mizzi. Interview: Kathi Macheiner, sixxa

austria’s number one brand for ladies that ride is called sixxa. the brand has been around since 2004.
sixxa is focussing on producing locally in europe, reducing the carbon footprint and using organic cotton. of course, everyone involved in production and sales is treated fair.
the founder, Kathi Macheiner, is a snowboarder, skater and surfer herself.
she also organizes events for women from time to time, for example the sixxa miniramp sessions.

to find out more about Kathi and sixxa, i interviewed her for you.

Kathi riding the sixxa miniramp. pic by Nicole Fleck.

how was the idea to start a shop born?
The shop just happened by chance. Workmates were looking for someone how would rent their shop during the time they worked abroad and so we took the opportunity and started with 20 m2 and called it “sixxa dinghy store”. After one year they came back and as we’ve been fallen totally in love with our own shop we searched for a new one in the same area. Lucky us we found a bigger one in the same street, but better location. We really like the Kirchengasse because of the nice community there!

what kind of education do you have?
I studied Psychology, but broke up before the final exams, because I went to graphic design college, which I finished in 2002.

when did you open up your shop / when did you start your brand?
We opend the “sixxa dinghy store” in 2008 and the “sixxa store vienna” in 2009. I founded my clothing label sixxa in 2007 officially, but was already doing it as a side project with handmade stuff since 2004.

what advice can you give others who might want to start their own brand / open their own shop?
Better not to start it alone. It’s hell a lot of work and best would be to have distribution, design and marketing done by different people.

which sports do you participate in yourself?
Snowboarding since more than 20 years now, and a bit of running, skateboarding, basketball and surfing

any final words / shout outs?
As Patrick would say: I take it easy when I’m dead…

the sixxa store vienna is located here:
kirchengasse 22
1070 vienna

http://sixxa.com/

mizzi. Interview: Alexander Frischauf, longboardalm.at

the austrian longboard scene is lucky to have it’s own hardware provider – longboardalm.at offers all the stuff you need to set up and maintain your own board, aswell as protective gear, dvds and longboard apparel.
one very special thing about the longboardalm is the testcenter. it can be set up at many longboard spots, so people can try and buy boards on location.

Testcenter

the longboardalm is doing a lot for the austrian longboard scene, so i thought it was time to give back a bit of support and introduce the owner of the longboardalm to you!

Alexander Frischauf

enjoy the interview with Alexander Frischauf and make sure to check out longboardalm.at, buy your gear there and support Alex aswell!

how was the idea to start a shop born?
i have been organizing worldcup races and the “König der Berge” cup-series since 2007. during that time, i noticed that the longboard scene was growing and that there was a certain displeasure with the austrian shopping opportunities. that was the reason for me, to start an austrian onlineshop in the summer of 2009.

what kind of education do you have?
after school, i collected about 20 years of experience in the field of warehousing and logistics, aswell as in retail.

when did you open up your shop / when did you start your brand?
the online shop was launched at the beginning of 2010, but the start-up phase had already been running since august 2009.

Verdicchio

what advice can you give others who might want to start their own brand / open their own shop?
it might be best to open a “normal” skateshop, where 90% of sales are made up of fashion, because it’s really hard to make money by focussing on selling hardware.

which sports do you participate in yourself?
streetluge and classic luge on worldcup level, downhill standup longboarding just for fun and smaller races like for example the “Parkhausrennen” in graz (styria) or the “König der Berge” Cupseries in ramsau, lohnsburg and so on.

any final words / shout outs?
a big thank you goes out to
Dan, my webmaster, without whom i’d be really lost at times
Doro, for standing by me, even if things are not going well sometimes
and to my teamriders Mike, the flying Dentist, Flo, Gali, Georgi and Clem (hope your knees will be fine again soon!)
and the most important thing about longboarding – HAVE FUN!

website: http://www.longboardalm.at/
blog: http://blog.longboardalm.at/

Kozakov

Marie-France Roy Interview by Ride on top

canadian snowboard shredder Marie-France Roy was interviewed by the website “Ride on Top” recently, check it out here:

-> http://rideontop.ca/marie-france-roy/

Julia Brückler Interview

austrian skateboarder julia brückler has been interviewed by the famous girls’ skateboarding website the side project

-> http://www.thesideproject.com/

mizzi. Interview: Stuntwoman Cornelia Dworak

one of my friends, cornelia dworak, has made a pretty outstanding decision concerning her job – she works as a stuntwoman. i got to know her years ago through bmx and i was always impressed by her hard-working mentality.
austria isn’t exactly known as the homebase of a lot of movie productions or anything of that like. nevertheless, cornelia made her choice and has been working hard on pursuing her dreams ever since. it is amazing what she has already done and what stunts she is capable of doing.
i guess she is one of the examples that the saying, that you can accomplish anything if you are willing to work hard, is true.

when she’s not working or training for her job, she enjoys sports such as surfing, wakeboarding and snowboarding.

i decided to do an interview with her, because i truly believe she can be a rolemodel for other women and girls out there!
be sure to watch the teaser video at the bottom of the interview!

why did you decide to become a stuntwoman?
I didn’t really decide, it just happened. After I finished University I was on job search and it appeared that most of my jobs were body and stage related. So I decided to go for whatever came first – either biology or stunt – and it was stunts that made the race.

what kind of education do you have?
Actually I studied biology at the University of Vienna and specialized on Zoology and Behavioral Science. Somehow it still influences my profession as a stuntwoman, because I learned to be precise in monitoring which is an advantage for embodying movement structures.
For stuntwork itself there is no school you can attend. What I collected over the years is bits and pieces of different sportive skills – such as dancing, pantomime, martial arts, boardsports… – mixed with stunt training, which put together make a perfect match. I’ve been to England several times, to various cities of Germany, up to Norway and different parts of the USA to train on more than 9 stage combat weapon styles (including unarmend combat, single rapier, rapier & dagger, knife, quarterstaff, broadsword, katana, smallsword, sword & shield, theatrical martial arts,…), fight choreographing & arranging, aerial & wirework, precision driving and general bodystunts. I’ve worked with people from more than 15 different nationalities. My next journeys will lead me to Italy and Estonia. I’m always in for something new!

was it hard to get jobs in the beginning?
Haha, it’s still a challenge, depending on the film budgets and the “who-knows-whom” in the industry.
For 2 years I was part of an Austrian stunts & special effects team and since 2009 I’m a freelancing stuntperformer, fight choreographer and stage combat teacher.
Contra: there is no fixed monthly salary I can rely on.
Pro: I can accept new opportunities and work with stunt teams all over the world!

can you make a living from doing stuntwork?
Yes – of course it varies from month to month and sometimes projects you count on are cancelled, but the last 2 years I was quite lucky being on the German stuntteam of Aida at the Bregenz Festival, leading various stage combat and body-workshops, doing some movie stuff and events and teaching my regular classes at the dramaschool Krauss in Vienna.

do you have any role-models?
No. I met a lot of different people in the business and two german stuntwomen have become very close friends of mine. I’m impressed by people that unite great skills, a clear mind, the courage to say “no” and a relaxed and fun personality.
So if there is a role model: That’s the kind of person I love to work and share experiences with.

do you have any recommendations for other women who would like to become
stuntwomen?
Yes, think about this decision very carefully.
What I experienced as a woman, is that you’re in everybodies focus of attention in the beginning but you have to work twice as hard as a man to be accepted. Stunts and special effects are still male dominated.
You constantly need to develop your skills, be a tough person and keep your chin up to make your way in the biz – and you shouldn’t ignore the fact that you can’t do this job up to great age. It’s a good idea to have a second education you can fall back on! In stunts you don’t win the laurels for your job, and still you step in for actors when they can’t go any further.

The most important thing is to keep in shape and have the knowledge what you are capable of doing. That’s the only way to stay safe!
So if you decide to become a professional stuntperformer though, let this always be your guideline: “Safety first!”

what do you like to do in your spare time?
Depending on my jobsituation and my mood – I sometimes enjoy just to sit down , relax and draw or paint a picture – OR I need to move my ass!
I like to travel a lot and do whatever sport that introduces itself to me…streetdance, snowboarding, BMX, wakeboarding, scuba-diving, surfing, riding my motorbike…

That’s me, I’m much to curious about experiencing something new to specialize just on one thing! – and actually this characteristic trait emerged to be quite the best approach for stuntwork!

here’s a teaser of her work: