The concept of a ?mid-life crisis? has long had a negative connotation thanks to the word ?crisis? implying a moment of difficulty, but I?d suggest we rethink this as a mid-life turning point. For Lilian Thibault, founder of Awake, this moment came when he reached a certain age and his kids began to grow. He took the opportunity to turn a mid-life crisis into a mid-life reinvention. After years of investing in other successful businesses, he decided to invest in himself and his own passions. Lilian had been an avid watch collector for more than two decades, and in 2018 he set out to create his own brand?Awake was born.
?As my kids are growing older, I?ve started to think more and more about the legacy that will be left behind for them,? Lilian told me. ?I decided I wanted to bring my own brand to market that reflects the vision I would like to see in the world for the next generation. This is, in fact, why I chose the name ?Awake,? I have a mission to awaken people?s attention to beauty and what really matters in life.?
Lilian Thibault

To bring his vision to life, Lilian launched a Kickstarter to raise funds for production in 2018. The campaign was originally planned to run for a month, but the brand reached its goal of $30,000 within an hour and ended up raising $400,000?Lilian was clearly onto something, and his vision was resonating.
A year later, the brand unveiled its first collection aptly named ?Origins.? In the spirit of thinking about what?s left behind for fu...