The London Issue will be distributed exclusively to Living Proof Members. Sent to our members for June, 2026.

Karim Bakhtaoui is a longtime member of the Palace Skateboards crew, and a staple figure within London’s Southbank scene.

Bakhtaoui joined the Palace team during the company’s early days, making regular appearances in videos including Endless Bummer, Paramount, and their debut full-length Palasonic.

Outside of skateboarding, Bakhtaoui manages Supreme’s London storefront, and has been creating intricate, one-off pieces of jewelry inspired by British history and culture for more than a decade.

For Living Proof’s London Issue, Franklin Carbonatti speaks with Karim Bakhtaoui on the process of creating jewelry, visiting the United States, riding for Palace, and raising a family.

First off, thank you, brother. I really appreciate you doing this, man. I’m excited. It’s a crazy full-circle moment for me. I’m not actually sure if you remember this, but I think it was maybe 10 years ago or so when you were doing the jewelry thing. I bought a ring from you.

Yeah, you did. I remember.

And I reached out to you on Instagram, and I was like, “Yo, I want to buy this ring.” I still have it to this day. I wear it almost every day. Stood with me, and I never lost it somehow. I remember reaching out to you and saying, “I want to buy it, but the shipping is too expensive.” And you realized I knew Sean Powers, and you were like, “Yo, I’m going to be in New York, let’s just link up.” And I met you behind the Palace store.

That’s right. Yeah. That was some crazy, dodgy deal.

So how did you get into making jewelry?

Well, I was growing up and saw a lot of those sovereign rings and signet rings. They’re proper English. It’s a real English thing that you see dudes in the pub wearing — keeper rings, sovereigns. I wanted to do something based around that. I was already into Victorian jewelry, so I went to loads of exhibitions and saw really old pieces, the poison rings. That kind of set it off a bit.

Read the full interview in Living Proof Magazine Issue 14, available to Living Proof members and in our Online Shop.