Tiago Lemos’s visa issues are now all cleared up. Village Psychic honored the occasion by publishing an interview with Felipe Ventura—who has been managing Tiago for the past several years—that goes on the record about what happened. With a fresh Transworld part in tow, Tiago is now back on U.S. soil, and ready to leave his mark on Southern California’s picnic tables and handrails. Ventura also sheds some light on the move from Boulevard to Primitive, which has yet to be fully discussed until now.
Tiago had no plans to quit Boulevard at all, but when he was in London he skated with the Primitive squad and Wade asked Tiago about joining the camp. He wasn’t really tempted until we randomly bumped into P-Rod in Paris at this spot, and he asked Tiago personally. Also being on the team with Carlos Ribeiro helped the deal a lot. It wasn’t until after the Glory Challenge when I was in California, and had a meeting with Heath [Brinkley] and Oliver [Barton], that we shook hands on it. We had six weeks to get an introduction plan together, and they stopped their presses just to get Tiago’s boards made in time. We gave Boulevard that month as notice, and he kept skating their boards until the day the Primitive guys surprised him at MACBA with his pro boards, and welcomed him to the team.
Tiago was on Boulevard since the first time he came to America in 2012; he had mad loyalty to the team, and refused so many offers in the past three years. But eventually, he told me he was ready to move on, try something different, and find himself some new inspiration. From what he told me, it’s all love for both brands because true skaters are behind them both.
Given Primitive’s video output, it’s safe to assume that we’ll be seeing much more of Tiago in the coming months.