Being within the C-suite is a high-pressure job with lengthy hours, board tasks, and intense scrutiny. However what’s it wish to be a prime government while you’re off the clock?
Fortune’s collection, The Good Life, exhibits how up-and-coming leaders spend their money and time outdoors of labor.
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As we speak, we meet Taymoor Atighetchi, the 36-year-old founder and CEO of the favored stationery model, Papier.
Born and raised in London to Iranian mother and father, Atighetchi grew up surrounded by artwork, antiques, and creativity—his household identify actually interprets to “artwork supplier” in Iranian, and his father was an artwork collector and educational who immersed him in lovely objects from an early age. That intuition for aesthetics and storytelling adopted him to Notting Hill’s Portobello Street, the place he reduce his tooth operating an vintage stall promoting textiles and ceramics.
At Cambridge College, the place he studied Historical past of Artwork, Atighetchi co-founded The Tab at 19, turning a scrappy pupil mission into one of many U.Okay.’s most recognisable youth media manufacturers earlier than deciding he wished “a go at an actual job” and heading to Bain & Firm. That blend of grassroots hustle and blue-chip coaching set the stage for Papier, which he launched at simply 26 to tug the stationery aisle into the fashionable period with design-led, endlessly customisable merchandise—95% of that are customized and one-of-a-kind.
Almost a decade later, Papier has offered over 15 million items of stationery—shut to eight million playing cards and notecards alone—with diaries (or planners within the U.S.) as its hero product, promoting one each 25 seconds throughout end-of-year peak and round 1,400 educational yr diaries a day in back-to-school season as Gen Z prospects search screen-free methods to prepare their lives; The enterprise has unfold throughout cabinets at Liberty, Selfridges, and John Lewis within the U.Okay., and Anthropologie, Barnes & Noble, Nordstrom; And its photobooks, which launched simply two years in the past, promote each 30 seconds.
Managing that tempo of development means his workday usually begins earlier than he’s even reached his desk: the again of a London taxi doubles as his cellular workplace from 8 a.m. However in contrast to different high-flying execs, you gained’t catch him staring on the ups and downs of the inventory market on his method in—this millennial entrepreneur refuses to spend money on shares, preferring as an alternative to place his cash the place his mouth is and again companies and artwork.
The funds
What’s been the very best funding you’ve ever purchased?
A David Shrigley Linocut (version of 100) entitled “Ink Paper” for £1,000. The phrases are overlaid onto each other and on first look, it seems to be just like the phrase “Papier,” so I needed to have it
And the worst?
Kitchen devices… the pasta maker / yoghurt maker / ice cream maker are all now gathering mud in a cabinet. I nonetheless desire a pink Berkel ham slicer, although.
If in case you have kids, what does your childcare preparations appear to be?
I’ve a two-year-old boy. Each my spouse and I work. We have now probably the most great nanny who takes care of him throughout the week.
What are your dwelling preparations like: Swanky house within the metropolis or suburban sprawling?
We dwell in a townhouse in London’s Notting Hill. My spouse and I are very a lot metropolis individuals! Notting Hill additionally holds a particular place in my coronary heart. It’s the place I began my profession, at a market stall on the Portobello Street, and my father (who handed away earlier this yr) used to convey me each Saturday to hang around with the vintage sellers
How do you commute to work?
Typically by taxi, it’s my cellular workplace that permits me to begin my calls at 8 a.m.
Do you spend money on shares?
Nope. I do know I “ought to”, however truthfully, I don’t actually wish to experience a monetary rollercoaster I can’t management. I’d slightly spend money on constructing companies and artwork to hold on my partitions. Even when they go down in worth, they nonetheless convey you pleasure day-after-day. That’s my funding philosophy
What’s the one subscription you’ll be able to’t dwell with out?
NYT Cooking. It has your entire library of New York Instances recipes. It’s $5 a month and TOTALLY value it.
The place’s your go-to wristwatch from?
A Bulgari CH 35 G Diagono given to me by my father
The requirements
How do you begin your morning?
No breakfast. An extended black from Hagen close to my home—the very best espresso in London. At all times a protracted black. I’ve 2-3 earlier than 3 p.m. and solely decaf after that.
What about consuming on the go?
By no means lunch at my desk. I’ll usually have lunch with a colleague or an exterior enterprise assembly. And if I’m alone, I nonetheless attempt to sit down at a restaurant or restaurant bar and savour the second of calm.
The place do you purchase groceries?
It’s a mixture. Waitrose for day-to-day (delivered); Al-Noor grocery store for the very best Center Jap produce (particularly Persian cucumbers); Notting Hill Fish Store for meat and fish and Ben’s Grocers on Westbourne Grove for fruit and greens.
How usually in per week do you dine out versus cook dinner at residence?
A few times (max). I really like cooking so dinner for me is a time to flex my culinary ambitions as a wannabe chef.
Any go-to eating places or takeaways close to you?
Galleria Restaurant for Persian takeaways (after I’m craving “mum’s cooking” however can’t get it); The Cow is our native, the very best crab linguine in London and an iconic rooster kiev. Can’t beat it.
The place do you store in your work wardrobe?
APC, Arket, Cos. I believe my type has turn into extra “uniform” as my profession has grown. Fewer logos and infrequently a “assertion”. Navy is my color (by no means black).
What can be a typical work outfit for you?
Zits Denims, Arket white t-shirt, navy artist jacket / overshirt
The treats
Are you the proud proprietor of any futuristic devices?
I’m not likely into devices. I’m extra for the analogue life; all of us want fewer buttons and lights.
How do you unwind from the highest job?
Cooking, spending time with household and mates, and enjoying a whole lot of tennis
What’s the very best bonus deal with you’ve purchased your self?
Lunch for one on the counter at Bentley’s. Flight of oysters, Dover sole meuniere and a glass of chilly burgundy
Take us on vacation with you. What’s subsequent in your trip listing?
Antiparos in Greece, the place I am going again to each summer season. A wonderful little home we lease, at prime of a hill overlooking the Aegean. Greek salads and tzatziki for lunch; sundown dinners cooking fish caught by the native fisherman within the morning.
What number of holidays do you’ve a yr?
We go to Antiparos each summer season and can do Italy no less than every year. My spouse’s household dwell in Tuscany and we’ve got a particular reference to Florence (the place we spent a whole lot of our “youth”) and Venice (the place we received married). I additionally love going to Marrakech when London will get gloomy and also you want a dose of solar.
What number of days of annual go away do you are taking a yr?
15-20. My workforce would say zero… I’m engaged on that.
