Apartamento co-founder Omar Sosa shows us around his bookshelves

You know how, when going to the hair salon, you automatically and perhaps unfairly expect your hairdresser to be perfectly coiffed? We had a similar sense of anticipation when it came to admiring Omar Sosa’s favourite books – a kind of nervous hope that the man responsible for getting together with Nacho Alegre to co-found Apartamento, an eclectic and deftly-curated compilation of cool characters and the spaces they inhabit, has a similarly intriguing collection of books in his own home too.

Needless to say, Omar’s top five books is curated with the same enthusiastic passion and unexpected selection that Apartamento ’s features are. Pulling together drawings by Nathalie Du Pasquier, a guide to the work of Jean-Paul Goude inherited from his uncle and an insight into the private world of Pablo Picasso, Omar’s collection is littered with stories from his life, giving the impression that these are books which have been collected and treasured over the course of his life so far.

David Douglas Duncan: The Private World of Pablo Picasso

I always loved David Douglas Duncan’s photographs, but the way this book is designed makes them even better. It’s a great approach to Picasso’s intimacy at his place La Californie in the south of France around 1950. The text is equally interesting, full of details and personal references.

Jean-Paul Goude: Jungle Fever

This book was given to me around 20 years ago after my uncle died. He loved photography, and knowing I did too he left me a box full of photography books. Most of them were of this kind, how to develop or shoot with artificial light, but this one struck my attention. I didn’t know anything about Jean-Paul at the time but I remember I kept it like a treasure until I learnt more about his work, and finally met him in person las year. It was nice to close the circle and get him to sign it for me.

Leonard Koren and Nathalie Du Pasquier: Arranging Things

I remember I had big expectations about this book. I saw it online and I thought it was going to be bigger. Then after a few months and after meeting its co-author Nathalie Du Pasquier I realised sometimes size doesn’t matter. It’s a beautiful small book full of amazing illustrations from the artist/designer living in Milan. What I like the most about this book is to imagine how amazing the correspondence would have been between Nathalie (making the paintings) and Leonard Koren, writing the words. This book was the excuse to start a collaboration between Nathalie and I that will materialise in a book called Don’t Take These Drawings Seriously, published by Powerhouse Books, that will come out next February.

Dominique Nabokov: Paris Living Rooms and New York Living Rooms

These are two beautiful examples of the photographer Dominique Nabokov’s body of work. She has been capturing the living rooms of some of the most prominent artists of New York and Paris for the last 30 years.

Kyoichi Tsuzuki: Tokyo Style

I came across this book in Japan and I was lucky enough to find an English edition. Travelling with his little scooter, Kyoichi has photographed different houses from different urban tribes for more than ten years. In this huge book you can see the diversity of Tokyo’s inhabitants, and their solutions to the lack of space and exacerbated consumerism with non-styled photography.