Meet The Podcaster Redefining Luxury Media With A New Magazine

One of the design world’s most influential podcasters has launched a magazine that entertains, informs, and fills a gaping hole in the luxury lifestyle category. The Grand Tourist (the publication) was birthed from the podcast of the same name, founded by Dan Rubinstein four years ago. Rubinstein has spent over two decades in media, most notably as the Home & Design Director at the sadly defunct Departures magazine and Editor-in-Chief of Surface magazine. Some of the biggest names in, yes, design but also food, art and fashion and have been featured on the podcast, most notably Kelly Wearstler, Nick Cave, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Philippe Starck, Annabelle Seldorf, Theaster Gates and Patti LuPone.

“It was a bit of a political statement,” he now acknowledges. “At the time, not so much now, there was this lament that traditional design media and art and style media was being flattened and dumbed down in the age of social media and publishing today. And magazines that used to do the long form profile stopped doing it completely. So [The Grand Tourist] was meant to be the ultimate long form profile.” Because it was launched during the pandemic, the podcast was meant to be a grand our through the worlds of art, design and style, through audio. The name, aptly, refers to the Grand Tour, a journey taken by (predominantly) monied European young men in the 17th to 19th centuries. It served as an education via travel, a voyage throughout France and Italy that could last anywhere from several months to several years.

Rubinstein, similarly, has educated his very devoted listeners over the past four years. His 364-page hardcover tome features 8 interviews from the latest podcasat season, which includes fashion designer Erdem Moralioglu (who also graces one of the three covers), artist Calida Rawles, and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist. In addition, Rubinstein commissioned original articles covering a swathe of inspirational topics from travel (sailing the Nile), the arts (an Arte Povera museum in upstate New York), partnership (a profile of David and Sybil Yurman), fashion (Van Cleef & Arpels high jewelry creations) and, of course design, from profiles of people that have the industry all a-buzz to a survey of notable Italian seating of the past and present. It’s all accompanied by original photographs taken by the likes of Alessio Boni, Roland Beaufre, and Jonathan Becker.

The magazine (which is really a book with ads interspersed throughout) is offered in three different tipped-in covers with embossed cover lines – which is magazine-speak for extreme attention to detail, luxurious and expensive. “I wanted it to be a collectible object that people would want to be a part of,” noted Rubinstein of the linen-covered book that was printed in Belgium on weighty paper. “We want the magazine itself to be part of the experience.”

To commemorate the first of what will be a bi-annual publication as of next year (buy it here), we asked Rubinstein about some of his favorite episodes from the past four years. It’s an intriguing selection, with links provided for those who’d like to experience the entire episode.

Vienna

“I spent a week in Vienna in 2023, talking to a real mix of people from museum directors to hoteliers and designers — all with a connection to Austrian culture and Austrian history. I had a personal connection as well – my great grandmother was from Austria, my great grandfather is buried there and all the food I grew up eating is essentially Austrian food.”

Deeda Blair

“I went to her house and she made lunch for me. She was wearing couture. It was the most intimidating lunch I’ve had in my life, in an enormous room with this tiny table, set for just the two of us. We had sweet tea, grapes in aspic, weird retro food from her book including a delicious salad that only masters of the universe from the 1960s eat. Afterwards we went to her study in her living room and set up the equipment and did a lovely interview.”

Patti LuPone

“The best conversations happen in the most unexpected and casual ways. When I talked to Patti LuPone she was rehearsing for “The Roommate,” the Broadway play also starring Mia Farrow. She was losing her voice a little bit. When we started the interview the screen was off, so I couldn’t see her. So I asked about turning on video, and there was a pause. And then she said, ‘Oh honey, I’m in bed.’ I’m like, that’s totally cool and fine. And, all of a sudden, there she was sitting up in bed with a headset. Her voice was so strong she was almost blowing out the mic.”

Calida Rawles

“This is one of the most heartfelt episodes I’ve ever done. Calida is a photo-realistic painter who got an MFA from New York University and was told she wouldn’t be successful because she couldn’t be both a mother and an artist. There were a lot of racial undertones to the criticism she felt. Gillian Garcia shot her for the magazine – in her Los Angeles studio and neighborhoods that she really identifies with. Oddly enough, a month after that episode came out she ended up walking one of the Hermes runways.”

Frédéric Malle

“I had never interviewed a perfumer before but he’s the most fascinating. He comes from a family of creatives – his father was a film producer and his uncle was the director Louis Malle. Frederic was the first to the first to give the ‘nose’ behind the scent credit for the scent, and he called himself the ‘publisher’ of the scent. He unlocked a new era of fragrance that is more about craft and technology, not just marketing. Everyone thought he was crazy, but he is a true entrepreneur.”