Livia Tannò

Livia Tannò is a young talent from Switzerland, a veritable prodigy of LAAX, and the wider Swiss community. Livia is fresh onto the Vans team and off the boat from a stellar trip to Oslo where she has been stacking clips with fellow Vans riders. Switzerland and its various Cantons have long been the breeding ground of the new gen of snowboarders in Europe, giving birth to crews such as Man we need a cam that have been making their own independent videos for the love of snowboarding. Livia has a natural style, with a raw talent that we’re looking forward to seeing progress over the seasons to come – so without further ado, a welcoming of sorts to the Vans Stable, Livia Tannò!

For those of us that don’t know you could introduce yourself.

I’m Livia, I am 22 years old – I live in Zurich and I am a snowboarder.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve had a busy start to the season! I’ve been on a trip to Oslo with Hundi and the Simpson brothers for her latest Vans project, which was super fun. Right after, I went on a Salomon trip to France to film a video for a new pow board. Filming in the side country was a cool new experience for me.

Talk us through your journey in snowboarding thus far.

I started snowboarding when I was seven years old. I grew up near Zurich where there aren’t really any mountains, but my grandmother is from the Engadin, which is part of the Alps. My family owns a house there, so we’d always go there for the winter holidays and sometimes for the weekends. My cousins started snowboarding first, so naturally I wanted to try it as well. I was instantly hooked. When I was twelve, I did trials for one of the local teams and managed to get in. My parents were a bit sceptical at first, but when they saw that I could travel without them and how much fun I had, they became very supportive of it.

I started off doing slopestyle and big air competitions. One of my coaches from the time was also a coach at a sports school so he recommended me to go there, which I did, two years later. The school was quite competition oriented, but it was a dream to have the opportunity to snowboard so much, and it really pushed my riding.

I was always interested in filming, and that was fuelled by seeing my friends and some of the older guys at the school getting into it. When I was 19, I tore my ACL in November and missed the whole season - at that point I was already pretty much over competing. I did my rehab and the season after started to get my first street clips.

How do you find that mix or transition between competing and filming?

I don’t do any comps anymore in the traditional way, I quit the Swiss team when I was twenty after my knee rehab was done. I sometimes do rail jams, last year I rode at The Uninvited which was set up by Jess Kiruma, following the all-female and non-binary Uninvited videos. That was an insanely cool event. But I would still say I don’t love competing, filming is my main thing and priority.

How important are events such as DIYX for snowboarding culture?

Events like this really cement the community together. It’s so rad to meet people that you have only seen online in real life to ride and party together. I don’t think such meetups would happen without things like the DIYX!

Talk us through your local scene.

My local resort is LAAX where the snowboard community is pretty big. It’s really nice to be able to go up the mountain and know almost for sure that there is someone I know that I can ride with! I mostly ride with some friends who are LAAX locals too, or I meet up with my crew MWNAC somewhere, these are the guys I usually film with, we’re a little spread out all over Switzerland but we often connect to stack some clips or just hang out! That’s my favourite part of snowboarding.

What does it mean to you to be a female snowboarder in your community today?

It’s a good time right now to be a female snowboarder. There is a lot going on to push female snowboarding, there’s more opportunities – projects and sponsors and so on. However, I would say there is still a lot more to be done, and that’s not to underestimate how important role models are to get there. Growing up, I always had female role models in snowboarding that were doing comps, but for a long time I didn’t know any women in person that were filming for snowboard videos the way I do it now.

Of course, I eventually saw some women’s video parts, for example in The Uninvited videos, and I immediately felt very inspired by them, but it took a while for me to really connect with that niche of female street snowboarding seeing it only on the internet for so long.

I think we need more role models across the different disciplines. In comps there is a really big progression on the level of riding happening right now and with street it’s not quite there yet, but that progression is starting. I think there’s going to be a big push soon and I’m there for it! It’s cool to see not only the level in street getting higher but also seeing way more FLINTA+ (German for LGBTQ+) people out in the streets or in the backcountry, getting clips, even for smaller projects or just to get the experience of creating a snowboard video. Also, I love seeing it a lot recently that people mix different forms of art with snowboarding.

Is it important for you to be a role model in your community?

I don’t really consider myself a role model, but I would be hyped to inspire people, I hope I do it in a good way. I’d love to promote in some way the values of authenticity, of doing your own thing as well as caring for others, the environment and the wider community. I am not a good role model at all in this matter, but especially environmental sustainability is something where snowboarding as a whole has so much potential to do better. For me, I would love to figure out how to do this professionally without taking so many flights all the time.

Who are your role models?

My biggest role models are my friends, people I know that I look up to, those that are taking a path that I would like to take as well. In terms of professional snowboarders, my biggest role models are Kennedi Deck and Jill Perkins.

What are your inspirations in snowboarding?

There is this new collective in Switzerland called Super Friendly Society. Some friends started it, they are trying to push the visibility of the FINTA+ community in board sports by doing a magazine and hosting events that are safe spaces which are especially female and beginner friendly. I like seeing that and find it really inspiring that people are pushing our culture in that direction, making our community more inclusive.

What are your inspirations and interests outside of snowboarding?

I’m interested in many things, I would consider myself a curious person. I study geography at the University of Zurich. That gives me a lot, I love expanding my knowledge in that topic as well as others, especially those outside of snowboarding. It’s nice to switch off from one and onto the other and vice versa, it makes me more hyped for both. I’m also really into skating in the summers – classic.

How would you describe the vibe on the Vans team?

Well I just got on, so I haven’t done too much yet aside from my recent trip with Hundi and the Simpson brothers which was rad. I did meet most of the Vans team at DIYX which was amazing. They were super nice and inspiring people and I’m really excited to spend more time and hopefully do projects with them in the future!

What advice would you give to girls starting out snowboarding?

Don’t be ashamed of showing up even if you don’t fit in right away or feel that you aren’t good enough. Don’t be afraid to take things into your own hands, to start filming or whatever – don’t worry if people like you or your work – you will only get better anyways! And bend your knees!

Any last words?

Do what you want to do, don’t do it for anyone else.

Thank you to my parents and to everyone that’s supporting and inspiring me.