Press release —
VOICES OF THE FJORDS - Stavanger's Edge has a Name: Frode Goa
VOICES OF THE FJORDS - Stavanger's Edge Has a Name: Frode Goa
He surfs cold waves before breakfast and silkscreened t-shirts by accident. Today, Frode Goa is the pulse of Norway's most colourful street — and one of the clearest portraits of what makes Stavanger tick. His brand Kant outgrew Stavanger long ago — today, more than half of all Norwegians recognise the name, not to mention all the visitors to his store from around the world.
Fjord Norway • Voices of the Fjords series • Stavanger, May 2026
Walk along Øvre Holmegate in Stavanger and you feel it before you can explain it — something vivid and unself-conscious, a street that chose colour and attitude over convention. At number 9, behind a window full of careful, handmade things, you'll find Frode Goa. Surfer. Skater. Brand builder. Early riser. And, by almost everyone's account, the warmest person on the most interesting street in Norway.
Frode, who are you — in your own words?
I'm an early bird. Same time, I'm someone who needs beauty sleep. I love my hometown, I love the ocean, and I run something I still think of as a project rather than a business. I wake up before most people are awake, I go surfing, I come back to the store. That rhythm — the water first, then the work — that's who I am. Kant is thirteen years old now, but it's still a project to me. The moment I stop thinking of it that way, I think I'd lose interest.
You grew up shaped by the North Sea, surf, and skate culture. How did that environment make you who you are?
When I was young, surfing here was not exactly respected. People thought it was strange — a Norwegian in a wetsuit on a cold beach, trying to surf. But the ocean was the only place where I felt completely right. I have joined the Norwegian Surf Team at multiple European Championships and World Championships since 2003. That experience — being stubborn enough to do something because you love it, even when nobody else takes you seriously — that's how I built everything else too. The store, the brand, the skateboard company. Never a plan, always a feeling.
Completely by accident. A friend invited me to a one-week screen printing course. I'd studied interior design, I had my skateboard brand on the side, but not active, and I wasn't looking for another project. But I was curious. On the first day the teacher was printing on flat paper — I asked if I could print on a t-shirt instead. She said: if your exam is excellent, you can use the screen printing machine on Friday afternoon until midnight. So I did. I printed twenty t-shirts. A classic anchor and water motif. Very simple, very timeless. Twenty guys bought them, wore them, liked them. Then one friend said: come to the Lydbølger (Sound Waves) Festival, rent a booth. Three thousand kroner (ca 270 EUR). I nearly said no. I went. Everything sold. I made 100.000 kroner (ca 9200 EUR) from a single motif on a t-shirt on this festival. No promotion, no business plan. Just: market decides.
And the name Kant — where does that come from?
Kant means edge — this region's name is Jæren (Jadarr in Old Norse), covering up to 80km coastal stretch across 8 municipalities.
I found the name two weeks before the first festival. I did my research, the domain Kant.no was for sale for five thousand kroner, and I thought: that's a cool name. It fits this place. It fits me — I've always been a bit on the edge of things. And now the brand itself lives at the edge: local, but with international reach. Timeless, not fashion. I never do discounts, I never follow trends. If a motif isn't good enough to be worn in twenty years, I don't print it. I draw everything by hand on my own and then I screen-print in the shop.
What do visitors miss about Stavanger when they come only for the fjords and Preikestolen?
They miss the life between the hikes. Stavanger has this coastal creative energy that's very quiet, very real — it doesn't shout at you. There's Bore Beach, which I love for the mornings; there's Bookes and Boost for coffee; there's Suidenbaby for the night. And then there's this street, Øvre Holmegate — Fargegata — which is genuinely unlike anywhere else in Norway. The scale of it, the colour of it, the fact that it's small enough to feel personal but full of people who actually care about what they're making. That doesn't appear on most itineraries. But it's the heart of the city.
"The ocean doesn't care if you're a champion or a beginner. It just asks: are you here? I try to be here, every morning. I dreamed of California my whole life. And then one day I looked around and thought — I have it. Right here. Just colder."
Is there a season or a moment in the Stavanger region that every visitor absolutely must experience?
Autumn. Without question. Most people don't think of it, but the sea temperature in late summer and early autumn is sixteen, seventeen degrees — warmer than you'd expect. The light goes golden from four in the afternoon and doesn't fully leave until midnight. You can surf with just a light wetsuit, gloves, a hoodie.
The colours everywhere — the coastline, the sky — are extraordinary. And it's quiet. The summer crowds have gone. You have the beaches almost to yourself. That's when Stavanger shows you its real self: a little raw, a little wild, completely beautiful. At Jæren, the day does not fade behind hills or rooftops. It sinks, slowly and deliberately, into the sea.
All photographs are from Frode Goa's private collection and can be used for editorial purposes.
Frode Goa is available for interviews and can be met in person during opening hours at his KANT® shop (www.kant.no) at Øvre Holmegate 9 in Fargegata (the Colorful Street), Stavanger. Note that opening hours may vary depending on surf conditions at Jæren.
His SHIT SKATE SHOP (www.shitskateboardcompany.com) is located at Øvre Holmegate 11, 2nd floor, also in Fargegata, and opens by appointment only.
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Fjord Norge AS/Fjord Norway is the official tourist board of Western Norway. Our main functions are international marketing of the Fjord Norway region, press-and study trips, and to convey information from the Fjord Norway region to tour operators, press and consumers worldwide. Find more information on our website.
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