The Existentialist Entrepreneur: What Sartre Can Teach Luxury in a Gloomy World

When I travel, meet creators, or simply observe the world, I keep asking myself:

What is luxury today?

Everything has changed — profoundly.

We’ve lived through the generational trauma of COVID. We’ve witnessed the unsettling comeback of Trump. And now, artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity, labor, even identity.

Let’s not forget: a recession is looming.

In other words, the age of innocence is over.

We now live in a time that feels unstable, uncertain — sometimes even absurd. And in moments like these, consumers become cautious. Fear of the future triggers the instinct to preserve rather than explore. People save instead of spend. They choose security over surprise.

That’s why luxury is trying — urgently — to reinvent itself.

Normally, this is where I’d mention a new business model or the latest AI agent promising to “revolutionize the customer journey.”

But at this moment, I believe we need something deeper.

Something more human.

And strangely enough, I believe Jean-Paul Sartre, the French existentialist philosopher, has something essential to offer.

The Words: Read. Write. Act.

I vividly remember Sartre’s autobiography, The Words.

It’s made up of just two chapters:

• Reading

• Writing

That’s it.

A childhood spent reading.

An adulthood devoted to writing — which, for Sartre, meant taking action.

Writing, for him, wasn’t self-expression. It was confrontation — a way to challenge consensus, disrupt comfort, and resist inertia.

And today, as the world teeters between anxiety and acceleration, I believe we entrepreneurs, creatives, and strategists must rediscover that same posture.

The Existentialist Entrepreneur

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.”

— Jean-Paul Sartre

In existentialism, identity is not inherited. It is not predetermined.

It is constructed — choice after choice, act after act.

Running a business — especially today — is not just about revenue.

It’s about how we make money.

Why we do what we do.

Who we become through our decisions.

Every day, we make dozens of micro-decisions — about partnerships, pricing, products, messaging. These aren’t just strategic moves. They are acts of self-definition.

Curation, then, is not a marketing trend — it’s a philosophical stance.

Choosing precisely is how we exist meaningfully, in business as in life.

In chaotic times, we don’t need more spreadsheets forecasting a future that doesn’t exist.

We need clarity.

We need intention.

We need to curate our business the way we curate our soul.

Creativity as an Act of Resistance

In Being and Nothingness, Sartre wrote:

“There is no reality except in action.”

Luxury brands should no longer see themselves merely as product houses, but as vehicles for ideas.

In the United States, we are witnessing attacks on the education system — with federal funding cut and academic freedom threatened. In response, some of the most prestigious universities are beginning to resist.

As an educator, I deeply believe schools must be protected as spaces of freedom, curiosity, and experimentation.

And luxury, too, must evolve. It can no longer be a passive supplier of goods. We’ve spoken far too much about marketing as a seductive tool.

Today, it must be used as a hammer — against ignorance, against inequality, against cultural darkness.

“Every word has consequences. Every silence, too.” — Sartre

Action is no longer optional. It’s a necessity.

When Trump was inaugurated, Silicon Valley CEOs were present — and so was Bernard Arnault.

This association between luxury and obscurantism cannot persist.

That’s why new players must emerge — to create and promote a new vision of luxury that is radically inclusive, intellectually honest, and ethically engaged.

Technology, if used well, should become a soft power that amplifies creators, not exploits them.

In Conclusion

In a time of uncertainty, fear, and fragmentation, creativity remains an act of resistance.

Luxury, redefined through the lens of existentialism, has the power to offer not just beauty, but meaning.

Not just prestige, but presence.

Not just status, but substance.