We recently connected with Martin Nachev and have shared our conversation below.
Martin, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
From a young age I was immersed in art. My parents are both artists, so I was always inspired watching them work through their creative projects. I’m grateful they would make it a point to take me to museums and galleries and nurture my creativity growing up. They enrolled me in art classes and taught me to draw and paint outside of school as well. I was always looking at billboards and paying attention to little logos from a young age. Constantly noticing, questioning, and doodling. I feel like my creative curiosity peaked when I started skateboarding. I remember sharing a notebook with a classmate where we would draw every skateboard company logo that we could think of. I became obsessed with all the marks and visual identities before I even started high school. As I progressed through adolescence, I was collecting tons of stickers, posters, and flyers. I was now filling black books with graffiti pieces and letterforms. By the end of high school I knew my purpose was to be an artist, but it wasn’t until community college, where I discovered screen-printing, that I really felt a fire lit under me. I loved that I could pull a stack of priority mail stickers from the post office and print 24 stickers in one pass of ink. After printing a batch of my first few t-shirts, playing with placement and colors, I knew I had found something I was truly passionate about.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’ve always been moved most by tangible art. Something you can hold, hang or wear – it feels much more personal, meaningful and accessible to me. I guess that’s the stark contrast between the art in museums that is beautiful, layered and textured, but you’re never allowed to touch. In design school I was able to work on books, posters and graphics that I was passionate about and further develop my typography skills. I’ve always been drawn to letterforms, something I could trace back to my early interest in graffiti, tags and logotypes. School was pivotal in forging a strong work ethic. I graduated from Otis College of Art & Design with a degree in Visual Communication / Graphic Design. Eager to start my career and pay down my loans, I took a year-long paid apprenticeship at Reebok in Boston. The following year I was hired there as the graphic designer for a small running range in partnership with Spartan Race. It was so rewarding to see my designs and prints come to life on physical products. Over the next several years at Reebok I worked across all categories of the brand through a number of project briefs but the whole time I had an incessant stream of ideas simmering in the back of my mind.
Some nights I’d spend collaborating with colleagues, scrawling on bar napkins and screen printing late into the night. I came to crave the autonomy of setting my own direction and telling the stories that I wanted to tell. Nicole, my girlfriend at the time, and wife and business partner now, had a background in project management and fashion marketing. She had worked in apparel and skateboarding and helped me put pedal to the metal, set deadlines, and provide structure to my right-brained thinking. Together we started a business.
OPENLATE is born out of a habit of burning the midnight oil and working on the passion projects for the things we love. Nightlife, music and the urban environment are the three pillars that consistently underpin the direction of the brand. There is a sense of solitude inherent to working late but also a greater sense of intimacy connecting with strangers on a long night out. OPENLATE is inspired by the spirit of the night.
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Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I would point to curiosity, focus, and community. Curiosity opens the door for you to explore different ideas and directions while enrolled as a student of life. It can be seen as those mind maps many of us have drawn when we were younger. Focus, on the other hand, helps to zero in on the great ideas, expand on them and most importantly, bring them to life! Connecting with members of the community is where the magic happens. This is where you can link up with people in your social circles and help to elevate each other. Together, with a community, you can create an outsized impact that would be harder on your own. It takes a village as they say!
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
I love books, especially personal development books, as I feel they keep me accountable and constantly nurture a growth mindset. For myself, I feel that Atomic Habits, by James Clear, is the most succinct and actionable read that helped me work on various behaviors, specifically my focus. In this age of incessant information, creating a mental and physical space for focus takes discipline and good habits. ‘Reduce the scope and stick to the schedule’ is a line from the book that I often refer to when I want to build or sustain habits. The idea is that it’s more important to stick with the behavior than to focus on the optimal execution of that behavior.
Contact Info:
- Website: THISISOPENLATE.COM
- Instagram: (@thisisopenlate) https://www.instagram.com/thisisopenlate/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/openlate/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thisisopenlate
Image Credits
1. Gill Garces – instagram.com/ggvisual_/
2. OPENLATE – instagram.com/thisisopenlate/
3. Eddie Cruz – instagram.com/eddiecrxz/
4. Luis Paramo – instagram.com/theelouu/
5. OPENLATE – instagram.com/thisisopenlate/
6. OPENLATE – instagram.com/thisisopenlate/
7. Parris Walker – instagram.com/parriswalker_/
8. Parris Walker – instagram.com/parriswalker_/
