Soon to celebrate his 50th birthday by journeying from Paris to Tokyo by car along the Southern Silk Road, the French Moroccan creative director, artist, and entrepreneur Ramdane Touhami says he’s “thirsty for life like it’s just the beginning,” and it shows. Among his 17 (yes, 17) companies are the cult grooming brand Officine Universelle Buly 1803, which he and his wife co-founded in 2014 and sold to LVMH in 2021; the Paris-based creative agency Art Recherche Industrie, whose clients include Christofle, Moynat, and Gohar World; and Hotel Drei Berge, which he opened in the Swiss Alps last year. With each of his enterprises, Touhami has proven, time and again, how much craft matters—that there’s a real demand for it in a streamlined world that prioritizes efficiency, and that it’s not necessarily at odds with turning a profit.

On the episode, Touhami talks about the parallels between Japan and Switzerland, business as a religion, and the healing power of mountains.

Special thanks to our Season 9 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.

Show notes:

Ramdane Touhami

[5:29] Hotel Drei Berge Hotel

[5:29] Élisée Reclus

[8:36] Angelo Mangiarotti

[8:36] Tobia Scarpa

[8:36] Dieter Rams

[5:29] “Ramdane Touhami’s Peak Performance”

[17:12] Mos Def

[20:28] Henry David Thoreau

[28:16] Officine Universelle Buly 1803

[28:16] Cire Trudon

[1:00:35] Aman

[27:06] Ignacio Mattos

[28:16] LVMH

[34:54] An Atlas of Natural Beauty

[34:33] Bernard Arnault

[34:54] Izumi Aki

[41:54] Société Helvétique d’Impression Typographique

[43:54] Émile Shahidi

[44:30] Radical Media

[44:59] Tricontinental magazine

[57:24] “A Parisian Designer Builds His Dream House in a Former Brothel”

[1:00:35] Southern Silk Road