I don’t usually do this– blog on the weekends that is– but I had an experience last night that I just had to share with you as soon as I stretched out of bed this morning. It feels like a dream now, but I’ll try to piece it together for you.
I was told to find the Villa Mont Tonnerre, the villa of thunder mountain, where I would find a man dressed in the colours of the earth.
He thundered his fist on the great white doors and they parted to reveal an Elysian field…
According to Homer, the Elysian Fields were located on the western edge of the Earth by the stream of Okeanos, but last night, I found them in the 15th arrondissement of Paris at the Musée de Bourdelle, just behind Montparnasse. Fancy that.
The gatekeepers sealed off the outside world and lured us further into the Elysian plain…
Luckily, in Elysium, they have two kinds of champagne, white and pink!
Okay, enough teasing, where are we and what are we here for and how did we get here…
The story of how I found myself in these heavenly gardens, begins ironically in the underworld, in the depths of the Paris catacombs, where I first met the creators of We Are the Oracle (WATO). It’s been several years since I first encountered their art of clandestine partying, when I attended a 1940s themed party in an abandoned Parisian bomb shelter, 30 feet deep underground. I’ve been honoured to be invited along on their journey ever since, watching the collective become one of the world’s most sought-after creators of “once-in-a-lifetime” parties, which is exactly what last night was…
It was an evening to celebrate the House of Chaumet, the historic French jeweller based in Paris since in 1780. A Renaissance sculptor’s gardens in the heart of Paris, today the Musée Bourdelle, set the poetic stage to reveal their new collection, “The Nature of Chaumet“.
This is Antoine’s Bourdelle’s atelier out of time, filled with the artist’s own giant marbles, plaster casts, bronzes and sketches as well as the works he collected by other artists, including Delacroix and Rodin, whom he worked alongside. (By the way, I recommend discovering this museum immediately).
Guests were welcomed into the ethereal setting with leafy crowns, summer baskets and bouquets of wild flowers.
With champagne flutes in hand, we stumbled upon artists sketching their muses…
In the garden, a wood sculptor was chipping away at an angel’s face…
In between elderflower-infused cocktails, we gathered lilies in our Chaumet baskets…
Oh, that’s right, I almost forgot why we were here …
The diamonds!
(And the food…)
And those diamonds!
But those little creamy cups of heaven…
But seriously, that back bling…
Is this what heaven is like? Desserts and diamonds coming at you from all directions?
We were dining with the Gods (and Goddesses), and one of Paris’ top chefs, Pierre Meneau was in the kitchen.
It was the sort of heavenly cafeteria where they feed you berries growing from a golden tree ↑
As the summer light faded, I dreaded the thought of returning to reality and leaving my Elysian Parisian gardens. I could really get used to this heaven thing.
