Exclusive Interview with Apartamento 's Creative Director: Nacho Alegre

Apartamento is widely recognised as today’s most influential, inspiring, and honest interiors magazine. International, well designed, simply written, and tastefully curated since 2008, it is an indispensable resource for individuals who are passionate about the way they live. The publication is published biannually from its headquarters in Barcelona. It also has offices in Milan and New York City. Unlike many traditional interiors magazines, which feature cold, minimalist rooms full of unaffordable designer gadgets, the living spaces in Apartamento are often small, cluttered and have a lived-in feel. The people covered are largely creative types – photographers, artists, musicians – who are invited to talk about their living spaces.

Apartamento's founders were Nacho Alegre and Omar Sosa, and Milan journalist Marco Velardi subsequently joined the team. Photographer Nacho Alegre has worked for the likes of Philip Lim, Vogue, GQ, and Urban Outfitters. Omar Sosa is a graphic designer who has been the art director of Casamica, a design magazine in Corriere de la Sera, Milan. Now he is the art director of Apartamento and plans contents with Nacho together. Also he has his own graphic design studio, Studio Omar Sosa, in Barcelona, whose main customers are from international design industry and fashion industry. Marco Velardi is the chief editor of the magazine and is also the co-owner of the creative agency SM.

Below is the dialogue between Nacho Alegre and Luxe.Co.

Luxe.Co: How do you came up with the idea of creating a new magazine?

Nacho: Well, let’s start from the very beginning. Me and Omar are very good friends back in Barcelona. He was a graphic designer and I was a photographer. We’ve never worked together but we often fantasized about the idea of working together.

Then in 2008 there was a collection of pictures when I was shooting houses with my friends, so I thought ok let’s make a little book. Then I told Omar and he said ok. Later I met Marco in Milan and I showed him the idea and he said let’s make a magazine. Then we started working on the magazine. Marco was in Milan and I was in Barcelona. We have been working through Skype and email for a year and only when the first issue finished and launched in Milan was the first time we met face to face.

Luxe.Co: What's the core spirit or core value of Apartamento?

Nacho: Our approach is really showing the homes as they really are, the reality and the more sentimental thing with homes. I like industrial design but not in favor of its purest form. Design at the end means expression and that is our DNA. Maybe you’re a punk in your 20s and you decide not to clean your home or throw clothes all over the floor, then it’s the expression about yourself and your situation. We do love arts as well, and industrial design in the chilliest form, what we’re talking about here, like artistic industrial design is what we’re interested in. We’re interested in music and paintings, but it’s not the key thing of the magazine. We don’t stick to industrial design though sometimes we stick to our designers or musicians. But they’re not the core. The core of the magazine is self-expression in the house.

Luxe.Co: After 10 years，we still find Apartment unique and interesting, so how do you protect the original DNA from the market or commercial requirements ?

Nacho: Yeah, 10 years is not that short but we’re still young.

We have a group of three to make decisions together, which makes it quite complicated. Every time you want to make a change, you have to be questioned by the other two, and there will be analyzed and arguments, sometimes even fights, too.

For example, once I wanted to interview an artist and sent a photographer to shoot him. But because of the limited eye of shooting we can’t shoot the house. Marco said no way. Because who would read a house magazine with no house in it? And Omar came in and said no too. So this interview weren’t put in the magazine. So change for us is really slow, on the other hand it’s very preservative. We continue to creatively complement each other, so that our interests remain closely linked and we will not be too far away. In this way DNA has also been maintained.

Luxe.Co: How many people are working for your magazine?

Nacho: Now we have 8 at our magazine, but we three don’t really make a living on it. So among the 5 members, one is the administrator, one does the solution, one is the manager editor, two are designers because we also do design consulting jobs. Maybe Nike comes and they want to apply a new space but we have two separated companies so this is not part of our revenue.

Luxe.Co: So I’m very curious of how to pricing a new magazine?

Nacho: At first we asked printers about the budget and they gave us a price. And we have to sell in shops and they have to make a little money so at last the price was set to be 10 euros. Later we realized it’s costly for competition so we slightly raised the price after consulting. Our business model is selling magazines  instead of getting paid through advertisements. Though we do have more than 50 advertisements, but in the first issue we only had one, and four in the fifth issue. Maybe when we gain more revenues from advertising, we may lower the magazine prices or not.

Luxe.Co: It’s amazing you’re a photographer and creative director, but you also handles very well with numbers as well. What was your major?

Nacho: I majored in law. I’ve always loved numbers and once wanted to have an Economic degree. But eventually I turned out to be a photographer.

(Like the magazine and photography, the restaurant Servicio Continuo is also an important means of expressing and delivering a way of life for Alegre.)

Luxe.Co: When did you become a photographer?

Nacho: I started shooting for a musical magazine in the second year in law. In the last year I had to transfer to another school and study at night because of the full-time shooting job.

Luxe.Co: And why is the magazine published biannually?why does it take so long?

Nacho: Apartamento is sometimes more like a book rather than a magazine. We don’t talk about news. And we do can make more money through advertisement by doing seasonal but maybe it’s too much for our readers. Twice a year is a good pace for us to develop our work properly and put things together in a nicer way.  I don’t think we have to do seasonal otherwise we shall start over and give up the present.

Luxe.Co: What do you think of advertisements?

Nacho:  We have like 20 pages of advertisements and some really good brands coming in. But buying this page doesn’t mean I’ll speak for you. It’s the same as brand collaboration, we don’t speak for the brand, either.

Luxe.Co: So how do you choose interesting target interviewee for your magazine?

Nacho:  We’ll have a meeting to discuss the issue, choosing some people and telling them we’re interested in them. Then we’ll discuss over them to get into an agreement.

Luxe.Co: So how do you find them?

Nacho: Maybe that’s who I met at my parents’ or in some books when I think I like him and he’s still alive, ok let’s do something about him. Normally it’s easy to find in the past than present due to complexity. It’s not only about his work, it has to do with people he works with and meet, and whether we agree with what he’s representing. For example, there is an artist whose work we really like, but we don’t really like his type of people or type of thinking. We still won’t feature him. We have to feel attached to him.

Luxe.Co: So do you have a specific filtering system? =

Nacho: No. But at some point, finding someone interesting and inspiring is very difficult. For example, we won’t choose football player only because they’re good at football. That’s not interesting.

Luxe.Co: why do you have an app?

Nacho: Once the magazine is sold, it’s hard to find any piece on the market.  Also we don’t want to make a website for the contents to be easily copied and spread everywhere free.  So we launched the app to provide a random content access when you can’t get those contents offline.

Luxe.Co: You have a store in your app, right?

Nacho: Yes, it’s easier for subscribers.

Luxe.Co: So will you sell products, like art products in your store?

Nacho: No, we’ll never recommend products or linking to buying. Maybe only when we have a collaboration with artists will we sell little things like sweaters.

Luxe.Co: What’s your daily life like?

Nacho: Well, I have two types of daily life. One is I’m shooting as a photographer. I wake up and start shooting without doing anything else and only when shooting is over can I check my emails. Another is when I’m not shooting I go to the office and review and discuss things with the assistant and the administrator. We three all have two roles, usually doing our own business during 8 and 11 in the evening. But the other two have left their studios so we have five more designers they brought from their studios. You can say we put everything into our favorite project, Apartamento, and we’re much closer to each other.

Luxe.Co:  What do you think of the role creative director plays in magazines?

Nacho: In Apartamento, we all do the same. But Marco does more with advertising and clients, so he’s the chief editor. Omar is a graphic designer so he is the art director and receives more feedbacks from the magazine. In my case I’m a photograph and collaborate more with artists and brands. So creative director fits me better. But actually a title means nothing.

Luxe.Co:  How do you see your magazine in ten years?

Nacho:  I think our magazine will do more to fit the age we live in. Maybe there will have wider media or more ways to explore our contents or we’ll do more books. Though likely not to be spread all over the world, but the magazine will be more mature and more well-established.

I think we are more professional and our magazine has better structure than that ten years ago. Until now, we are just doing it and enjoying it. Next year will be ten years. And I think we’ll make our ambitions more well-established. So we started to do decoration studio, we are trying to do books and thinking how to do the online contents. These little experimental things make us grow. So in ten years, I don’t think we’ll establish a furniture company or sell products. But we’ll be more like a company.

Luxe.Co: What’s your opinion towards Vice?

Nacho: I hate it but at the same time it appeals to me. From the business aspect, it is a miracle that Vice can grow so rapidly in such a short time and the attitude of right and wrong it conveys is really interesting. I don’t really agree with its attitude but I like its way of doing things especially the way it took up the Internet. For me if I want to do things like that I’ll look at Vice because they did well.

Luxe.Co: Is this your first time in China?

Nacho: No, I came here first in 2014 for magazine shooting and I stayed 15 days in China. I really like it.

Luxe.Co: Do you know about your Chinese readers or fans? because on those commerce platforms there are quite shops selling your magazines.

Nacho: No, not really. I only know some of my Chinese friends are reading our magazine but I don’t know what kind of people, maybe similar to the European readers, will read my magazine.

Luxe.Co: What do you think of Chinese design or furniture or house-living?

Nacho: Chinese industrial design is in the world completely and many Chinese people often attend fairs in Milan.

Luxe.Co: What kind of Chinese creative people do you want to put in your magazine?

Nacho: Actually I know little about Chinese creators but as an outsider I think maybe Chinese creators may be too rich sometimes to be interesting. And I don’t really have access get to know them. But once I went to a club in Shanghai, there were some interesting people doing creatives. I’m more interested in this.

Luxe.Co: Are you social media addicted?

Nacho: Not really.

Luxe.Co: Do you only shoot with cameras? Do you use like Iphone?

Nacho: Yeah, when I’m posting photos about my life on Instagram I use my Iphone.

Luxe.Co: Nowadays many young people are lost in the fast-media so do you have any words to them?

Nacho: For example, I see a photographer growing on the Internet, and there are thousands of followers on Instagram. Maybe he does super good campaigns in London, next year he may be at no where. When I started doing as a photographer, it took a long time for people to get to certain level and stay in their position like forever. Now I see young people coming and going super fast. So things are so accelerated and I don’t know how it’ll change and that’s why I love magazines. Paper is paper and it can be kept forever. In magazines what we care is not only stars or actors but almost everyone. So we keep our family of magazine by the same value, which it’s very important.