Video Part: Mark Frölich’s Welcome to Morphium Skateboards

You ought to be familiar with Mark Frölich‘s skating by now. Dude’s been ripping over in Europe for years, and every part has been hard-hitting. This new one is no different: Seven minutes and two songs long. Check out Mark, now doing it for Morphium Skateboards. 

Get familiar with Morphium skateboards at its site and IG: @morphiumskateboards.

We got some words about Mark and this part from Morphium Skateboards’ Karl Knoop: 

“I first met Mark over 20 years ago in the most unlikely place – a snack bar after a contest. I was there with my Morphium team when Mark walked in with his Freedom Skateboards crew, grabbing food after the competition. Back then, he was just this young kid with a lanky frame, curly hair spilling out from under his cap on both sides, and an energy that immediately caught my attention. From that moment, Mark was burned into my memory. We didn’t have much personal interaction over the years, but whenever we’d run into each other at skate events here and there, we just clicked.

When Mark made the move to Barcelona, I noticed how dramatically his skating evolved. Whether it was through other skaters who visited him in Barca or the incredible video parts he kept dropping one after another, it was clear he was pushing his limits in extraordinary ways. Over the years, I kept hearing from people who were in closer contact with Mark that we shared a very similar mindset. Anyone who knows him understands that he gives 100-percent to everything and never gives up when something doesn’t work immediately. He’s tough as nails, can handle almost anything, and won’t be easily deterred once he sets his mind to something. On the flip side, he’s a complete geek when it comes to skateboard hardware knowledge. Anyone who knows him can tell you it borders on obsessive – in the best way possible. For example, I’ve learned more about boards, their molds, and shapes in the past few months than I have in the 30 years I’ve been skateboarding.

After Mark separated from his former partner last year (they had started a skateboard brand together) he was emotionally pretty devastated. That’s when Timo Meier (also a Morphium team rider and Mark’s skate buddy in Barcelona) asked if Mark could imagine riding for Morphium as a team rider. Mark thought it wasn’t such a bad idea, and that was the beginning. About eight months ago, we started regularly exchanging ideas about how we could rebuild Morphium as a company together and how best to collaborate. On average, we had calls one to two times a week, where we not only grew closer on a business level, but also on a personal level. Now we’re both incredibly motivated to push forward, and last weekend was finally the official kickoff. All the other Morphium team riders are mega pumped too, because everyone knows that with Mark, there’s a different energy flowing through the team that will drive everyone forward. With his bro Bülent Kurtca as an additional returning team rider and Timo Meier, who he regularly skates with anyway, everyone now has a common goal in sight—to push Morphium forward and get the best out of it. It’s an honor to have him on the team, and I’m looking forward to our shared future together.”

As an added bonus, here’s Bülent Kurtca’s re-introduction to Morphium Skateboards part with some words below from Mark:

“Bülent left Morphium skateboards back in 2005 to start his own board brand with his homie Patrick Eling. They named it “Cobra Cabana.“ He hit me up back then and asked me if I wanted to ride for it. I always looked up to Bülent and thought he was one of the most stylish skateboarders in Germany. In that case it was a no-brainer for me to join the team and Bülent and I went straight for a six-week trip together and had a f—king blast. Some of the clips shown in his retrospective were filmed on this very trip.

Sadly Cobra Cabana skateboards didn’t last very long, and even though this was only the start of a brotherhood between Bülent and me, afterwards we didn’t manage to end up on the same company again.

Now 20 years later it’s time for exactly that! I think it was the first phone call that I had with Karl (Knoop, owner of Morphium skateboards) discussing our link up when I mentioned that I wanted Bülent back on board right away. Bülent and Karl always stayed on good terms through the years and Karl was all for it as well.

I think to this day he has no idea the impact and importance he’s had on my skateboarding and life in general. I hope we can have many more sessions together and I hope this move lights a fire under his ass, haha.

I couldn’t be more stoked for this link up. Thank you Karl for the opportunity and your trust in me. Thank you for letting me be part of Morphium Skateboards and thank you Bülent for still skating double sets with me 20 years later. Let’s keep it going!”—Mark Frölich