Introducing Jordane Saget…
This title is a lie: I have talked about Jordane Saget here many times before, to the point I had to remind people I was married (to a woman) because some actually started asking questions. And now I have even more reasons to talk about him…
The back story is this, for those who haven’t heard or read it before (hello, new reader!). A few years ago, I saw a great looking piece of street art walking in the neighborhood, posted it on Instagram and went on my merry way. A couple of days later, someone commented on my post with the name of the artist I had snapped: #jordanesaget. So I went and checked out the man’s account: he already had upwards of 15k followers (now it’s nearing 50k, not to mention TikTok), and his posts started years before I discovered him. Which is fair enough: I’m not the best street art connoisseur on the face of the earth. Or on the face of Paris, really. The point is, I really liked what the man was doing, so I obviously joined the 15k+ that followed him and thoroughly enjoyed looking at his posts more than some (you know who you are).
One day, as we were walking down the street with my then-fiancée and (then-and-now) brother, we stumbled upon another Jordane Saget piece. My brother commented that it was very cool, we said we agreed, then he enquired as to who the artist might be, to which we replied: “Jordane Saget, of course!”. We both (virtually) knew the man pretty well by that point — my fiancée shared my feelings for him, which made things easier — but my brother was still new to the game. Not for long, though: he too followed Jordane and became a fan. Because everyone who stumbles upon his work becomes one, I can highly objectively tell you.
Side note: we assumed the artist was living nearby, as we saw quite a few of his layouts around Jaurès / La Chapelle / Canal Saint-Martin, i.e. where the hipsterish people like us tend to roam in Paris.
On August 31st 2019, my fiancée and I got married. Meaning, she stopped being my fiancée and started being my wife. And I became her husband: I assume you know how that works. On the morning of, as we left my wife’s place to meet with friends who were helping set up this shindig — namely the MC and DJ’s, who were all personal friends — we noticed that there were Jordane Saget artworks on the door window. We thought it was pretty cool, I took a picture and we kept on walking. Later that day, when we left city hall a married couple, there were more Jordane Saget artworks around. We just thought it was appropriate. We took wedding pictures in Buttes-Chaumont, the park opposite city hall: there were more Jordane Saget artworks there. Some of which naturally made their way into our wedding album.
The party was also held nearby — why change? — in La Rotonde de Stalingrad, a historical building-turned restaurant and, we found out, party venue. When we showed up in the early evening, every window in the place had Jordane Saget artworks on it. That’s when I finally started to understand that this was no accident. In my defence, this was my wedding day, people: everything seems incredible on your wedding day, so having great art everywhere you go does not strike you as odd the way it would on any given Monday. My wife reportedly caught up with what was going on before me, but there’s no way to definitively prove that. Later, my brother finally explained what was going on, when he gifted us with a rather unique wedding present: a painting by the very same Jordane Saget, which actually featured our initials within the artwork. That painting now lies on the wall in our living room.
My brother proceeded to explain what had happened: after he’d discovered the man and his work, he actually went ahead and contacted him. At the time, my fiancée/wife and I were also considering moving to Berlin: a souvenir of Paris made all the more sense. Either way, my brother asked Jordane if he would paint us a wedding present, to which he agreed under one condition: that he would also make artwork the day of. That’s when we found out that he had been sort of following us all day, drawing his lines minutes before we went anywhere for us to see. I’ll be honest: I have met the musicians of Motown (you read that right), I have met politicians and billionaires, but never did someone of that stature ever do something for me in such a way.
After the wedding, my brother arranged a meeting: not surprisingly, Jordane’s workshop was minutes away from our place (the new one is even closer, which is obviously purely coincidental). Also not surprisingly, the man was great. Smart, brilliant and incredibly easy to talk to. Also, there were things I knew how to do (well) that he kind of hated, such as setting up a website or writing a press release. So I started helping him out. We launched a website, worked on a bunch of interviews, presentations, proposals, basically everything that required some formalizing. I may not be as creative as Jordane, but I know how to make a slide deck: to each their own.
A little while ago, we were talking on the phone about growing the Jordane Saget business, and he commented that he should probably setup a company to promote his work. To which I replied that a) I agreed, b) I could help with that too. After all, I already have two of those. And, lo and behold, we actually did just that: last month, we registered Jordane Saget SAS, Jordane obviously being the chairman and me being general manager. Basically the guy who helps the talent. To be absolutely candid, starting a third company, as the #2 guy no less, was not something I quite had in mind. Except with someone like Jordane: the man is amazing, and I’m convinced this is only the beginning of an amazing journey. And a beautiful friendship, of course.