Bandol

Bandol, April 2011

Paris, Murakami

Paris in October. The highlight was definitely the Takashi Murakami show at Versailles. Who would have thought that Japanese manga would look so good in the Palace of Versailles?

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Great big green glazed pots, in Mougins, South of France

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Place aux Aires, mid-week on a sunny day.

I love a bit of history, and the most recent snippet I learned in Grasse was that the main square used to be the location of a tannery, which is actually how Grasse came to be the centre of the perfume world. The smell of tanned hides is pretty unpleasant (that's an understatement: the smell of the actual tanning process is putrid, and in the olden days, before things became more sophisticated, the tanned leather itself didn't smell too great either), so essences were used to mask the odour. Perfumed gloves became a popular local product, until the fashion for those faded in around the 18th century, and the focus became perfumes alone.

If you're interested in perfumes, I'd recommend both the Fragonard museum (do the tour, it's fun!), and the recently renovated Musee Internationale des Parfumeries. The perfume-making process is explained, and you get a sense of the history of perfume from ancient Egypt all the way to the 21st century. Perhaps my favourite thing to see is the collection of perfume bottles and labels, especially the Art-Deco era examples.

It can feel sometimes like Fragonard has taken over the whole of Grasse, but on the other hand, I absolutely love what they do. They make such beautiful things: sets of soaps in lovely decorated boxes, individual brightly coloured glycerine soaps, perfumes in the traditional tin canisters. Their homeware and jewellery stores (just up the street in separate stores from the museums) are also gorgeous, with beautifully selected linens, scarves, and quilts, amongst other things. Fragonard also owns the lovely Cafes des Musees (below).

One of these days I'll do a comprehensive visitors guide to Grasse and the surrounding area, since I go there so often!

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The fountain in the centre of Saint Cezaire

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This is an incredibly beautiful and precious cashmere shawl owned by my French mum. It was her grandmother's and it's all hand-embroidered. I love the box it came in. It's from Kashmir and it's very old.

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Yellow and orange: the colours of Grasse

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We visited a town in the hills behind Grasse which I hadn't been to before, called Saint Cezaire. It's a cute little town, with the most spectacular views down towards the sea: impossible to capture in photos. We went because Martine (my 'French mum') wanted to take us to an antique silverware store, but unfortunately we arrived an hour too late and it was closed!

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After Morocco, we had 4 gorgeous days in Grasse. These were taken in the main square. I like the spring-time buds just starting to pop out on the trees.

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