RYVPOD, Ep. 1: Lauren Easum & Igor Telinge, founders of Ex-Libris

ENGLISH TRANSCRIPT:

Ryvka
Today, for the very first episode of RYVPOD, I’m welcoming Lauren and Igor. Could you introduce yourselves, please?

Lauren
My name is Lauren, I’m 26 years old, and I’m the co-founder of ExLibris Paris with Igor. We created the company three years ago now, and it was born out of a meeting — and also a romantic relationship.

Igor
My name is Igor, I’m 25, I was born in Paris.
With Lauren, who is my girlfriend, we created a brand called Ex-Libris Paris. It’s very simple: we have a counter at Le Bon Marché and an online shop. At Le Bon Marché, people come sit down at our counter and tell us who they are.
Then we make a sketch, and we engrave it onto a stamp. That drawing is what’s called an ex-libris, and it’s placed inside books.

Originally, the ex-libris is a print you put inside your book to say “this book belongs to me.” It’s a tradition that dates back to the 15th century, born with the invention of printing and the rise of libraries. It was a way for bibliophiles to assert ownership and identity through an image representing their personality.
And that’s exactly what we do at Le Bon Marché: we represent the book owner’s personality through a drawing.

Ryvka
What I find incredible about you is that when people come to see you, they receive a luxury service that feels like a psychological analysis — someone trying to understand who you are, and then drawing it. It’s absolutely amazing. You really feel special.

Lauren
That’s true bespoke, I think. Taking time. Taking the time to listen to clients, to really talk one-on-one and understand who they are, and what they want to convey about themselves through this drawing.

Because Ex-Libris is also a way of becoming immortal, in a sense. Igor discovered this tradition through his grandfather’s ex-libris. His grandfather died before Igor was born, but Igor inherited his library. And every time he took a book, he saw his grandfather’s ex-libris.
It felt like his grandfather was there next to him, even though he had never known him. And that’s when I thought, wow, so this is what immortality is. The ex-libris allows that.

His grandfather was a pharmacist, so it was a caduceus with his initials — nothing very sexy — but that’s when I realized how incredibly powerful it was.

Ryvka
Now that we know who you are, first question. When I say “a podcast about creative life,” I believe there are far more creative professions than we think. You’re fully in it — explain why.

Igor
It’s a necessity. A life force. Creation — if it’s not part of our daily life, Lauren and I die.

Ryvka
That’s true.

Igor
It’s more than desire. It’s a necessity.

Ryvka
Creativity clearly takes a major place in your lives, but how does it really guide your professional decisions? Do you ever feel like, “okay, Ex-Libris is running smoothly, we’re cruising now”? Or do you constantly need new ideas?

Lauren
As soon as things stabilize, new projects come in. And we love it. We love stepping out of our comfort zone.

We have B2C clients, but at Le Bon Marché, at least once a week, a company comes to us saying: “We’d like to rebrand,” or “We want to recreate a product,” or “We saw you on social media, you’re super creative, I don’t know how we can work together but we need to.”

Those are our favorite moments. We say yes with great joy. That’s how we break any cruising routine we might have settled into.

Ryvka
That’s actually one of the biggest lessons you’ve taught me: YES MAN. Always yes.
Do you have a funny anecdote? A really funny one — you have tons — from a meeting at Le Bon Marché or elsewhere?

Lauren
In 2022, we received a message on Instagram. A woman said: “I work at Sonia Rykiel. The brand has just been bought by a fund in Singapore or somewhere, and we want to organize a literary salon to show that the brand has risen from the ashes like a phoenix.”

She explains the concept and gives us carte blanche to create the environment. So we think: we’ll do ex-libris, we’ll call the literary evening “Sex Libris,” we’ll do readings in a hotel in the 6th arrondissement.

That was our first ultra-creative project. Full carte blanche. And we loved it.
But most importantly, it gave us confidence. It was the first thing we ever sold. Because when someone pays you, it tells you: “Okay, I’m creative — but I can monetize that creativity.”

Before that, you can have impostor syndrome, thinking everyone can be creative. But no. The hardest thing is being creative and managing to sell your creation.

That was our first real breakthrough. Someone paid us to create a concept for an evening and to make our ex-libris. It was insane.
There was a before and an after.

Ryvka
When things go well, creativity becomes a virtuous circle — ideas lead to ideas, encounters to encounters. And then sometimes it stops. How do you stay on board when that happens?

Lauren
Honestly? Having Igor by my side. It changes everything. He has this constant joy and good vibes. He’s incapable of being stressed or affected by the outside world.
That’s the sacred amulet: someone next to you saying “It’s amazing, let’s go, who cares.”
I can’t have a down with someone like that beside me. The guy is a golden retriever.

Ryvka
That’s incredible. It’s the entourage, the synergy — you’re in this together.

Igor
Lauren says it’s thanks to me, but I say it’s thanks to Lauren. A good duo is the key. A victory is better shared, and a defeat is easier when someone reaches out their hand.
We’re in love, so it’s a bit special. I wouldn’t recommend all couples start a company together.

Ryvka
But that leads perfectly to the next question: work life vs personal life. You’re kind of the worst example.

Lauren
I don’t even understand what you just said. For me, that’s alien language. The two are completely intertwined. There’s no private life versus work life — it’s just life.

My parents worked like that. They’re both artists and artisans, working at home, constantly in synergy. I grew up with that.
I could never imagine being with someone who has a totally different job and only meeting again at 8pm to talk about our days. I want to build something — almost an empire — with the person I choose.

Ryvka
But long-term, that’s exhausting.

Lauren
Of course. We can’t do everything forever. That realization — that I can’t be everywhere at once — caused some of my biggest downs.
Scaling means delegating. And I haven’t fully figured that out yet.

Ryvka
Do you look for complementary skills or exact replicas of yourselves?

Lauren
Ideally? A twin. We’re narcissistic, we admit it. We’d love copies of ourselves.

Ryvka
You once sent someone to Tokyo almost on a whim, right?

Lauren
Yes. A girl answered a job post. She came in, pulled out a 19th-century quill and started sketching a coat of arms better than me.
I opened my laptop and said: “I’m booking you a ticket to Tokyo. You leave tomorrow.”
She thought I was scamming her — she even thought I might hide drugs in her suitcase.

But it worked. She became a real partner.
We believe the best way to test someone isn’t CVs or interviews — it’s reality. Do it. Show me what you can do.

Ryvka
That’s exactly it. A creative mind is someone who executes, not just theorizes.

Lauren
Money, recognition, making your parents proud — it’s all part of it. But these should be consequences, not goals.
If you do your thing well and improve constantly, everything else follows.

Ryvka
Naivety plays a role too.

Lauren
Absolutely. Mandatory naivety. Anyone who kills your naivety — block them. Seriously.

Ryvka
What about inspiration? One work each that truly mattered to you.

Lauren
For me, it’s Sacha Guitry’s Those of Our Land. He filmed artists like Rodin and Sarah Bernhardt in the 1930s, then commented on the footage years later.
I discovered it during a down period as a teenager. I still return to it whenever I’m low.

Igor
For me, The Counterfeiters by André Gide. A novel about writing a novel, with layers within layers. It blew my mind.

Ryvka
Any final words?

Lauren
Life is short. Don’t waste time on the wrong people or projects. Ask questions. Contact people. Make waves.

Igor
And dare to reach out. DM people you admire. Insist. Be bold. Sometimes, you have to show up in person pretending to be a delivery guy.

Ryvka
Thank you both for this conversation. I hope you enjoyed the episode. You can listen to it on Substack and Apple Podcasts, and soon on Spotify.
See you soon for episode two.