INTERVIEWS
Richard Holland - Skateboarder, Maker, Landrover
Richard Holland is a designer and artist who lives in Sweden. I spoke to him briefly over email about his most recent project, the Floda 31 art residency as I was potentially going to go over there and visit (although in the end I never did).
Richard:
We are making a sculptural snake run that take’s you on a journey from the field, through the forest and concludes in a panoramic of the surrounding landscape, this is being made for skateboarding and being funded by a global brand. I like the idea of a mountain bike aspect to it, as there will be elements that can cross over, like a tree platform media point / drop in.
On a personal not, skateboarding is something that I have grown up with and this interest has made me kinda a specialist making interactive sculptures that work well for skateboarding. Both of us have worked with action sports most of our careers and even used to design a downhill mountain bike magazine (many years ago), So, I do think there is a cross over project here.
After coming out of my short spat at the Buro house for Document Skateboard Magazine, I had already sort of started it whilst, so it was time to leave the Buro. After meeting up with the Published/Editor/Photographer we all got along so it kinda just started and I could live off that income.
At that time in the shared work/live space there was a lot of crossover with connections as a guy called Peter Helicar was also living there at the time, he owned a company called UnaBomber which was an up and coming UK skateboard company and at that time there was not many in Europe. I edited their video in the end, but this sort of VHS style is pretty much influenced Place, the new uber-trend brand. Also I think Pete did the logo a while back.
His girlfriend was a dancer at Random Dance, so we meet Wayne MgGregor and the colab started there.
Once in the shared studio, we were all just buzzing off each other really and that steamed us to become ‘Bullet Creative’, but strangely we never actively looked for work, it was all just word of mouth referrals. We actively kept the website / portfolio updated and made tailor made pitches for clients who called for a consultation.
Read more at the Floda31 website https://floda31.com/