There’s not too many bladers from Portugal that we’re familiar with — Ricardo Lino and Rob Pinho being exceptions. But a few months ago we saw an edit from a blader we didn’t recognize that had us like “HOLY SHIT!” Stunts, tech, and some pretty spectacular spots — the edit was a refreshing look into a different scene, one we wanted to know more about. So we went in search of answers, and, well, it turns out that skater is an 18-year-old Portuguese dude named Rodrigo Braz Teixeira, and he’s definitely one to watch. We suggest reading about him here so later on when everyone’s talking about his next edit you can be like “I’ve know about that dude since…” You’re welcome.

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Hey Rodrigo, tell everyone who you are, where you live, and how old you are.
I’m Rodrigo Lourenço Quinkardete Braz Teixeira. I live in the suburbs of Lisbon in Portugal, and I’m 18 years old.

What’s the blading scene like in Portugal? And how long have you been a part of it?
I think the blading scene here isn’t evolving too much. We haven’t got new skaters, and it looks like it’s been the same since my brother and I started, but with a few less skaters. The usual suspects keep doing it though. I’ve been part of it more seriously for six years.

Speaking to that, how did blades end up on your feet? And how long have you been blading?
My brother and I were invited to a party in a skatepark, we didn’t have skates or anything, so our parents took us to the local sports shop and bought us our first skates. At first it was, like, just skate on weekends when there was nothing better to do, but when we started to compete with eachother we got the thrill of it. This was in 2006, so I’ve been skating for roughly nine years now — that’s half of my life.

Where do you find inspiration for the tricks you do or the way you look at the obstacles around you? I guess what we’re asking is: who’s your favorite blader?
That’s a hard one. I guess the tricks I do and the way I look at obstacles are not correlated (directly at least) with my favorite bladers. I’m not watching my favorite bladers with a pen and paper writing the tricks and ideas they had so I can try to do them later. I like the way he (or they) skate because of their unique way of doing it, and to find your own way to do it is what’s fun about skating. The way and where I choose to skate is a relation of what I know my abilities are, and what I think I look “cool” doing.

Of course I’m influenced by some skaters, mostly by the ones I know and admire like my brother and (Ricardo) Lino. But I think the “favorite skater” has to be the one you really don’t understand how he’s doing what he does, and Alex Broskow has been pushing it since forever. If you’ve watched “Nowhere” you know what I’m talking about. He should be everyone’s favorite skater.

So you know our buddy Ricardo Lino, and you’ve bladed with him?
I do know Lino! He’s my official coach and the living blade legend here in Portugal. He’s a really good guy to blade with and he has the craziest ideas bladewise. If you don’t know him, search for him on Google or something — he’s doing things the way they should be done.

Did he let you try his roller-skates?
Ahah! I have not had the chance to try them yet, but I will!

Not long ago you dropped that edit that got everyone’s attention. It was pretty sick! How long did you work on filming for that?
Thanks! It took a lot of time because it was my last year in high school and my brother had a lot to do too. The first clip goes way back to the beginning of 2014 but the majority of the tricks are from 2015, so a year and a half.

What was your favorite clip in there?
The last one — true makio to fish. It was pretty rewarding. The idea was just to do a true mak down the ledge, but while I was trying that I thought something else might be possible. I had never done that trick before but it came out just the way I thought of it — that’s rare! It felt really good.

Are sponsors throwing free stuff your way yet?
Razors Skates have been hooking me up with free skates since 2012 and I’m really lucky and thankful for that. I know there are a lot of good skaters that deserve a sponsor and don’t have one.

Have you had the chance to travel much for blading? How about competing in comps?
Not as much as I want to — the time/money problem has yet to be solved! I try to make a couple of blade trips a year. Earlier this year I went to Winterclash and Barcelona, it was really fun.

What do you do when you’re not blading? School or work or other sports/hobbies?
When I’m not blading I’m usually studying or reading something, or watching something, or filming something, or with my girlfriend doing something, and that’s about it. I’m really into literature, cinema and physics, but I don’t have another hobby like blading.

Tell us a story about something unusual or weird that you saw or experienced while out blading.
There are a lot of good stories. My brother and I have been skating in our neighborhood for so long that people that have kicked us out recognize us in the street and chase us! Those are always funny stories, we are totally “wanted.” I remember one time we had a real gun pointed at us while getting kicked out. That was pretty unusual.

What’s something about Portugal that every visitor should experience or see?
For the tourist: going all around downtown Lisbon, hearing some Fado, and eating traditional food like arroz di pato.

For the blader: try to skate the spots with shitty ground in downtown Lisbon without ripping pants or tearing meat from your skin. Then go check out the spots in the ghettos.

When can we expect to see another edit?
Earlier this month I finished filming a promo for Smart Forfour that I think is going to be out any day now. I think I’ll have three or four blading clips in there.

I’m also currently working on two edits. One of them with my girlfriend filming, and that will be out at the end of August I hope, and the other one is a split section with my brother. I want to put that out closer to the end of the year.

What’s next when we’re done talking here — what are you going to do?
Just got lunch, so I’m getting out of here to go skate and hopefully film something!

Any parting words for the homies or haters?
Thanks everyone for the support. Keep doing them mizous, props to Pflaumina, Martim, Lino and the homies.

Well thanks, Rodrigo! Good luck with everything you’re working on, and we look forward to seeing what you put out next.
Thank you!

Photos by Duarte Lima & Martim Braz Teixeira.