Arthur Longo

Arthur Longo is a household name in snowboarding, and rightly so. He’s captured the hearts and the imaginations of the wider snowboarding community through his innovative approach to riding, namely the way he’s carved a niche and created a movement based around his unique vision of riding resorts and boosting into the stratosphere on side hits. Quite simply, Arthur’s video parts make you want to go snowboarding – a testament to his effortless ‘lassiez faire’ style. His easy-going demeanour, style and signature cheeky smile have only aided his cause, and as an artist in his own right has cemented Arthur’s position as a true original in the upper echelons of snowboarding. We decided to pick up the phone and talk to the man himself on all things snowboarding, art, a sejour in Berlin and more. Love is the answer!

For those of us that don’t know you, can you introduce yourself?

My name is Arthur Longo, I’m 36 years old. I’m mainly a snowboarder - I’ve been snowboarding all my life. I’m French, and I live in Chamonix. That’s about it!

Talk us through your journey in snowboarding?  

I started with everyone else my age quite young as I’m from Les Deux Alpes and that’s just what you do, you ski with school and so on. My parents put me in the snowboard club when I was five, and I haven’t stopped since. I guess it’s weird to think I spent my whole life with a snowboard strapped to my feet, from being a kid to an adolescent, to a young adult and now a grown man – an old fart! I think I’ve been through it all, snowboard school, club, contests, national team, Olympics, filming parts. It’s been a hell of a journey.

In years past you were competing quite a lot, and now focused on filming – can you talk to us about that transition?

I always filmed parts alongside doing contests. However as I was doing both - my parts were not that sick and my results in contests were not that sick. I was doing too much! When I was in my twenties, I got kicked out of the French team so I stopped doing most contests aside from the fun ones and really focused on parts, I was filming a bunch with Pirates back in the day. I then actually got back into training a lot on half pipe, in the national team and into the Olympics. I hurt myself in the last contest I did in 2016, I decided that was my last and that it was time to move on. I was happy to snowboard more freely and focus on filming and not have to have a contest mindset and the constraints that that brings. It was so refreshing to ride how I wanted to ride. At that time Vans was hiring Tanner Pendleton to do film projects and I was lucky enough to be a part of that, it all took its path in the best way.

You have been somewhat instrumental in the way that snowboarders view resort riding, talk us through your love affair with side hits.

In snowboarding you naturally want to ollie, even on the flats. So you always look for little bumps to hit the slide of the slopes to jump and spend a little time in the air. That’s exactly the mix of snowboarding I like, a good amount of time in the air and on the snow. It’s great as you can go fast, go slow and spend time with your friends. Snowboard videos were always showing ‘epic’ footage, Alaskan backcountry with one metre of snow and so on. I was pretty stoked to try and document some different. Resort riding - it may be hit when people thought that it was cool to watch, I feel it’s more relatable and if I might say, inspiring to try and it makes you want to go out riding.

You’ve always had a lot of input in your output, the parts you put out, the shot you want to get – is that an important creative outlet for you?

Yes, absolutely. I was always attracted by different spots, a little more tweaked or not straight and I love to get creative with spots – transfers, gaps etc. So naturally how that is portrayed visually is important for me and I really enjoy working with the filmers and creatives to curate how that looks.

We’ve heard rumours you are getting more into street?

Haha! I feel like in the street there are far more options, it’s amazing place to get creative. I lived for seven years in the city and love skateboarding so I find the streets mega inspiring. I guess naturally that meeting point with the streets and snowboarding is and always was going to be really attractive for me.

As a snowboarder, you lived in Berlin for a while which isn’t exactly renowned for riding, talk us through that.

In my mid-twenties, I had been travelling a lot and never really lived anywhere. I was always on the road. I’d never lived in a big city, and as someone from the mountains I felt a calling to move away and experience something else. I went initially with a suitcase for a little bit, I thought it would last six months to a year, but in the end I spent seven years there. I loved it, I never thought I would be an old snowboarder - as I am now - so I always wanted to explore what I wanted to do after that. It was there I fell in love with art

Talk us through your art.

I would say I came into art pretty late, only when I left to Berlin. I unlocked this part of creativity thanks to some artist friends and I guess through travelling so much had always been very visually curious you could say. I did a graphic design school and rented a studio where I could paint and experiment which I really enjoyed. When I started to paint I told myself I really didn’t want to be one of those people that gave up too early and it’s been about six or seven years now that I have kept going – I’m proud of that. It’s been more challenging in Chamonix as it’s harder to find a space, my studio in Berlin was great in that respect. Every time I finish a painting it’s the same sense of elation of landing a trick. I love it.

I don’t know if I am artist that has visions of his emotions or anything I like, I’m really inspired by all I see and I feel my art is a reflection of that, a collage of that. It’s hard to describe yourself as a ‘creative’ and in ‘art’ terms but I love to create things with my hands and my head, hopefully…

Give us a little recap of your season.

It started a little late as I bruised my heel skateboarding - skateboarding hurts! I of course hurt myself the last day I decided I would skate before the season to avoid injury. I managed to ride again at home in early January, I started slow just feeling it out. We filmed a bit in Chamonix which was cool to push a little, from there I went to Mt Baker, stayed there filming for a while filming with Capita. From there I went to Uzbekistan with Wasted Talent, which was pretty amazing, we locked in the dates in advance, so we didn’t expect the best conditions but we had an amazing time. Back to Chamonix, then back to the US and now I am in France for the Volcom ‘Spot to Spot’ event that I do each year. It’s been back-to-back to back!

At the tail end of this season and leading into spring brings us to the question… What do you like to do in the off season?

What do I like to do or what do you I have to do... I like to pursue my passions, I’ve started surfing a bit which I love. Spending time in Biarritz. Spending time with people I love. Trying to skate every day. Art, but I need to find a better creative space. I like going to concerts – all the usual stuff. The basics!

What are your inspirations within snowboarding?

It’s a sport along with surfing and skateboarding that is so creative, like a blank canvas so for me anyone that brings that creativity is an inspiration. There’s so much out there, movies, underground crews, new spots. Also my team mates, for example the Vans team is such a good balance of people that inspire me across so many disciplines.

Favourite Vans boot?

The Verse and the Infuse, are both great. I go between them both.

Any last words? A message for the internet? A message to your former self?

That’s a tough one. I’m a little hurt by what’s happening in the world right now, but I feel like love is the answer. Be nice to your fellow people and stay positive.