They said: “Normally we would stop here, but we know your job is to do with skateboarding, so how do you feel?” I said: “I don’t feel ready yet,” and they offered to continue with the physio, one-on-one. That carried on for eight or 10 weeks.

So they took it more seriously because your work involves skateboarding?
Yeah. They carried on and gave me more support than usual. My chiropractor and my physiotherapist actually encouraged me to skate sooner than I expected because they thought it was good physio. I was teaching skating to kids, but I was almost at their level. It was really weird to feel that disconnected from my board.

Going back a bit, tell us about where you grew up and how you started skating. 
I’m from Jersey, in the Channel Islands. When I was three, my uncle asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I asked for a skateboard. I just started pushing around on this lane called Willow Grove on the estate where I lived, in Georgetown. My stepsister Milly used to skate. There was a mini-ramp down the beach at St Ouen and when she was 12 or 13 and I was six or seven, she used to go there every Sunday. She taught me how to drop in, 50-50 and rock and roll, the ramp basics. Before I met all the skateboarders my age, I just skated with Milly or with my dad; he used to go on long walks around town and I would skate along with him. A little later, Mike Drew opened a skate shop called Primo. The older guys all ran it together – Mike, Karl Payne, Jake Hipwell and Phil Minty – and that’s where I met all of my mates: Glen (Fox), Ryan (Cunningham), Dillon (Catney), Dylan (Powell), Damen (Garcia) and everyone else.

Was the skatepark at Fort Regent around at this time?
No, that was a little bit before. I skated there a few times with Milly when I was about eight. Karl ran the skatepark at that time; I met him for the first time there. I remember seeing Scott Nixon skating the vert ramp wearing just shoes and shorts. It was the size of a house. I was really blown away by that.

Do you want to say a few words about Karl Payne and his contribution to the skate scene in Jersey over the years?
Karl’s basically like the godfather of skateboarding in Jersey. He started sponsoring me with his brand, Subterranean when I was 11 or 12. Everyone around my age is highly influenced by Karl. He supported me, Ryan, Glen, Dillon and Damen and he started sponsoring Eddie Da Rocha and a friend of ours from Latvia called Roberts Krūms. After I moved to London, he would send Pillo wheels and T-shirts to me, Jeremy Jones and other friends like Doug Parmiter. He continues to support them; he makes sure everyone’s got boards and other bits so they can carry on skating, which is amazing. I’ve had other little bits of sponsorship, but Karl’s always been there for me.

From watching Jersey skate videos over the years and more recently from visiting a couple of times, I got the impression that street skating there involves quite a lot of conflict. Is that fair to say?
Definitely. I thought it had slowed down a bit, but when you guys came over, I realised it hadn’t (laughs). I hadn’t been shouted at for skating in a while, but I think that’s because we’ve got the new skatepark, so people aren’t going on street missions as much. I think because it’s a small place, people don’t understand skateboarding. Jersey’s a little behind the times. People see street skating and they think: “What are these hooligans doing?” I don’t think they realise how positive skateboarding is, especially for young people. But it’s weird in Jersey; sometimes you get so much hate and sometimes people are so sound and supportive.

Do you think the skatepark and events like the Bowl Ā Crock festival are changing people’s perceptions?
Yeah, I think the skatepark definitely changed people’s perceptions because now they see a bunch of older guys who are good at what they do and they’re helping younger people to get into skating. The park’s really brought the community together. So many connections have been made, from toddlers all the way up to grandparents.

Do you want to say a few words about Natalie Mayer and the work she’s doing for skateboarding on the island?
Yeah, so her son Freddie is a really keen skateboarder and she has started a charity called Skate Space through which she’s trying to develop this disused church into an indoor skatepark that can be used through winter. She’s making a lot of effort to show people what we’re doing and why it’s so positive, speaking to the government and basically trying to do all the stuff that Malmö’s been doing for skateboarding. She’s getting a lot of support from the public and different people. The church is going to have a big skating area, but there’s also going to be an editing suite for young people, which is super cool. And then obviously Natalie helped organise the Bowl Ā Crock event as well, which was probably the biggest skateboarding event Jersey’s ever seen. It was such a good day and hopefully, like you were saying, it showed people that skateboarding is a positive thing. 

Tell us about your work.
I work for the (Jersey) Youth Service. I’ve been working for the them since around 2017, but it was just a side job until recently. Jersey is split into parishes and every parish has a community centre where they run a youth club. In the evenings, maybe two or three times a week, I’d go in and run sessions. Then about two years ago, John Cornwall, who was a youth worker when I was younger, approached me about a job he thought I would be good for. I went to meet him and he told me he was running youth work sessions from the skatepark. I had an interview where I explained how I envisioned it: a street session where you walk around and just speak to young people, as opposed to them coming to you at a club, but with skateboarding as a really good tool of engagement. My job is basically to engage with young people, and then sometimes there are safeguarding issues and stuff like that. As well as skateboarding, we’ve done workshops where we’ve taught filming, spray painting, griptape artwork and poster pen artwork on boards. We did a big stencil-making workshop with Jeremy in the summer that loads of kids came to and last Saturday we put on a big Halloween jam where everyone dressed up. We did a slalom race, a long jump, a high jump and an egg-and-spoon race, then we did a massive race around the park, just to try to get everyone involved.

Are there any aspects of the job you find difficult?
It can be difficult for sure. It’s a very social job and some days you just don’t feel like interacting with people, but it’s definitely not anything to complain about. It’s such a good job. Basically, I believe in everything that I do. I get to make a living from skating and making art with young people and encouraging them on a daily basis with various organisations, like the Youth Service. My friend Phil Minty made something called Skateboard Jersey, which is a charity where they do skate sessions with kids. The schools pay us as coaches, but then some money also goes into a pot, which is spent on skate facilities. Then I teach art with ArtHouse Jersey and sometimes I do some gardening with my dad. I also work for Mini Mes, which provides daycare for primary school-age kids, so I skate with the little ones as well. 

Tell us about my recent visits to Jersey from your perspective. We basically shot this whole interview in six days. It was quite an intense schedule. 
I enjoyed it. Skateboarding has always been like that for me and all my mates from Jersey because we don’t have filmers, photographers and opportunities like that. Whenever we go away, we all super hungry for it. When you guys came over, it just felt like a normal skate trip, but better, because I had all these things I wanted to take you to that I’d been looking at for years.

Tell us about the narrow wall ollie in St Helier.
I actually did that ollie when I was 13 after Jake Hipwell suggested it. It’s a skinny wall, over an electric box and into a little bank, then the wall continues. When I was a kid, it was scary, but I just went for it. I did it again when I was 18, but I don’t think I liked the footage, so it never got used. When I showed you the spot, you were really hyped on it. I was like: “I can definitely do that because I’ve done it before,” but the last time I skated it was 14 years ago. This time, it was definitely more intimidating. I couldn’t hype myself up to do it. In the end, I just had to… when I was younger, if I was trying dangerous stuff, I remember forcing myself to switch off my brain and not think about the consequences. I had to do that again. It took me 20 minutes to try it, then I did it first go.

That type of spot is quite common on the island: crusty, narrow walls with banks or natural quarters. 
I don’t know why, but there are just loads of really interesting walls in Jersey (laughs). I’ve always skated them over the years; I kind of run with the theme. Ben Broyd was hyped on the wall spots when he came over. 

During my most recent visit, we went for an icy October swim in the sea before skating. You told me that you swim year round. Tell us more about this.
I’ve always swum a lot. It just resets you. It’s cold, but it’s good for your body and your mind. Recently, people are starting to realise the benefits of it. You see a lot of people swimming in the sea here all year round. That’s been a massive part of my healing since injuring my ankle last year, just getting in the sea and kicking my legs loads. I always find that I skate better after I’ve been swimming.

Tell us about the link between Jersey and Madeira. I was really interested to learn about that during my visits. Your grandfather is from Madeira originally, right? 
My grandad came over in the ’50s or ’60s. He actually owns a hotel now, but he started as a kitchen porter and worked his way up through all the different stages in hospitality. He told me that the Portuguese people who have come over are just willing to work and make something of it because they had to take a chance to come here. We’ve got loads of Portuguese cafés and corner shops and there’s a fair every year as well where they have loads of Portuguese food and music and the culture is really celebrated. 

Tell us about your work documenting the Jersey scene through your videos over the years. What motivates you to do this and have any filmmakers particularly influenced you?
My mate Dylan Powell was the original filmer when we were younger. He taught me how to film when I was about 15, so he is definitely a massive inspiration. I was never like: “This is something I really want to do,” I just felt like someone had to because everyone was doing good stuff and no one was filming. Ryan Gabison is another really good filmer from Jersey, Karl’s done a fair bit and an old friend from his generation, Danny Evans, shot a lot of cool skate photos and made two full skate videos: At Last and 11.55. But yeah, as the years went on, I just continued with it. That first Crew Report video I put out in 2019 – Pandora’s Box – was the first full video I made on my own. Before that, we made a video for Pillo Wheels (Conexiones), which I think was maybe a little overlooked becauseit was so long. We wanted to make a video that brought all these different scenes together – London, Bristol, Murcia, Lyon and others – and it ended up being an hour and 20 minutes long. We probably should have made several different videos, but I feel like if we hadn’t got it all together, half of the footage might not have been seen.

I know you’re sitting on a few video projects at the moment. Talk us through those. 
I’ve got the third Crew Report video. I’ve been working on that for the past three years. It’s probably not as impressive footage-wise as Pandora’s Box because everyone was living in Jersey at that time and I was really on it with filming, but the stuff I do have is really good and I feel like my filming, editing and choice of music have progressed. I’ve been skating and filming a lot with my friend Danny Franco; he has some really solid footage. Hopefully, I’ll have it ready by Christmas. Then I have footage from a trip we did to Malmö this summer with a crew of skaters from Jersey. I still need to put that together. Finally, me and Dillon have been filming a part on bunkers around the island. That’s an ongoing project.

Tell us about the special section in the new Crew Report video. 
One of the younger skaters from Jersey is called Xander Dawes. He skates longboards with huge soft wheels and wears gloves with pads. He just goes insanely fast and does these big layback powerslides around corners.

How was it filming that stuff? 
I’m pretty confident bombing hills, but it was definitely a challenge. I was just booting it next to him, trying to put my foot down as much as possible. Some of it was actually really scary to film, but he wears a helmet and we had people spotting for cars.

Who are some of your all-time favourite skaters, in terms of inspiration?
This questions melts my mind, but off the top of my head: Mark Gonzales, Satva Leung, Bobby Puleo, JB Gillet, Javier Sarmiento, Rodrigo Pêtêrsen, Og de Souza, John Cardiel, Marisa Dal Santo, Quim Cardona, Fred Gall, Henry Sanchez, Lavar McBride, Lenny Kirk, Brian Lotti, Ben Jobe, Toby Shuall, Shaun Powers, Vincent Alvarez and Joe Valdez.

Who are some of your favourites to watch from Jersey, past and present?
All my mates I grew up skating with. Ryan Cunningham, Dillon Catney, Glen Fox, Damen Garcia, Dylan Powell, Anthony Anderson and Jack Wilson are all really good skateboarders; being around them hypes me up more than anything. Then from the older generation: Steve Harben, Jake Hipwell, Gary Chevalier and I always loved Karl’s skating. How could I not mention Eddie Da Rocha? He was like my little apprentice when I came back from London. Finally, some honourable mentions in the hall of fame include: Aron Lawler, El Train (Elliot Querre), Leon Roach, Stefan Carrell and Tommy Jordan. The list goes on. 

Who are some younger, up-and-coming skaters from Jersey people should look out for?
Eddie is in London skating for our mate Chris Komodromos’ new brand, LP Skateboards, which is going to be sick. There are a few younger skaters at the park like Freddie Mayer and Daniel Richardson who are fully taking advantage of the new facilities. There’s also this kid called Xavier (Le Moignan). He’s about eight and he’s like our own baby Cardiel (laughs). There’s another lad called Xav (Falla) whose style I really enjoy because it’s so original and uninfluenced.

Tell us about your travel plans. 
I’m going travelling next spring with my girlfriend. We’re going to India first. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been working my whole life, so it’s going to be nice to have a solid amount of time to just chill and do whatever I want. I’ve been saving for the last couple of years, so hopefully I’ll have enough to be away for six months to a year, something like that. 

Will you take your skateboard?
Yeah, definitely. I’m not going on a full-on skate tour, but if I see something that I really want to skate, I probably will. I hope to meet up with some filmers and crews in different places as well. I really like going to obscure places that seem unlikely to have skate spots.

What are your longer-term plans for the future? Do you see yourself staying in Jersey? 
I don’t really have a long-term plan at the moment. I’m just going to go away and if I find somewhere I really like, I’m open to staying there and trying to make it work, but I’m sure I’ll come back to Jersey.