Thierry Bourret

I'm Thierry Bourret. French by birth, international by choice, and based in Bangkok because life has a sense of humour.

I haven't lived in France since 1986. What started as a six-month trip to learn English turned into four decades across the UK, Japan, Hong Kong, Aruba, and now Thailand. I stopped counting the air miles somewhere around 2007.

My career began in kitchens. Trained chef. Then a temp job in pricing at a Japanese electronics firm, which turned into a decade leading a €240M business unit at Hitachi. These things happen when you don't have a plan.

In 2009 I walked away from corporate life and jumped into toys, which sounds mad but made complete sense at the time. I built Asobi, a UK distribution company, from nothing to £2.4M turnover and launched the Slow Toy Movement, celebrating beautifully made, sustainable play before anyone was calling it a trend. We placed product in Selfridges, Harrods, and John Lewis. Then I lost control of the business in a boardroom coup, which was educational in the worst possible way.

In 2015 I started Konomocha in Hong Kong. No drama this time. Just a lean, sharp agency helping toy and stationery brands crack markets across EMEA and APAC. Thirty years of relationships, built in person, over bad coffee and long flights. That's still how it works.

These days I live in Bangkok with my wife Jovelyn and our rescue dog Sarra. Jovelyn runs a fashion jewellery brand with several shops across the city. I carry boxes and offer opinions, roughly in that order.

Outside work, I read too much, shout at the rugby, and yes, I did appear on Blind Date on British TV in 1989. The tape is lost. Let's leave it there.