[1][3] In 1991, Arpels graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor's degree in history and comparative religions.
[6] Arpels returned to the firm to serve in management, tasked with restructuring the business.
[1] In 2003, he sold the remaining 20% of the shares and focused his business on Italy, where he acquired the Redwall Group, a company that produces bags and accessories and owns Borbonese, a leather goods brand founded in Turin in 1910.
[13] Arpels is currently an activist investor with Slow Money NYC, a company he founded that emphasizes patient capital and investing in local community as opposed to focusing on quarterly earnings and profit maximization.
[18][19][20] It was also the venue for Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's book launch party in 2013.