#078 ✰ What if they could talk?
objects | animals | walls : it's all about stories
Happy weekend! I hope you are well.
Last week events and errands got me thinking about the power of stories and, on the opposite, the lack of sense, the detachment, the disposability born from a lack of story (and meaning).
Objects
If objects could talk, what would they say about our lives?
Last week, In the midst of black friday tumult, I got the chance to sit down with a handful of you in a set up that felt quite the opposite of this outside fever. For a bit less than two hours, we got to know each other in quite an unaccustomed way: the story of Cet objet là you had brought along. I can’t thank you enough for entrusting me, for your vulnerability and for your genuine curiosity towards everyone else. I look forward to our next occasion! Couple more are coming - in Paris, but not only - stay tuned.
Animals
If - dead - animals could talk, what would they teach us?
Later that week, we brought the kids to La Grande Galerie de l’Évolution. This incredible building was renovated about 35 years ago, but was originally an initiative from Louis XIII in 1626. It is now hosting over 7,000 species.
While walking alongside these lifeless bodies, trying my best to tell our boys the names of the species one after another -learning most of them tbh- , I couldn’t help but think: how did these animals end up here? How did they die? - trying to spot the wound, yeah I know everyone’s just seeking the cuteness, I couldn’t help - What was their lives like before getting killed? These questions were especially vivid when passing by an elephant or kangaroo calf.
And so, taxidermy, my friend. Taxidermist are sorts of wizards operating on a blurry line between life and death. Turning dead animals into life-embodied corpses, with astonishing facial and physical expressions. “I offer them a second life” said one of them in an interview. “They’ve all eaten, slept, bred, fought. They continue to be. They exist without living. They are with us”.
Stuffing, that used to be made with straw is now created from resins and polyurethane foams. AC breakdowns (temperature raising quickly), moths and tourists are the main causes for their degradations. “If the skin no longer holds together, we can’t do anything anymore. It is our raw material”. The rhinoceros below, who was purchased in India for Louis XV and died in… 1793 was the first animal to be stuffed. Its skin is now wrapped over a wicker frame.
While the oldest specimens were mainly brought back under the colonial eras by kings, dukes and lords, the newest comers are heading straight from zoos. It takes in average 50k€ to acquire and stuff one body.
Walking through the gallery, it is easy to forget that these bodies once were alive. I wish I could have heard or read the story of each of these wild, beautiful souls.
Walls
If walls could talk, what new pieces of history would they unveil?
We got married in a little castle that was 500 years old. We live in a building that is 250 years old. I’ve always dreamed about a little voice whispering in my ears every life-changing discussion, romance, argument, treason, life worry and moment of happiness that took place throughout generations as we’d walk from one room to the next. After all, History is just the story of someone, so aren’t there as many histories as we are people? Kev wrote about it recently.
Everything you read in a history book has been written by someone with an agenda and biases. (…) If we’re looking for facts — indisputable, undeniable facts — we have precious few about anything pre-20th century. And so we rely on imagination, guesswork, and narrative.
Anyway, here we are, last week still, wandering through Château de Vincennes, a beautiful, gigantic fortress built 700 years ago - which is ideally located at the end of metro line 1 in Paris. It was a preferred residence of French Kings, “often used as a royal sanctuary in times of trouble, and later as a prison and military headquarters.” While being struck by the weight of so many years of history, I carried along the same question: what if these walls could talk?
Quickly followed by: why are visits so boring?
I dream about castles that would offer a 100% immersive visit, where you’d be given a role, an outfit, a mission and a few hours. Where the rest of the visitors would be given the same. And bam. No doubt the take-homes would be 100x.
After a quick search, turns out the Sendai castle in Japan offers some time traveling VR experience to the Edo period - mainly landscape and decorations though. Bourdeilles in Dordogne, France offers an onsite VR escape game for up to four players. A good start, but damn, where are the others?
I remember playing the Louvre -The Messenger- video game as a kid, exploring the Louvre as a secret agent to bring back objects throughout three different eras: Middle Age, Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment. I learnt way more about History there than by sitting down at school.
***
Stories are so powerful. Who better than the author of Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari, to remind us that:
Homo sapiens is a storytelling animal that thinks in stories rather than in numbers or graphs, and believes that the universe itself works like a story, replete with heroes and villains, conflicts and resolutions, climaxes and happy endings. When we look for the meaning of life, we want a story that will explain what reality is all about and what my particular role is in the cosmic drama. This role makes me a part of something bigger than myself, and gives meaning to all my experiences and choices. - 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
At Objet, we are making the stories of your cherished possessions lively, sharable and eternal.
Cool reads and more
🛍 The problem with stuff
Here’s an ode to why we're building Objet.
we are consumed by consumption and are struggling to navigate a form of abundance that feels like scarcity because it drowns out meaning.
👕 Should clothes never go on sale?
Put more bluntly, sales allow brands to sell clothes they shouldn’t have made to people who don’t actually want them.
🇫🇷 Is France making planned obsolescence obsolete?
Always fun to read about your country's politics from an outsider angle.
📒 How the notebook changed the world
Amazing anecdotes inside:
☠️ When shopping becomes risky
Once upon a time, shopping included the possibility of bloodshed. A now-defunct, single-page website curtly titled “Black Friday Death Count” took the morbid responsibility of cataloging all injuries and fatalities on record resulting from sale-induced melees from 2006 to 2021.
Wait, who are you again?
Fair. If you’re new here, welcome 👋 We are Max, Kev and Mat. We’re building a network for object lovers, a place to save the stories of your cherished objects - your memories - for eternity.
Objet is the french word for 'object' and should be pronounced 'ob-jeh‘. In this journal, we explore the intersection of desire, taste, joy, meaning and culture. Well, not so much today, but usually. If you’d like to embark on a journey with us, make sure to
and we’ll be in touch.
Always hit reply to send us a note, we love reading you.
Good vibes et bisous.
Mathilde
Sign me up for those 100% immersive castle visits! 😂