Introduction to ALCHEMYST

At the end of the middle age, there was a group of people experimenting with various materials, substances, call it what you want. They found out a lot about chemistry as we know it today, hurt themselves while experimenting and some people said they were just a bunch of crazy fuckers. But they pursued their initial goal regardless of other’s opinions: mixing things regarded by others as worthless and turning them into gold.

And that’s what the essence of scootering is for us: take some homies, concrete, scooters, maybe a cam and you will be for sure end up having a good time. For years now we have watched scootering grow and develop in different directions, also some directions that we do not consider as good: commercialisation, companies only caring about profits, scooter riders hating on each other etc. Scootering will grow up, just as other “sports” like skate or bmx did, but without efforts from riders as well as companies, it won’t work out.

We are based out of the very middle of Europe, two lads from two different cities: Juraj Klas and David Tiefenthaler, Bratislava and Vienna. At some point, we realized that there aren't really any independent and only rider-driven blogs around, speaking now of central Europe. But we want ALCHEMYST to be international and not tied to any state, borders or nationalities, therefore we will write in (bad!) English.

And that was how the idea for ALCHMYST came to our minds, to make a switch: from being a passive member of a community, complaining about this and that, to start creating. ALCHEMYST is not a company based on the goal of drawing profit, it is more a personal project to explore what is possible in the world of scooters.

But we don't want to limit ourselves to scooters, our project should have a broader approach: ALCHEMYST will be about things that heavily influence our lives: music, photography/videography, scootering and other arts. And we are designing and painting griptapes. Maybe you have realized it already, but the griptape is a spot on your scooter where you can get really creative. We have experimented with different kinds of griptapes, stencils and designs, you will see the outcome very soon. Of course these sheets will only be self-made.

Just to lose a few words on our view on scootering: As it slowly enters the stage of a rather “mainstream” sport, there are more competitions, more world-rankings and as a result there more money in the game. We do not give a fuck about that. Park vs. Street? Stop bitching around and lets just ride, both are fun, and everybody has got a different taste. Scootering is not a competition, not a sport - it is a form of self-expression, an art - just as painting, photography or skating. A scooter has the same function as a pencil, a camera or a skateboard, it opens a door to unleash creative capacity.

To be honest, we don’t really know where this journey is going to take us, but we are excited to get some shit started. And if you like dope griptapes, real rock’n’roll, analogue photography, creative scooter riding, the good old 60s, VX footage, psychedelic music, tall bars, hill bombs, beer and other stuff….then you should definitely stay tuned, what’s to come from ALCHEMYST.