Loveletters, early years & more: Emile’s close ones on him turning pro

We contacted family and friends who watched Emile Laurent grow up and accompanied him on his way to becoming a pro – from his parents and siblings, Cal's Pharmacy family & Andrew Barnes, who designed the Burnside 2084 graphic.

Early years

I first met Emile when he was an actual small child – probably 7 or 8 years old. His family lives directly across the street from a relative of mine. Their street had this amazing group of neighbors who all knew each other really well and all the kids and families were constantly interacting in each other's daily lives. I remember being over at my relative's house and Emile's mom Traci telling me he had started really being interested in skateboarding and asking about bringing him by the park. 

As soon as Emile showed up at Department of Skateboarding he immediately became everyone's favorite grom. He was really small and had this wild long hair and huge smile all the time. He was an immediate charger – just wanting to skate everything. Slamming all over and trying stuff he definitely wasn't ready for. Effortlessly could hang with way older people. Teenagers, 20's, 30's. He could get right in the session and it never felt like it did anything except enhance it. - Kyle Reynolds

First picture: Michael McCloud & Emile Second picture: Emile & Traci Laurent – Photos by Kris Burkhardt

When Emile was just a little guy still in diapers, he used to go to the stairs and carefully take one huge step to get himself on the first step while holding onto the wall, turn himself around without falling, and then jump. He would do this over and over again until his landing was just right and he didn't fall. He then progressed to two steps. He would do these repetitive jumps for 10-15 minutes at a time, super focused! — a sure sign of a future skater! He pretty much fell in love with the skateboarding culture at the Department of Skateboarding. McCloud and Dane were part of that scene and are still close to this day. I love that McCloud has become a filmer.

Emile was just about to turn 15 and was getting ready to head to Thailand for his Junior year of High School. Dane was heading to Malmo with Polar and I believe Pontus asked him to bring that kid who keeps tagging along with him. I was a little apprehensive to let Emile go to Sweden at first since he was to leave for Thailand so soon after. After talking with Pontus and Dane and Emile, of course I let him go. It really all worked out quite excellent. - Traci Laurent

Emile & Dane – Photo by Kris Burkardt

Art & Energy

My younger three kids all went to an Arts focused Middle School. It was there that Emile really found his love of drawing and art. He was/is a very talented artist. I think of skateboarding as a form of art as well. He is definitely a creative skater. His art is a little wild, his skating is a little wild. Emile is a wild skater! He kind of reminds me of a younger version of Boserio. They both charge hard. There are definitely times when I watch Emile in videos where my heart might skip a beat. - Traci Laurent

Early artworks of Emile – Photos by Traci Laurent

It's difficult to explain if you haven't been around him directly, but the best part of Emile's skating isn't the skating. It sounds corny but it's the stoke. He has the Cardiel stoke and it's 100% genuine. There is no fake to it. He loves everything about riding a skateboard and is having the time of his life every time he's doing it. It's infectious. Contagious. Genuine positivity being given off the whole time and he's also genuinely excited to be sharing the moment with whoever else is skating too. 

Another thing I've always appreciated about Emile is his complete lack of entitlement. Early on he'd come in the shop with his parents and they'd offer to get him stuff and he'd just refuse. They'd be trying to get him new wheels or shoes and he'd just say "No, mine are still fine. I'm good." Very few kids are like this. When he started really getting pretty good and I'd be watching out for him, looking at his board like "dude, that tail is 5 inches long now. Let's set a board up." Not a hint of acting like he's cool or entitled. Dane was that way too, which might've been something that drew them together. Those guys both only cared about the skating. Which is refreshing when so many kids are motivated by the attention or product or whatever. - Kyle Reynolds

Emile Laurent – Boardslide – Photo by Kris Burkhardt

Emile is an enigma on the board. None other like him. His style is pure and his abilities are incredible and consistent. I’ve had the pleasure of skating with Emile around Los Angeles when he’s come down for trips, and watching him is mind blowing. One time we were just messing around and he ollies up onto this long downhill skinny ledge that had a 5 foot or so gap. He casually ollies the gap landing on this thing into manual, hauling ass.. manuals the entire thing through two enormous cracks, and threads the needle at the end between two pillars at the bottom straight into traffic like a psycho. First try without any thought. No idea to this day how he did that so nonchalantly. Sickest fool. Go skateboarding! - Andrew Barnes

The Burnside graphic

I think of Burnside as the OG Portland skate hangout that skaters themselves built for the pure love of skateboarding. It's awesome because skaters can enjoy the place all year around as it is completely covered by the Burnside Bridge. Pretty darn clever for a city that gets a lot of rain. - Traci Laurent

Burnside 2084 – Artwork by Andrew Barnes

Emile just asked if I’d do his graphic for him and I asked him what he wanted. He wanted a painting of Burnside Skatepark, just like as if there was no more humans on earth. So overgrown with plants, animals in there and stuff. He wanted me to add these spirit skaters, so they’re almost like phantom skaters or forrest spirits.
The hard part was to find a good angle of the park, cause I wanted to get as much of the park in there as possible to where you can recognize that it was Burnside. So once I found the angle, I just kinda went off from picture. The lighting was really important to me. I wanted it to really show the contour of the ramps, the moss and so on. I’m from the Pacific Northwest and I put special, native plants in there, cause I wanted my work to be the type of environment that would grow around Burnside. - Andrew Barnes

Everything about Emile's personality makes perfect sense for why he became so connected to Burnside. Totally authentic. Appropriate levels of respect and reverence for what the park means to all who came before him. Never trying to put himself above the park. Recognizing the park has really deep, almost spiritual meaning to a community connected to it. He's super loyal and wants to be a good representative of it. Like I mentioned before, the stoke really resonates and reverberates at Burnside and anyone around can absolutely feel it. - Kyle Reynolds

Emile charging through Burnside – Photos by Kris Burkhardt

PERSONAL MESSAGES

*My brother charges life with a grin. He sees the world through a lens that turns every day into an adventure. When you're around him, you get to put on his goggles for a bit and see the world as one big playground. Congrats Emile I love you - Eve

*Congratulations, Emile! - Gabe

*Whenever I see someone in Paris wearing Polar I ask them if they know who Emile Laurent is and I get so excited to share that you're my brother. Congrats on going pro bro, I love you! - Dani

*Emile is such a happy go lucky guy. Loves what he does and the people he does it with. Emile is so lucky to have found what and who makes him happy. - Papa

*The professional skateboarding world just got a whole lot brighter. Congratulations, Emile. I'm so very proud of you!! – Mom

*Congrats Emile!! Push 4-ever!! – AEDB