Buly 1803: Creating a Heritage Brand from a Piece of History
Building an iconic heritage brand is an achievement. Doing it in under a decade? I would have thought impossible.
Hermes and Louis Vuitton are two of the most popular heritage brands in the world and they started in 1837 and 1854 respectively.
But a husband and wife managed to build a heritage brand and sell it to LVMH in seven years.
Ramdane Touhami & Victoire de Taillac-Touhami
Ramdane Touhami grew up in apple orchards and dropped out of school at 17. He made money selling t-shirts under the brand Teuchiland, a blend of the popular Timberland and a reference to cannabis. That ended when he was kidnapped and robbed by a gang in Toulouse.
Teuchiland shirt from Ramdane Touhami
He fled to Paris where he was homeless for a year but was eventually able to start a skatewear/board company King Size which he sold in 1997. The parade of ventures continued as he co-hosted a French reality show and opened L’Epicerie (a fashion/art concept store) which lost a ton of money.
He moved to Japan, rebooted a retail brand And A, flew back to Europe to work as a menswear director for Liberty in London and then started a streetwear line in Paris.
In 1999 he met Victoire de Taillac, who he would marry a decade later. They lived in Jaipur, New York, Tangier and Tokyo. During their travels a cafe was started as well as a donkey polo club.
But a book changed everything. Ramdane was reading the 1837 novel “César Birotteau” which is a tale of a perfumer from Paris who loses his fortune. He couldn’t get it out of his head.
The story was inspired by Jean-Vincent Bully who created a vinegar-based fragrance and sold it under the company Officine Universelle Buly 1803. The product went on to be awarded two patents and be featured at World Fairs and the Great Exhibition in London in 1851.
Jean-Vincent Bully’s Aromatic and Antimephitic Vinegar
But the shop was lost in a riot during a revolution and Jean-Vincent died in poverty.
Ramdane Touhami bought the name in 2014 and with Victoire they opened their shop Officine Universelle Buly, or Buly 1803 for short, in Paris. They now had a brand with a rich heritage tied to the beginning of the booming perfume industry.
Buly 1803 first store at 6 rue Bonaparte 75006 Paris, France
Their store is meticulously designed and features spiral glass vented bottles where you can test scents.
There’s a calligrapher on site to write your name on the box and the location even has a cafe where you can get a coffee or an ice cream.
Their items are high style as well. From hand chiseled minebari wood combs (€520).
To customizeable moisturizing lip balm (€40).
To plant-based wax candles with marble holders and glass tops (€135).
To water-based perfumes (€135-160). It’s clear that Buly 1803 has heritage.
In 2017 they opened their first flagship store outside of Paris in Daikanyama, Japan. The 513 square foot store embodies Ramdane’s ethos of having one foot in the future and one in the past.
Buly 1803 Daikanyama, Japan
That same year LVMH Luxury Ventures, the group's minority investment vehicle, made an investment. The details weren’t disclosed, but LVMH Luxury Ventures notes on their site that they typical make investments from €5 to €25 million for a 5-25% stake.
Four years later they had 25 locations and LVMH bought the firm out and made it another one of their 75 standalone Maisons. The deal details were not revealed, but based on Ramdane and Victoire’s 5,400 square-foot house (which used to be a brothel), I think they did okay.
This story blows me away. In seven years a heritage brand was built out of a piece of history.
Key Takeaways to Build a Heritage Brand
Don’t talk about money. That’s not the key driver. Product quality, history, art and design are important. They took this seriously, I can’t find a single reference to revenue, cost to buy the name or the acquisition price.
Location is important. Physical locations are important.
His motto is “one foot in the future, one foot in the past… You have to give the impression that the brand has gone through different times, different eras.”
“Successful design is popular” appeal to the majority and balance aesthetics with commercial success.
Your store should be an experience. The wrapping in their traditional paper and handwritten calligraphy label ensure it’s a memorable experience.
Build off of a story.
Sources:
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