People of Ibiza: Diego Alonso and Alexeja Pozzoni

Based between Ibiza, Marrakech and Goa, Alexeja Pozzoni and Diego Alonso are visual storytellers with a rare talent for sourcing art, antiques and exotic objects whose craftsmanship fuses history, culture and mythology. The duo’s totalismo mágico ethos aims to create complex narratives through art brut and magic realism whereby the focus is not on the individual object but on the overall visual impact. Alexeja and Diego’s own multi-layered Ibiza finca near San Lorenzo leads a dual life as ChAI ShOP, an appointment-only concept store where art meets lifestyle and decor meets travel. 

Diego Alonso

‘I was born in Adrogué, a small town south of Buenos Aires that was famous because it’s where Jorge Luis Borges used to spend his summers, in small hotel called Las Delicias that attracted all the intellectuals in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. My paternal grandfather was a jazz fanatic - he had a jazz club at one time -  and he also had a library in his house. My father is a journalist and my mother a teacher and there were endless books everywhere - my passion for literature comes from childhood. My mother’s family were the other extreme. Her father was a South Italian immigrant who moved to Argentina after the Second World War to build a new life. 

I was reading and learning since I was very young, but my connection with the visual arts happened the first time I saw the brochure for a Salvador Dalí exhibition in Buenos Aires. I didn’t even go myself, but my parents had been and I saw the catalogue and I said, wow, what is this? It was then I decided I wanted to study photography and cinema. I went to India with my camera– the beginning of a lifelong love affair with that country – and I travelled to Brazil, Bolivia, Peru. Finally, I ended up in Madrid, where I opened my art gallery Mondo Galería. I first came to Ibiza in late 2014 to work on a project with friends. They were opening a restaurant in San Rafael and they wanted me to help with the creative process. In exchange I used the space to exhibit works from my gallery. I’d been travelling a lot in India by then, because I was a getting a little bit tired of Madrid. I had never been to Ibiza before but my uncle lived here and my cousin was born here and when I was a kid many friends of my parents would do summer here and then another summer in South America. When I landed in Ibiza there was an immediate feeling: I stepped down from the plane and thought wow, I've been here all my life. 

That night we went to Pacha – we went through the back door, through the kitchen, with a mutual friend from Madrid, and I thought the atmosphere was like magic. In knew I would stay on the island. That first summer was extraordinary and we brought beautiful art to Ibiza. We even brought an exhibition of Man Ray. From the very beginning I had a real feeling of connection with Ibiza. It is a place that combines all my previous lives into one place. There is a little bit of India, a little bit of Asia, a little bit of Argentina, Italy and Morocco. There is no other place on earth like Ibiza.’

Alexeja Pozzoni

‘I was born in Switzerland in 1981. My father was an Italian DJ and my mother is German and I grew up between St. Moritz, where my parents threw parties in the winter, and Ibiza, where my dad would DJ in clubs in summer. We left in 1988 to go to Bali and later I went to school in Switzerland. I moved back to Bali in my teens and I didn’t return to Ibiza for twenty years.

Growing up between mountains and islands has meant I am very attracted to the energy of both landscapes. On islands the energy is very concentrated and can be intense. Somebody once told me that the Indian theory is that because islands are surrounded by water, there is nowhere for the energy to go, so it builds up and up. On the mainland, it escapes into the rivers and the fields and dissipates. Later my mother moved back to Ibiza and I returned to visit her. The first day I came back I woke up to the scent of the pines and I cried – it was such a powerful recollection of my childhood.

Ibiza ticks many, many boxes for me. Besides having family roots here, there are a lot of international people, which brings great variety. The nature is fantastic. The produce is fantastic and it's a very versatile place despite its size. I sometimes think that if I got stuck here and could never leave, there are still so many universes to explore. You only get bored if you remain in the same circle, but there are many different worlds, and that’s another thing about islands – they are like a micro universe, a mini version of what happens in the rest of the world. A friend once said, ‘I don't know why everybody's trying to make communities here and there because the whole island is already a community’. It’s like St. Moritz in that way. It is a world-renowned tourist destination but the resident community is still quite small and you must have a sense of responsibility to your neighbour. You can’t go around burning bridges. And everything here in Ibiza begins with the Ibicencos. They are wonderful, far wilder and more eccentric than they let on. Our relationships with our local neighbours are so important to us. 

A lot of people say that Ibiza isn’t like it was in the glory days that the old spirit has been lost. In many ways that’s true, but it’s also our own responsibility to carry that spirit into the new times. I will always love Ibiza because I can be totally myself here and go the shop in my crazy prints and my pyjamas and you know what? There will always be someone crazier than me and the locals will treat you all the same. There is a huge sense of freedom to be found in that. Nobody is better or worse than anyone else in Ibiza and that’s how my parents raised me. I learned very young that it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have – if you want a boiled egg, you’re going to have to boil the water first.’