Guerlain, 1853
The house is infused by the spirit of perfumer Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain, who inhabited 'Le Petit Manoir' in the mid 19th century. His enchanted universe of female archetypes is woven into the tapestry of the present. The land is alive with different notes and frequencies infusing the house. Ephemeral and captivating, as perfume.
L'Heure Bleue, 1995
The house remained in the Guerlain lineage until the1980s. 15 years later, by a leap of fortune, the key was passed to our family. My mother chose to name the house 'L'Heure Bleue', a fragrance twilight time dwellings, developed by perfumer Jacques Guerlain in 1912.
This perfume, delicate and intense, is an ode to the iris flower. It evokes transitions familiar to all initiatory journeys, an extended liminality capturing the various crossings, emanating from the land.
This project, together with Levanah, are the fruits of having grown with the land and house for the last thirty years.
L’Heure Bleue, The fragrance of suspended time
“It’s that time of day when day embraces night and silence fully envelopes the world. An expression of harmony, a moment of stillness and grace tinted with deep blue echoed in L'Heure Bleue, composed in 1912. Painting an impressionistic olfactory canvas, Jacques Guerlain merged the violet accord and iris with the creamy ivory of vanilla, leaving a bewitching fragrance trail of both fresh and warm nuances. Through this ambery floral, a tale of eternal love is told. In this moment of suspended time, when the night is “yet to find its star” as Jacques Guerlain described it, L'Heure Bleue marks the meeting of two soulmates destined to become one in the frisson of eternity.”
Levanah, 2023
The blueprint of Levanah was revealed through working with the land and the house.
The living astrological sky that inspired the inception of this project came through in the summer of 2023. When the planet Venus was retrograde in the sign of Leo from July 22nd to September 3rd, marking a 40-day reset as she transitioned from an "evening star" to be reborn as a "morning star”. One myth that is resonant with this transit, is of the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna, who descends into the Underworld. Inanna's myth is a journey of sacrifice, and rebirth. Inanna is the goddess of liminality in a similar way to L’Heure Bleue being the liminal hour.
From listening, creating amidst emerging qualities and playing in sand, brought an alignment for the pillars of this retreat to arise.
House of Changes, 2025
L’Heure Bleue, ‘House of Changes’, weaves a thread to the ancient Chinese divination text the I Ching or ‘Book of Changes’. The book is considered one of the world’s oldest oracles, working with nature archetypes. It offers guidance through image, metaphor and constant flux, offering the sense of a perpetual outcome, teaching us to accept the change, to play with the change, to dance with the change, to lead the change. (+ Each image of the oracle serves as an energy reading of a moment in time. Each image serves as an energy reading of a moment in time… A house of mirroring windows, holding and whispering parables…A room of one’s own, moving through a sequence of landscapes.)
In honour of my ancestors
My grandmothers Maria Magdalena and Maria Magdalena,
my mother Geertrui,
my daughters Avalon and Lásse Grey.
In honour of the Maiden Joan of Arc,
a beacon of focus and presence,
symbol of courage and unwavering faith,
Who in the winter of 1430 was imprisoned in the chateau of Le Crotoy. From here, she traversed the Somme Bay to Saint-Valery, an important passage in her journey towards the end of her life.
In her footsteps,
Honouring Source,
Weaving the threads of fire.
“The Birth of an Ocean
She
Wrapped in sea-born blue light
Our bodies seamlessly
Unseen
Until Mabon wove a day
Into our boundless night”