He emigrated looking for his destiny. He started making violin cases and today he makes fashionable handbags among the famous

The story of Luis Negri (53) repeats that of thousands of Argentines who, at different times, embarked for Europe in pursuit of the same dream: progress. He had an advantage, he had been born in Germany, in the city of Dusseldorf, while his father was doing an internship in Medicine, and he had a passport from the European Economic Community. “But I am Argentine through and through,” he hastens to clarify.

At 23, exactly three decades ago, he abandoned his studies in Economics at the University of Buenos Aires and crossed the Atlantic to seek his destiny. “I left Argentina at the time when you had to wait twenty years to get a phone line. Or you had to save ten years to access a color television. And the difference I found in Germany was abysmal. Everything worked and a CD player cost what two pizzas were worth, ”says Negri from Madrid, where he founded his new home, without hiding his impression of him.

“I arrived with one hand behind and one in front”

First scale. He settled in northern Germany, in Lübeck, where his brother was studying to become a professional violinist at a prestigious conservatory. “I arrived with one hand behind and one in front. I didn't even know how to speak the language,” he insists. And he remembers the time he was rejected by the famous American fast food chain: “I couldn't even work for that because I couldn't speak German. He was humiliating. I had been educated in one of the best schools in Buenos Aires, I had university studies (I only had one year left to graduate with a degree in Economics), but the manager of McDonald's believed that I was not capable of flipping a hamburger”, he revives with a laugh. That moment was a turning point in his life and led to the birth of his brand.

Once, in Buenos Aires, Luis made replicas of a violin case that his brother had brought from France. The result was better than he himself expected and, without much effort, he managed to sell the copies to musicians from the Teatro Colón. Remembering that experience, after several job rejections, he decided to go back to making violin cases and embarked on an adventure that would change his life forever.

He knew that it was not going to be a simple company: he had very little capital, he hardly spoke the language, he did not have the necessary materials... He did not even have a necessary sewing machine! But Negri was determined to succeed.

“I remember that I thought I had to do something that people like and that is up to the standards that were already on the market. He knew it would take a lot of effort. An acquaintance of my brother lent me a family sewing machine. I'll grab her. But it was, as they say here, "a pain in the ass!" The machine did not drag the material, it did three stitches right and four wrong, ”he recalls.

It took him three months to make the first case, which he finally sold to an Englishman for a value equivalent to 1,000 euros. "It was a fortune!", He says and that was the kick that excited him to make two more and try his luck in London. There he managed to sell one to an Arab millionaire for 3,500 pounds, money which he invested in his first professional sewing machine. The next step was to go door to door, to the houses of the luthiers in Hamburg, Germany, offering his cases. "Well cheeky," he says about what was the start of his success in the early '90s.

In the following years, Negri managed to establish himself in the field and is currently the leading producer of Stradivarius violin cases in the world. He lived in Germany for 14 years, then moved "to the cradle of the violin" in Cremona, Italy. There he met Mariana, also Argentine, with whom he married and had three children.

His brief return to Argentina

In 2005, Luis decided to return to Argentina and bring the production of violin cases. “I rented a shed in Boulogne and a house in Martínez. It manufactured everything for export, it had clients in Japan, the United States and Europe”, he says.

With the 2008 crisis he lost many clients. This circumstance forced him to reinvent himself: without neglecting his line of violin cases, he began to manufacture cases for weapons and wines. At the same time, with the closure of imports, he became the only Argentine manufacturer of hard guitar cases. It was at that time that he had his first experience in the world of fashion making briefcases and trunks for López Taibo.

Although the business had begun to improve, in 2011, overwhelmed by insecurity, Negri and his family decided to return to Spain. “They had entered to steal in some neighboring houses to ours. We were scared. I called my wife and if she didn't answer me, I started to worry. You cannot live like this”, he highlights.

A more ambitious goal accompanied his return to Europe: to produce a new “luxury” bag and get fully into the fashion business.

The birth of the baulettos

With his experience in upholstery and marquetry and inspired by the designs of his cases, Negri began to shape his new creations: luxury handbags or "baulettos", as he himself baptized them.

In Spain, he contacted the late Carlos Delso, former CEO of Louis Vuitton, who, upon seeing samples of his bags, predicted his success and suggested making a business plan and hiring the services of a communication company. . “I started going out everywhere with the first brands. My baulettos came out with outfits by Max Mara and Tom Ford”, recalls Negri about the first steps of his new business. In 2018 he had his litmus test at Paris Fashion Week, the most important fashion week on the planet. From there, everything went uphill.

Today, Luis Negri -his name is also the name of his brand- has two factories in Spain and his bags are ordered from different countries, especially the United Arab Emirates, Russia and the United States. Although the pandemic prompted him to sell exclusively online, in the coming months he plans to reopen his store in Madrid and a new one in London or Miami.

The most important celebrities in Spain have already been photographed with his bags. He recites from memory: “Blanca Suarez, Tamara Falcó, Mar Saura, Eugenia Osborne…”. Although he highlights with special affection Isabel Presley, recognized as the "queen of hearts", the character who was on the cover of ¡HELLO!, whom he defines as a "charming" person. What Argentina would you like to see with his creations? “Máxima Zorreguieta”, he replies, without hesitation.

Luis Negri's baulettos look like small boxes, with a light structure, made with hides and skins brought from different parts of the world (which the businessman clarifies are "by-products" and have international certifications). They have metal accessories, which can be solid bronze or gold plated, which give it a sophisticated air. The price ranges between 875 and 8500 euros.

For the businessman, the success of his luxury brand is linked to the exclusivity of the product and the personalized treatment that he maintains with his clients. Negri offers them a virtual talk to get to know each other and explain the design of the product. “They really value having an exclusive session with the designer,” he says.

His collections are inspired by music and art. The next one will be the Louis XIV collection, “the Sun King”, alluding to the darkness brought by the pandemic and the need to find the light again. He also plans to publish a book "The Four Seasons" in honor of Vivaldi's concerts, which the businessman will send to only 200 "relevant" personalities from the world of fashion and politics, where he will present his life and collections. of the.

Looking to the future, he dreams of consolidating his brand in the luxury market and opening new stores. "You don't have to bet on luck, but to have it you have to prepare and work hard, with creativity and doing what you like," he reflects.

Negri acknowledges that he had to work very hard to achieve success. For him, nothing is left to chance and he believes that his story can be inspiring for many talented and enterprising young people. For this reason, he closes the interview with advice that is, at the same time, a maxim that governs his life: "If you never give up, you end up succeeding," he says.