Emilio Santiago

What you can talk to Emilio Santiago about

Who Emilio Santiago is

1. 1

   Where they come from

   Leganés, a commuter town on the edge of Madrid where everything feels just slightly temporary—apartment blocks stacked above discount supermarkets, industrial parks, train lines cutting through the cracked fields.

   Leganés always smelled a bit like diesel from the buses and cheap fried churros from the stand next to the roundabout. In summer, the concrete radiated heat and made the air shimmer; in winter, the wind whipped down the wide boulevards and carried the sound of children’s soccer games from the playgrounds. There was always some kind of construction noise, and distant traffic, but nights were oddly quiet except for the elevator humming up and down.

   He left because every day felt like a layover—no roots, just waiting for the next train, the next city. The sense of being in-between made him hungry to see real centers of life, places that weren’t just stopovers.

2. 2

   What shaped them

   During his early twenties, Emilio shared a three-bedroom flat with strangers in Malasaña, each from wildly different backgrounds. Their arguments over kitchen duty and what counted as 'authentic' food made him rethink his own views of culture.

   There was a night after a long, aimless walk in Istanbul—rainy, freezing, lost—when he ended up in a tiny tea house where nobody spoke Spanish or English. Instead of panic, he sat down, ordered by pointing, and spent two hours listening anyway. That night, he realized he didn’t need to understand every word to connect.

   He believes that curiosity will get him further than certainty—that asking is always better than assuming.

3. 3

   The moment that changed things

   April 17, 2015—Emilio got caught in a sudden downpour while photographing street murals in Berlin. He ducked under scaffolding and met a retired train conductor named Volker, who insisted he join him for currywurst. They swapped stories for hours, Volker refusing to let him pay, and Emilio snapped a candid photo that later went mildly viral.

   He realized his best stories happened when he stopped planning and just let himself drift into odd little moments.

   He lost his attachment to rigid plans and gained a confidence in improvisation—and a dog-eared notebook full of half-finished stories.

Emilio Santiago's family, childhood and private fears are part of the extended story.

Emilio Santiago: common questions