When we met Joana Fongern a couple years back, we were instantly captivated by her warm and friendly energy. It wasn't until we started seeing her beautiful color blocked designs at the park that we had to dig a little deeper. Those designs were part of Joana's line, Nayf and Wavey, a clothing line as individualistic as the founder.

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Where did you grow up?

I grew up all over the place, mainly in Germany and Austria. I was born in Frankfurt, but my parents and I moved to the south of Germany when I was 9 years old. That didn’t last long and our journey led us to a small town in Austria. That’s where I actually grew up because we lived there for the next 10 years.

How did you start skateboarding?

When I turned 25 and I moved to New York City I finally decided to pick something up I always wanted to do –skateboarding. I had never skated, because of a) I was afraid of doing it by myself or b) I didn’t know anyone that did it. I started watching the X Games on my lunch break, listened to Nina Moran's Ted Talk, and followed The Skate Kitchen on Instagram and finally got the courage to a skateboard.

Everything got me so hyped that before Christmas, I went to Labor Skateshop and bought my very first set-up. One thing led to another, I met my best friends at The Skate Kitchen event, became part of Late Skate.

What made you want to pick up the skateboard?

Skateboarding had always something very intriguing, creative, charming, and provoking to me. I remember when I did my exchange year in an American high school all my male friends were skaters. I was so intrigued by it because I wanted to learn it too, but I did not know-how. Someone even gave me his skateboard as a present and I pushed on the front porch of our house, but I stuck to playing soccer because that’s what I was good at.

Moving to my dream city, New York, was a new chapter in my life. This meant: trying out long desired dreams. As I said before, skateboarding has always been something I wanted to pick up. Everything spoke for itself (laughing). The boss I interned for, was a skater from back in the day. As I mentioned I watched a lot of X Games footage, saw a bunch of people skating down the street, one of my friends I met told me about The Skate Kitchen AND they happened to have a girl’s skate meet up exactly on that day when I looked them up. I mean, what are the odds (laughing).

The feeling of freedom and curiosity were definitely the reason why I picked up the board.

I always wondered how it must feel to skate down New York City’s streets with a bunch of people - and man I can say, this is one of the best feelings I’ve had. The feeling of freedom and the feeling that the world belongs to you - INCREDIBLE.

If it wasn’t for skateboarding I wouldn’t have all the amazing and creative people around me, I wouldn’t know what empowerment and community feel like. Skateboarding gave me friends, confidence, and a feeling of belonging.

What inspired you to keep skating?

I can definitely say that the feeling of freedom and community are two of the main reasons why I still skate. If it wasn’t for skateboarding I wouldn’t have all the amazing and creative people around me, I wouldn’t know what empowerment and community feel like. Skateboarding gave me friends, confidence, and a feeling of belonging. It gives me a purpose in life to pass on this feeling and it definitely created a lot of possibilities for me. 

We met because you skated with Late Skate. How did you meet them? 

I met Natalie, Aryam, Liv, Skylar, and Luna at my very first girl’s meet-up and they were all so welcoming and loving. We exchanged numbers and soon Natalie invited me to go skateboarding with them at Fat Kid. I was SO NERVOUS because this was my first time being in a skatepark.

At Fat Kid, I met other members of Late Skate and from this day on we hung out all the time. I am still so happy that I went to the girl’s skate night because man those ladies are some crazy and creative people with the best personalities I wouldn’t wanna miss out on.

How has being part of a community influenced your skating?

First, I have to say that I have never really skated outside of a skateboarding community because I was lucky and met incredible people. Second though, due to the pandemic, I skated by myself a few times and I can definitely say that my skateboarding didn’t improve. So, I think that the element of community has influenced my skateboarding in so many ways. Through the community feeling, I dared to try new tricks and conquer my fears which I would have never done if I skated by myself.

Also, it has influenced my creativity of skateboarding - I have some friends that push me to think a bit more creative when trying to skate new things or a line. That makes me really happy.

How did you get to New York?

After I graduated with my Masters, I applied for a lot of fashion design internships in New York City. Half a year later, I got an internship, received my visa approval and was able to move. I only planned to stay for 6 months, but I got another internship approved so I stayed a little over a year. 

You’re an incredible fashion designer. How did you start designing?

AWWW! Thank you so much! During High School my friend and I started to draw clothing designs but I didn’t imagine that this would be my livelihood someday. I would say I have always enjoyed fashion, loved to sketch and illustrate, but did I know how to use a sewing machine (not to mention a hand needle)? NO (laughing). This led me to my decision to study fashion design and through school I learned everything from scratch. I developed my skills throughout my BA and MA.

How did you start your line, Nayf and Wavey?

The journey started with my master’s collection but under another name. It was more a project than a serious business at that time. One, because I wasn’t at this point where I could a 100% identify myself with my project. And two, I moved to New York City after my program was done to gather experience. Hence, I paused my brainchild.

After I have returned from the Big Apple, I finally found myself, my ‘style’, and the missing identification for Nayf and Wavey. The whole New York City journey, the people, and skateboarding inspired me to start my project. 

I want to create beautiful pieces for everybody to feel comfortable and empowered in it - express feelings, tell stories with it but also give room for people to speak up.

What is your goal with Nayf and Wavey?

Nayf and Wavey is a multicultural womxnswear brand that celebrates intersectional feminism through diversity, inclusivity, and gender self-determination. My goal is to empower my friends, womxn, non-binary, and their peers. It’s for everybody. I want to create beautiful pieces for everybody to feel comfortable and empowered in it - express feelings, tell stories with it but also give room for people to speak up. In the future, I would love to have another side project with Nayf and Wavey that focuses on teaching skateboarding young kids, create creative workshops, and build a platform that creates room for socioeconomic, political, and social-critical topics that educate and break boundaries.

 How has COVID19 impacted your business?

COVID-19 has luckily not impacted my business in a bad way, as my brand is still a side project and I can’t fully live off it – yet. The pandemic to a greater extend led me to the production of community masks with the donations of 1€ per mask to great humanitarian organizations. The past three weeks have been crazy with taking orders, sewing, packing, and sending out as I am a one-woman business.

You’ve been making masks for your community. First of all, that’s so awesome. Second, do you feel like you have a responsibility to do that? How did that idea start?

I did not feel like I had the responsibility to sew community masks, but with my sewing skills, it would have been dumb not to take action! As a matter of fact, my friend and my parents actually led me to the idea as I lost both of my jobs due to COVID-19. The community masks are not only a good income source to invest in my brainchild, as this allows me to work on new ideas and projects, however, it also allowed me to collect donations for humanitarian organizations that help people in need. 

Do you feel like there’s a connection to artists and skateboarding?

Definitely! Most of the people that I know are artists and work in the creative field. I have friends that work in the fashion industry, are painters, graphic designers, or work in the film and music industry. Personally, I get inspired through skateboarding, and while I skate. I get a deeper connection and understanding of my creativity. Skateboarding not only is an outlet for creativity but it is also a tool to break boundaries and I think that most of the people take the influence from it, transfer it to their art, and bend boundaries through their projects. So yes, there is a connection between artists and skateboarding.

How do you express your creativity in skateboarding?

I express my creativity in the way how I dress while I skate and my style of skateboarding. Ever since I have started skating I can 100% say that I truly found my way of expressing myself.

Follow Joana to see more skating and fashion content
Shop the newest Nayf and Wavey here

Photo by: Marilena Vlachopoulou

We’ve always been huge fans of the brand Doyenne. Founded in 2017 in Glasgow, Scotland, the anonymous duo produces a genderless clothing brand while maintaining ethical and local production. Doyenne has trickled into the states a bit, and we’ve always been proud to support their pursuit of equality and unity. We sat down to talk to them more about what’s been going on on the other side of the pond.

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How was Doyenne started?

Doyenne started when we realized there weren't many skateboarding brands that supported skaters like us and there was a general lack of representation of womxn, LGBTQI+ and disabled skaters. We wanted to create a brand that would support the unsupported and represent the underrepresented, and so we did. 

What is the skateboarding scene like in Glasgow? 

It is a small and pretty tight scene, which can be pretty daunting if you are not a “local”. Since we have started Doyenne and organised our beginners session we have seen a massive difference in the scene, it’s bigger and more diverse now. Some started from our sessions and some other new skaters just saw others like them doing it and started too. We don’t realise how radical can be just only the act of being in a skatepark as a minority. 

How have you been able to expand your brand outside of your local community?

Doyenne is a community that anyone can belong to, no matter where they are in the world. Social media has been a very useful tool to expand our community and we have been traveling and organised events and skate sessions in many different places and hoping to do much more of that in the future. We also have worked with organisations and charities from Palestine to Cambodia, and we are in touch with many other communities around the world. 

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“The very existence of Doyenne is based on the need for inclusivity. “

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How does Doyenne establish inclusivity in fashion and skateboarding? 

The very existence of Doyenne is based on the need for inclusivity. 

We started our brand with minorities in mind on a mission to make clothing regardless of gender, whilst donating part of our profit to charities. Through our platform, we created a space where our community can feel empowered, connected, and represented. We understood that you can't have diversity without equal opportunities. That's where our free beginners' lessons came to be, providing a safe space for people to learn how to skate and meet like-minded people. Within the years, we have collaborated with a number of creatives coming from very different backgrounds and touching on the themes of sexuality, mental health, LGBTQ+ experience, and disabilities. From a fashion perspective, Doyenne is for everyone that shares the same value as we do. Our clothes are genderless, ethically produced, and our sizes are accessible (the next collection will have a XXS - 4XL sizing) 

Most of our campaigns feature friends and folks from our community, as we think that they are the real representatives of what Doyenne looks like.

Our brand establishes inclusivity by questioning ourselves and our environment, but most importantly opening conversations with our community and taking the time to listen.

Walk us through the beginnings of Doyenne to the brand now?  How has your focus shifted? What have you learned? What have you changed? 

We have started Doyenne focusing on womxn in skateboarding but very quickly understood that was not enough representation for other marginalised communities so we grew towards being more intersectional in everything we do. We learnt how to look at things from different perspectives and ask ourselves how, from our small platform, we can help with the problems that our community face. Mostly, we listen to people and learn from them.  We still have a lot to learn and we are grateful for all the people that promote awareness and talk openly about what is wrong that most of the time our privilege obscures.

How has COVID19 impacted your business? 

We’ve been home for a long time and we have not been able to organize any beginners sessions or events which are our way to bring people together. We tried to find ways to keep the connection with our Doyenne x Everyone Isolation project and with social media, waiting for the day things can go back to normal. We have been slowed down in production and collections have been delayed, but we still had great support from our community during these times which we are so grateful for.

Your color choices are always bright and seem very intentional. What is the emphasis on color if any?

You caught us, colors combination are definitely our forte. We think that colors are incredibly powerful tools to communicate and there’s so much potential to play with that. Since Doyenne represents who is often not visible in the community we felt that wearing something  that makes you shine brighter than anyone else is a pretty empowering move. You’ll see the Doyenne colors come through the grey concrete wherever you go. 

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“There are no such things as prejudice or judgment in nature and this allows a sense of freedom that is hard to find elsewhere.”

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Tell us about your new collection. What goes into the design process? Was there any specific design or graphic focus with this ?

Our new collection “Come as you feel”, as the title suggests, it’s an invitation to simply be ourselves unapologetically. The main inspiration for this season has been the natural landscape and the authentic spontaneity that comes with being immersed in it. There are no such things as prejudice or judgment in nature and this allows a sense of freedom that is hard to find elsewhere. Our design process took a lot from this sentiment, the collection features very earthy tones, paired with a brighter palette symbolising the rebirth of nature and prints promoting acceptance.

You’re producing your first series of Doyenne boards. How did that decision come about? What are the boards featuring? How was that process?

We have been wanting to produce boards since the start, we were trying to figure out how to do it locally and more sustainably. As a skater, the board you decide to skate is a commitment and we all want to skate boards and brands we support, and we feel the support should be reciprocal. One of the graphics on the boards is the illustration part of our Doyenne x Everyone project where we asked our community to design something with the theme of Unity during the COVID-19 lockdown, and picked the one we felt resonated better with the theme and brand aesthetic. It was great to see all the submissions and showcase them through our platform and be able to involve everyone in the design process. 

What do you see for the future of Doyenne? 

We see Doyenne growing and blooming, because us and everyone around us is growing and blooming too. This is a very new and revolutionary chapter for skateboarding and we are so happy to be part of it. We also see a more sustainable future, for the world and our brand will work towards it and alongside it. 

Photo by: Dominic Manderson

Tell us more about Across the board?

Across the Board is our brand giveback to the community. We have been organising beginners skateboarding sessions in Glasgow for three years now, donated to many charities and collaborated with many artists. Everything we put into our brand was in order to be able to give back, and so Across the Board is a project that will let us expand this more worldwide and literally “across the board”. 

Do you feel like there’s a connection to artists and skateboarding? How do you express your creativity in skateboarding?

Skateboarding is a creative engagement of the body and mind and art is the same. We believe that often art and skateboarding connects through the same feeling of freedom of creation and with seeing inventive potential in mundane objects to turn them into something completely different from the original purpose. Personally, we think that there’s been too many rules within the way people should skate (push mongo if you like it, fuck it!) and we think breaking those rules are creatively redefining what skateboarding can be. 

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Follow Doyenne Skateboards here
Shop Doyenne here

We are SO stoked to see this collab between Unity x Adidas. It’s really special to see such a diverse community championed for the messages they’re spreading in skateboarding. We’re superfans of Jeff’s illustration’s here at Quell, and it’s truly a testament to Unity’s message to see them all over the apparel and shoes. The images from the campaign are beautiful too. Everything is available today on Adidas

Images by Sam McGuire/ @ samuelmcguire, video by LEO BAÑUELOS / @ bronquito

On this episode of Quell Party, a surprise guest joins us! We interview Jessyka Bailey on her clothing line, moving to New York and the people who inspire her.

If you love us, please rate us 5 stars and write a review! DM us @quellskate on Instagram or email info@quellskate.com with any questions, comments or concerns. Thanks for joining the party.