French artist and skater Lucas Beaufort’s first language isn’t English – but he was able to connect with people across the world through the universal language of skateboarding.
“I discovered skateboarding before everything. It taught me how to make friends,” he says. “I didn’t learn English in school. I learned it because I started to skateboard.”
Known for his distinctive fusion of photography, whimsical doodles and watercolor, Beaufort recently used this language to publish HEART, a 428-page love letter to independent skate shops around the world. The book is a deep dive into the 45 years of culture, history and community of skate shops, celebrating their pivotal role as subcultural gathering places and telling the stories of the people behind them.
Featuring interviews and photos of 90 shops in 15 countries, HEART swiftly sold out its initial limited run of 5,000 copies upon its release in 2022. This April and May, Beaufort will be visiting 10 skate shops across the country, from New York to Southern California, including a stop at Cowtown in Phoenix on Sunday, April 28.
Each stop on the tour, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon, will feature art, photography, skateboarding and music inspired by the spaces they’re taking place. We sat down with Beaufort to discuss the comradery and creativity that define skateboarding communities from France to Phoenix – and everywhere in between.
What inspired you to create HEART and what was the process like?
I’m a French artist but everything started through my love for skateboarding. I discovered skateboarding at 13 years old. I’m 42 now and I’m still involved… I started calling friends and ended up making this book… and it sold out so fast. After that, I was like, “What’s next?” I decided to visit all of the skate shops involved with this book, which is like 100 skate shops from Thailand to Australia to Italy to Germany. I started in Japan and did Europe last summer. Now I’m doing this tour across the U.S… All I want to do is bring the community together for each stop and promote them. All I want to do is promote the history of each skate shop and celebrate.
Tell me about where you grew up and the first skate shop you went to.
I grew up in the southeast of France in a super-famous city called Cannes. My first visit in a skate shop was called LSD. I was 13 and I was scared as f*ck… Today, if you go to Cowtown, you have a thousand skateboards on the wall. Back then, it was just five boards coming from the U.S. and I was like, “Oh wow, those boards are from California.” I remember growing up having this board with the name of the pro skater on it and then 20 years later, being involved with those guys. Now, what I want to do is inspire the youth. “You’re bored? Take this and go skate. You’ll see, it’s going to change your life.”
Why are independent shops so important to local skate scenes, especially for young people?
If you go to Zara or H&M, you just buy your sh*t and go back home. When you enter a skate shop, it’s different. It’s a house, it’s a hub, it’s a meeting point, it’s a place where nobody will bother you if you don’t buy anything… You’re going to meet all the brothers, you’re going to meet the owner of the shop, you’re going to meet so many people. It’s like a different world. Normally, when you go to a shop, you just buy what you need and leave. There, you enter and you stay. You touch the product, you talk about what’s going on and, at the end of the day, you go skate. It’s a second family. Sometimes it becomes the first family, depending on where you grow up. Sometimes friends are bigger than family.
What can we expect at the event on April 28?
It’s a one-night show. At first, I thought we should keep the show up for two or three weeks, but a skate shop is not a gallery. It’s a place where every single centimeter counts… so I was like, let’s do a one-night show where it’s going to be crazy packed, we document everything, we have a crazy night and then, when you wake up, we’re gone, we’re on to the next stop. It’s going to be full of art and different types of people… We’re going to have lots of surprises for the crowd. We might go skate as well. We might do some cash for tricks. Mainly, it’s going to be a lot of art, music, food, drinks – shout out to Pabst [Blue Ribbon] – and overall, it’s going to be like a big party.
The tour is presented by Pabst Blue Ribbon. Why did you decide to partner with the beer brand and how is it incorporated and represented in the skate, art and music communities?
I’ve known Pabst for a while. I discovered the beer in the U.S. maybe 15 years ago. I was very close to the brand. Every time I needed some sort of drinks, they were always down. For me, it’s a family. Now, they kind of just trust my ideas. When I came up with this tour, they were like. “Let’s go.” If you look at what they do, it’s perfect for this tour. They’ve always been linked to the skate culture and music, as well. It really represents the youth. They do a lot of stuff with art as well, like cans with artists’ designs.
Tell me more about why you chose Cowtown in Phoenix as one of your 10 stops in the U.S.
If you think about the legacy in the U.S. in terms of skate shops, Cowtown is one of them. They’ve been in the game for over 20 years. They organize [annual amateur skateboarding contest] Phoenix Am. They’ve been running this for like 18 years, bringing together skaters from around the world in Phoenix, not L.A. or New York… If you celebrate skateboarding through skate shops and you don’t stop by Cowtown, you’re making a mistake.
