Precious gem of Chatou (part 1) - Musée Dorin Paris, Chatou
Dear readers, some people asked me “Why did you always choose to go to Paris (or France) since you’ve been there before?”, my usual response is a simple smile, and then I’ll change the subject. To me, for some reason, Paris is an endless mystery especially for someone like me who didn’t reside there for good, each visit is a new discovery. Although having been through the past seven traumatic years that I keep asking when my next Paris (or France) trip be, by watching the hit Netflix TV show “Emily in Paris” helped me to keep my spirit up, and motivates me to save up hard and staying focus on making my trip to France again, eventually, my patience, perseverance and resilience paid off. By early this year, I was exhilarated when I realized that I was able to revisit Paris again, and I had written a long list of places that I wanted to go (which sadly I cannot go to all of it), among them, there are a couple of places that are in my ‘must go’ list, and one of them is the historic perfume museum - Musée Dorin Paris.
If some of you might aware, I have written a blog about the perfume of Dorin Paris back in August 2023, and I always have a desire to visit their museum one day if I revisit Paris again, with this exciting Paris trip, I decided to include Musée Dorin Paris as one of my ‘must visit’ place. It was a gloomy day when I arrived at the museum, which located in Chatou (about 40 mins train ride from Paris city center), given a little issue happened that day morning with the delay of the RER train (thanks Olympic opening!), and a clumsy mistake that I missed the station, I was in the hurry mode as I barely got less than half an hour for this visit; I was told to call a telephone number that the Dorin Paris staff gave me before the trip, and someone inside the premises will open the main gate for me; as I called, it was a softspoken gentleman on the other end, and accordingly, I introduced myself and then the main gate opened.
After passing the main gate, there was a rotunda grassland and then a classic Parisian private mansion behind, without any prominent signage, it didn’t really seem like any kind of public museum in Paris that I’ve visited before, on contrary, it seems more like a private residence that its actual owner is still living in there! I was greeting by a French lady upon my arrival at the mansion’s door, and instantly, I was amazed by what I was seeing right in front of me: the most comprehensive and historic perfume collection of Maison Dorin Paris!
Walking across the foyer to the main hall of the museum, one can find the rarest and valuable artefacts of the perfume house on the right hand side, each cabinet showcased the earliest Maison Dorin Paris cosmetic product, which the house is famous for originally, dated back as early as the late 19th century, those little cosmetic boxes, and the fine gentlemen grooming products, are discreetly displayed alongside with some vintage jewellery glass boxes and objet d’Art, which truly reflects the epoch of these items and created the nostalgic atmosphere – the time back in the French Rococo period in the French Court, with a bit of imagination, it is almost as surreal as being in one of those glamorous evening grand ball hosted inside the Versailles Palace, brushing shoulders with those glamorously dressed ladies, and handsome gentlemen guests, and being able to sniff their sumptuous perfume and cosmetic powder which they were wearing under the rhythm of the light-hearted French entertaining music.
The long table in the middle of the main hall which covered in alluring ruby red damask-rose-patterned table cloth, on top of it, there were a series of glass showcases and vintage jewellery boxes that displayed another exquisite series of Maison Dorin Paris perfume, and, some precious books about the original Founder of the perfume house, who was the famous French actress named Marguerite Brunet, or Mademoiselle Montansier, she founded her own company (named “La Montansier”, which later renamed as “Maison Dorin”) back in the 18th century, and working hard on building the prestigious reputation of producing high quality makeup products, powders and perfumes for the elite and royalty. She has been a friend of Queen Marie-Antoinette, with her quality of work and sense of style, the French royalty granted her the privilege of running the balls in Château de Versailles, and later as the lead to all the French national theaters around late 18th century. The rapport in between the Maison and the French court was unquestionablely close, and one of the best evidence is the appointment of Maison Dorin Paris as a supplier to the Royal Court of Versailles by Queen Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI in 1780; Of course, not to mention is the partnership with Jean-Marie Dorin, which eventually acquired the perfume house in around early 19th century, and renamed it as Maison Dorin Paris as what we know today.
Now let’s go back to the present time at the museum, of course, for all the perfume connoisseurs and collectors, the left side of the main hall should be the most intriguing part, as it showcased the entire perfume collection of Maison Dorin Paris, from its iconic ‘Les Classique’ collection, featuring the legendary ‘Un Air de Paris’ in different variations, to the more contemporary editions such as “Les Dorines” and my favorite “Eaux Poudrées” collection, alongside with their classic and clean packaging, in the classic cupboard with the brand’s ‘coat of arms’ in the center, which enables each visitor to experience the olfactory beauty of this historic perfume house, and slowly enjoy its perfume creation from the past to present and see how the style evolves.
Besides the main exhibiting hall, there are two other rooms (or I should say ‘salons’) which are equally intriguing and beautiful, firstly the main ‘guest room’ located on the left of the main hall, the interior literally takes one back to the elegant and romantic French Rococo era in the period’s signature pastel blue color, furnished with vintage French court style furniture in sumptuous upholstery fabric in pearl and even pastel pink color, as well as a luxurious crystal chandelier that hanged in the middle of the ceiling reminiscent to one of the entertainment salon in the Versailles palace; for some reason I was particularly drawn to the black desk and chair at the corner of this salon, which it displayed a range of perfume samples, I was wondering if it’s a resemblance of the ‘perfume organ’ used by the perfumer?
On the opposite side of the ‘guest room’, there’s another salon which it seems like a ‘dining room’ to me, as there’s a dining table located in the middle of the salon, which surrounded by a couple of dining chairs in a bit of second-empire veranda style, another sumptuously decorated room in French Rococo style in light blue color, and a vintage lychee-red rococo-leaf patterned curtains upholstered in front of each floor-length window; same as the ‘guest room’, this room also filled with a selective series of perfume by Maison Dorin Paris, which enable guests to experience the olfactory beauty while marveling such sumptuously decorated and historic interior.
Another noteworthy spot inside the museum, is the decorative wall at the foyer which one can found a collection of delicate objet d’Art in ornated gold, floral decoration and luxurious fabric, each set was placed inside a large bell jar which makes it look like a valuable range of French imperial art decorations, also the glass cabinet located on the other side of the decorative wall, which right next to the entrance of the perfume house and museum’s office, one can find a series of vintage perfume bottles of other historic brands from the past, and amazingly, some of them have even been forgotten or ceased production, in a way it told me how passionate the owner of this perfume house is, to pursue the beauty and art history of perfume, not just his own house’s creation, but other forgotten ones as a homage to the savoir-faire of French perfume making.
Throughout the visit I was accompany by the French lady from the maison, and then almost by then end of the tour, a senior gentleman came up to me and greeted me in person, surprisingly without knowing, he is the President of Maison Dorin Paris, Mr. Bashar Nasri; at that moment, I suddenly realized that the person that I called when I was at the main gate is Bashar himself! Which it surprised me as I didn’t expect to be greeted by the President himself in person on that day! But it was a wonderful surprise as Bashar was kind enough to tell me some of the history of Maison Dorin Paris, and the story of his magnificent museum and estate; time literally flies and I almost forgot that I have another place to visit, adding the stress that I had from the train delay, I have kindly told Bashar about my tight schedule, and apologized that I might need to end this visit accordingly, in turn, he asked about where my next stop be, as I told him, he calmed me down with his gentle tone and told me not to worry, he even encouraged me to stay in his museum a bit longer, to explore these beautiful salons of the museum again and take some more pictures as I wished; and after a short while, he said that he has some arrangement for me. In my heart, there are dozens of question marks prompted out, as I was thinking: “why is he so certain that I am not going to be late for my next appointment?”, “what is that arrangement?” and lastly, “why did he do that for a total stranger that he only met for the very first time?”. So, you may wonder: “what exactly is that ‘arrangement’?”, to find out more, no worries, please stay tune, as it’ll be revealed in my next blog.
Special thanks to Mr. Bashar Nasri of Maison Dorin Paris, Chatou