Christian Roth interview
- Hessenmob
Interview conducted by: Duane Fernandez
For LFP.com featured designer / artist series
www.hessenmob.de

Where are you from?

I was born in a small town called Marburg just outside of Giessen. I have lived in Giessen pretty much all of my life. I travel a lot and I always like coming back home to Giessen – the city that always sleeps. A lot of people hate on Giessen because it’s so unattractive they say – but if you look at the heart of the city, the people who make up the scenes I associate myself with, you will discover that Giessen has a big heart.

What’s it like in Giessen right now?

Giessen has approx. 70.000 inhabitants. We have a big university but somehow that doesn’t really trickle over into a wide variety of cultural events. In Giessen, if you want to experience something “cool”, you have to make it happen yourself. Rent is relatively cheap and we have a good skateboarding scene. Not very many street spots but a good indoor skatepark and a private warehouse with a mini ramp.

What is your job title?

I don’t have a job title really. Hessenmob is run by my partner Michael and me. Michael takes care of all the administrative activities such as bookkeeping, production and sales. I’m in charge of everything that has to do with graphics, advertising, team, promotion and as of late, clothing design. I like to call myself the captain – in business terms people would probably call my job “art director” ….

What is Hessenmob? How long has it been around?

Hessenmob is, first and foremost, a skateboard company. Our aim is to deliver high quality hard- and softgoods at an affordable price plus we are trying to hold up the qualities we hold dear in skateboarding like good artwork, freedom of expression and lots of fun. We started the company in 1999 …

What is new with Hessenmob / What do you have in store for the future?

The MOB is in constant flux. There are no set boundaries in which we navigate with the company. It’s pretty much run at gut level. We do what we feel is right or what we have fun doing. Of course, as a company, we have to keep in mind that our products sell as well. My motto is: the key to success is finding the balance between caring and not caring. I think that for the future, meaning 2007, we will go back to promoting the “fun” aspect in skateboarding more since I feel that skateboarding has gone too far in the direction of corporate design which leads to skate company identities which look exactly like something that could run in a golf magazine. 2007 will see the release of our new video “The Kids Are All Ride” – it will be a lot of fun to start with.

Who were some of your early influences?

Mark Gonzales, Tod Swank, Daniel Harold Sturt, Spike Jonze, Andy Jenkins, Jim Philipps, Pushead to name but a few.

Did you go to art school?

No. Skateboarding has been my art school.

What music are you currently listening to?

I listen to music all the time. Right now I’m trying to gather together the perfect soundtrack for the MOB video. I’ve been listening to: Of Montreal, Phoenix, The Kinks, Serge Gainsbourg, Diefenbach, Donovan, The Carpenters, Shuggie Otis, Bob James, Bloodrock, Ann Peebles and many more…

One of my favorite stories was hearing that you sold your “friendship” on ebay.. I read the article and thought “this is brilliant”, I agree with it on a personal, sociological, and theoretical standpoint… Please explain it:

I’ve always been interested in “sociometry” as an excuse to confuse people. Ever since I met Peter Bergman who runs the “Institute Of Sociometry” (www.sociometry.com) I really got hooked. Peter is the master though – he’s pulled quite some sociometrical stunts. Anyway, when this woman started selling that piece of bread with an image of the mother Mary on eBay I thought, hmmm, is there something you can’t sell on eBay? That’s when I came up with the idea of selling my friendship on eBay. I like to see it as a sociological experiment and it really worked. I made it to national television with my auction and they even had a psychiatrist analyzing what kind of person I must be to sell my friendship on eBay. This goes to show that our society becomes more and more unable to decide for themselves or to look at what’s behind the obvious. I ended up selling my friendship for 100 bucks – unfortunately to a guy I know which is only half the fun. But I had a lot of fun collecting all the auctions by the copycats who followed my example – some were pretty sad others flat out unbelievable. I wanted to bid on a friendship but couldn’t acquire one myself.

Where do you see yourself in 15 years?

I’m gonna be 50 then – that’s still not old enough for retirement, so I’ll either still be selling skateboards which is kind of a strange vision since I can’t get George Powell out of my mind when I think about older people in the skateboard business. I will definitely make room for the new breed once I feel I’m getting to old. I might return to working with my first love photography and filmmaking. I will retire in Vermont or somewhere in New England.

What is your greatest accomplishment?

Marrying my wife Tess and having my son, Henry

What was your worst job?

Oh, I had a lot of “worst” jobs. Back when I was still doing photography for a living and later music videos I had some pretty awkward experiences. I remember working for one agency on a Christmas themed shoot. They had this sleigh with reindeer and a Santa Claus and a bunch of kids with presents. It was a huge set and for some reason something was wrong with my camera and all the films turned out just black. A couple of weeks later, working for the same agency, I was supposed to take photos of a new car. Unfortunately, the rental place where I rented all the flashes and lights somehow misplaced my order and so I had to show up with two tiny flashlights to light a car. It must have looked ridiculous but at that point I didn’t care anymore and the people at the agency were done with me anyway….

What do you think about robots?

I like robots as a concept and in cartoons or movies but I hate the idea of everything becoming automated. Control is always automatic – and with the way the global economy is “globalizing” we will soon have a handful of companies in control of everything because everything, including politics and jurisdiction, bow to the mammon – that’s the way it is and there’s no way around it.

Christian, you have been nothing but supportive over the years, we would like to thank you for everything. Thank you for this interview, thank you for constantly pushing your creative limits and thank you for putting so much of yourself out there. Thank you!

Is there anything else you would like to add?

You are born free. Use your freedom and don’t let society or consumerism fence you in. Boldly go and try to do everything you do like no one has ever done it before. Read “Society of the Spectacle” by Guy Debord and “Small is beautiful” by E.F. Schumacher

Christian – Thank you.
Auf Wiedersehen…

For more information on Christian Roth or Hessenmob please visit their website at: www.hessenmob.de