208 pages Edited by Iris Hempelmann and François-Luc Giraldeau, with contributing editor Stefan Ytterborn Text(s) by Stefan Ytterborn Designed by StudioNearMe Photographys by Jörgen Brennicke, with archival photographs by Warren Bolster & Glen E. Friedman 26 × 21 cm Language: English Paperback Publisher: Gestalten 2026
The red FibreFlex on the cover is a 1976 Henry Hester signature deck, fitted with gold Gull Wing trucks and green Kryptonics wheels. That attention to individual setups runs through Flex Appeal, which takes Stefan Ytterborn’s collection of boards from 1975 to 1979 as a starting point. Jörgen Brennicke’s photographs give the hardware a close look, from the shape of a deck to the laminated maple and fibreglass that gave FibreFlex boards their characteristic spring.
Period photographs put the equipment back in motion. Tony Alva rides the Fruit Bowl, Stacy Peralta takes on the Dog Bowl, and skaters test themselves in desert pipes and purpose-built parks. Seen together, the boards and the people riding them show how quickly new ways of skating changed what a skateboard needed to do.
