Why Tastemaker Ajiri Aki Believes Picnics Should Make a Major Return This Summer
Welcome to Party Trick, a monthly column where top tastemakers invite us inside their unforgettable gatherings and share their signature hosting rituals.
“Since moving to Paris 20 years ago, my adopted country has taught me a life-changing lesson: to look for, cultivate, and revel in joy. Not superficial happiness, mind you, but a deep, real sense of connection, the kind that comes with slowing down to absorb moments of beauty and fellowship every day,” says linens designer and antique tableware dealer Ajiri Aki. “Perhaps that’s what makes picnics practically a rite of passage for the French.”
Growing up in Austin, Texas, Aki’s Nigerian-American family didn’t do a lot of picnicking. “We had barbecues. I loved that outdoor “potluck” vibe, with big cuts of meat and even bigger groups of friends sitting around tables and playing flag football,” she says. Then she went to grad school and studied the life and culture at Versailles as part of a master’s program in decorative arts. Along with the gilt, chinoiserie, and pastels, an unforgettable image lingered: Marie-Antoinette picnicking with her girlfriends at the Hameau de la Reine to escape the constraints and boredom of royal life. “I devoured Antonia Fraser’s descriptions from her 2001 biography of the queen and marveled at Sofia Coppola’s later cinematic vision. The joy! The languor! The dresses!” Aki recalls.
Reveling in the relaxed elegance of Paris’s alfresco gastronomic culture inspired Aki’s party trick: picnicking à la française. “Having now fully immersed myself in the often-unhurried customs of France, the picnic to me feels like a loosening of any pressure that comes with entertaining at home. No vacuuming, dusting, washing up, or preparing your home—nature becomes your salon,” says Aki. “Like Marie-Antoinette’s need for a slow-paced way to gather away from court life, I can enjoy just catching up with friends. Never mind that it’s suddenly acceptable to lie on your back during dinner and maybe even steal a nap.”
The other marvelous thing about picnicking? It can be as simple as packing a linen tablecloth, grabbing sandwiches and snacks from the boulangerie, and finding a park on the outskirts of the city to lounge around in.
“I would be lying if I said I don’t have a tendency to overdo it,” says the found of online tabletop boutique Madame de la Maison. “If I plan a picnic with friends at Château de Marly in Marly-le-Roi or Parc de Sceaux (which I love for that château backdrop that makes me feel as if I, too, am in a painting), then I get a bit fancy. Sometimes I pack bed trays and turn them into mini tables covered with tablecloths. I fill antique picnic baskets with linens and flowers.”
But mostly, Aki hews to the “essentials” (her version of simple): linens, some plates, silver dessert coupes to use as wine glasses, rosé or bubbly, baguettes, charcuterie, cheese, cucumbers, radishes, butter, salt, dips, pâté, biscuits, and fruits. “If I get too fancy, the children destroy whatever display I’ve laid out within seconds, then run off to play and lie in the grass without a care in the world,” she says. “Which reminds me, again, of the true joy of the picnic. And I lie back with my coupe, feel the sun on my skin, and give in to that blissful, timeless halt.”
Aki shares more lessons in entertaining, fellowship, and life in France in her new book, Joie: A Parisian’s Guide to Celebrating the Good Life (Penguin Random House).
You Might Also Like
