You know that time is precious to me, which is why I decided to structure this monthly letter as follows: a retrospective on the past month, an encounter with a creative mind, a taste sensation, a reflection to open up new horizons, an enlightening read, and a place where the values of hospitality are those that I love and cherish. TOMO is not just a newsletter. It is a companion that transforms readers’ time into something precious and unexpected.
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#16
Pioneer of time,
sower of emotions
July 15th, 2026
I should have been writing these opening lines from Rwanda, where this summer’s 700,000 Hours Impact season was meant to be in full swing. As I explained in my last letter, the Ebola outbreak had other plans, and our immersive hospitality experience has now been postponed by a year.
I don’t believe it is by chance that life has offered me this unexpected window of freedom, so I made a rule for myself: not to plan anything. My only certainty is my desire to disappear. For ten days or so, I will switch off every electronic device and retreat somewhere alone to recharge. The months ahead promise to be intense, with the publication of my book in early October 2026, the 25th anniversary of Dar Ahlam and, of course, our postponed season in Rwanda.
Throughout my previous careers, I have always protected moments of breathing space. Whenever the pressure became too great, I would ask my team to cancel every meeting in my diary and spend the day wandering through exhibitions, buying books, trying new pastries or catching up with friends. I would play truant for a few hours and simply disappear.
I am convinced that creativity requires us to step sideways from time to time: to seek out people who inspire us and to nurture meaningful conversations with them. Over the next few days, I will spend time in Norway with my family. Discover exhibitions at Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles and attend performances at the Avignon Festival. I will embrace my friend Olivier Darné, who has just opened his new project, Regains; share tea with Perla Servan-Schreiber in Provence; and exchange ideas with the Selar team in Marseille.
This unexpected freedom is a wonderful gift, and I look forward to sharing with you everything that emerges from these encounters and moments of reflection.
Warmly,
Thierry
For several months now, I have been meaning to tell you about Yoann Bourgeois, a French artist whose eclecticism fascinates me. At the age of eighteen, he travelled to Romania to meet Roma communities before joining the National Circus Arts Centre, where he was the only student simultaneously training in contemporary dance.
He embodies everything I admire: creativity, ingenuity and poetry, all infused with a delightful sense of mischief. His work draws on a wide range of circus disciplines — trampolining, flying trapeze, juggling and more — alongside explorations of vertigo and illusion. Through ingenious devices of his own invention, he is able to perform almost anywhere, and often where you would least expect him.
If you would like to start your day in good spirits, I encourage you to watch recordings of Le Petit Cirque, a wonderful introduction to the themes explored throughout his shorter works. Yoann Bourgeois has much to teach us, and I often dream of meeting him and inviting him to contribute one of the monologues for TOMO Voices.
As the saying goes, if you want something done properly, do it yourself. With that in mind, I would like to introduce you to our new grocery project, Terre de Skoura. An important clarification, however: this is not Dar Ahlam merchandise, but an entirely independent association connected to the Food Lab. At the heart of regenerative hospitality lies a simple idea: helping local communities develop their own projects so that they can generate their own sources of income.
Through this collection, our guests can take home the flavours of the palm grove: powdered basil, salt dried capers, date sugar and more. Not forgetting the signature Terre de Skoura spice blend, which lends its name to the grocery itself. Its colour mirrors the earth of the oasis, and it is a seasoning we serve daily at Dar Ahlam. We are currently working with our head cook, Rosa, on creating a ritual around it, which I look forward to sharing with you soon. Every penny generated by the grocery contributes directly to the association’s operating budget, where my role is simply that of an adviser. Supporting the independence of the people around us and helping them grow at their own pace is one of my greatest priorities today.
I read a great many newsletters, and one that has stayed with me recently is Dark Matters by Zoe Scaman. Using the scientific concept of dark matter as an analogy, she argues that our world struggles to measure what matters most: ideas, conversations, new ways of thinking and slow transformations — simply because we lack the right tools. She illustrates this with a powerful image: “We use a tape measure to measure a cathedral, then conclude that the cathedral cannot be measured.” This feels particularly relevant to hospitality today.
As our industry becomes increasingly corporate, driven by relentless escalation and competition, I believe that the intangible and the emotional will become the true differentiators. I am not suggesting that traditional, standardised luxury should disappear. It serves a purpose, and many travellers genuinely seek it. But I will continue fighting for another form of hospitality to exist — one that is poetic, rooted in place, respectful of communities and mindful of history.
I have little interest in KPIs. What matters to me is seeing the smiles, emotions and sometimes even tears of those who have shared time with us. I recently had the privilege of speaking with Mounir Neamatalla, founder of Adrère Amellal, the remarkable eco-lodge in Egypt’s Siwa Oasis (you will find his interview in the next edition of TOMO Voices). He told me that many hotels have adopted the language of hospitality while forgetting the values that underpin it. More than ever, I am convinced that our role is to safeguard those values.
In a previous chapter of my life, when I was running the agency Lever de Rideau, we organised an event featuring a flower seller. Carrying a small basket, she wandered among the guests, introducing them to the hidden language of flowers and sharing the stories behind them. One detail has remained with me ever since. A poppy, she explained, is the flower you offer someone nursing a broken heart. Once picked, it fades within a day, carrying the wish that sorrow might disappear just as quickly. I have always loved that kind of hidden poetry, and I recently rediscovered it in Flower Power, a book gifted to me by a friend.
The book echoes an exhibition by Beata Nowak and Michel Poivert, where the work of five artists placing flowers at the centre of their creative practice will be showcased in the Summer Garden of Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles. I am looking forward to returning to the festival, guided by my friends at Actes Sud, between work sessions as I prepare for the launch of my book this October.
We have certainly known better times to celebrate the charms of the United States. Yet the bookshop I want to tell you about is reason enough, on its own, to justify a trip to New York. Those who know me well know how much I love hidden places — secret addresses that reveal themselves only to those willing to look a little closer. I am convinced that it is only when we lose our way that we truly begin to see.
In that respect, few discoveries compare to this outpost of the rare-book dealer Peter Harrington, tucked away on Manhattan’s Upper East Side (35 East 67th Street). There is no sign announcing its existence. To gain entry, you must ring a buzzer, climb to the third floor, and wait for the doors of this extraordinary place to open.
The collection includes some of the rarest books in the world: Shakespeare folios, first editions of Walt Whitman, original Harry Potter manuscripts and countless other treasures. It feels less like a bookshop than a secret museum, one where every object can be touched, opened and explored. I am endlessly drawn to this kind of discovery. There is something profoundly moving about seeing the weight of history materialise before our eyes. We cannot understand the present without remembering the past, nor avoid repeating old mistakes if we choose to forget them. And perhaps this inheritance is one of our greatest forms of wealth.
As a child, I never slept under the stars. My earliest memories of spending the night outdoors date back to my teenage years, when I would wait for the first morning bus after a night out. It was cold, uncomfortable and entirely devoid of romance. Yet as an adult, I have developed a deep fascination with sleeping beneath the open sky. Whenever possible, I have tried to weave such experiences into our projects, offering travellers the chance to feel completely connected to nature. There is always a small thrill involved — a sensation that pulls us out of our routines and familiar rhythms.
In the Lençóis of Brazil, our guests would watch the truck disappear into the dunes, knowing it would not return until the following day. In Peru, travellers spent the night in an observation tower deep in the Amazon, aware that jaguars might be roaming somewhere below. Of course, there may be insects. There may be wind. There may be rain. But that feeling of freedom and fullness has always become one of the defining moments of our 700,000 Heures Impact seasons.
So if I could recommend just one thing to you this summer, it would be this: spend a night under the stars. In the countryside, in the mountains, by the sea — it does not matter where. Just do it (and then tell us what you felt!).
To follow everything happening around my projects:
> An article in AD magazine featuring Dar Ahlam among twelve hotels that far too few travellers know about. A timely reminder that the most special places are not always the most visible, and that discretion is often far more appealing than ostentation.
> The second edition of The Shift, our creative seminar developed in partnership with the agency Zero. A four-day workshop at Dar Ahlam bringing together visionary hoteliers eager to strengthen their individuality and push the boundaries of hospitality. Naturally, it will be infused with the spirit of the House of Dreams, with excursions, staged meals and encounters with other visionaries who share a similar outlook on the world.
If you would like to learn more about the programme and dates, write to us at theshift@wearezero.fr
Photo Credit :
Norway by Thierry Teyssier / Yoann Bourgeois by Domino Aurora / Dar Ahlam . Eric Martin / Zoe Scaman . Adrere by Alberto Siliotti / Arles Ville . Flower by Mattei Benejaru / Peter Harrington /
700 000 heures Impact