RetroAffaire began on 12 March 2019, with an Instagram account and a camera pointed at my collection. Giving these objects a little time in front of the lens felt like a good way to share what I loved about them.
Eventually, the photographs needed more room for their stories. So here we are.
Behind the collection
I’m an Italian collector based in the UK. My history with games goes back to the late ’80s and a Master System, followed by years of browsing flea markets in Italy, backstreets in Akihabara, Den Den Town, obscure retro games shops, and international online auctions.
Games and hardware take up a fair amount of space here. Japanese computers are a particular weakness. But there are also cameras, manga, film editions and figures, with the occasional PDA (remember those?).
The connections make sense to me. A Sega camera brings photography and gaming together. Akira finds its way onto the shelf as a film, a manga, a small red motorcycle or a bunch of pixels in an 8-bit game. Sometimes an article follows those connections across several objects, sometimes a video on my YouTube channel does.
What you’ll find here
I photograph pieces from my own collection and write about the memories they bring back, how they work and the things I discover while researching them. There’s history here, alongside personal stories and the occasional questionable purchasing decision.
I like looking closely. At the lettering on a Japanese box, or the controls of a camera designed when digital photography was still finding its shape. Details that are easy to miss when you’re scrolling past.
Some of these objects take me back to a time when imagination and boredom ruled. Others were discoveries much later in life. There’s still plenty to be curious about, even when the thing in front of you is ~40 years old.
You’ll usually see the collection rather than my face. Someone has to stay behind the camera, I prefer to let the equipment do the talking.
You can also find RetroAffaire on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Have a memory to share, or spotted something I’ve got wrong? Write to hello@retroaffaire.com.
Who is RetroAffaire?
No one knows for sure. A shadow in the glow of a CRT, a collector of pixels and dust, a time traveller between decades.
They just call themselves RetroAffaire. Others whisper they live somewhere between VHS static and the startup sound of Windows 95.
The Spirit of RetroAffaire
RetroAffaire is about digital and analogue gracefulness, where nostalgia isn’t about the past, but about remembering what made things feel alive.
The Mission
To preserve, share and celebrate the culture that defined a generation, one post, one story, one pixel at a time.
Stay curious. Stay nostalgic.
Because retro never dies, it just respawns.