ANTONIO FILLIPIN

If we had to sum up the sculptor Antonio Filippin's lair in a single adjective, it would be extravagant! Here we are in the lush vegetation and the enormous rocks of the heights of Anse Gouvernement, at the western end of Baie Lazare and right next to the Maria's Rock restaurant, also decorated by him. So welcome to this artist who, apart from the name, doesn't speak much Italian anymore! Having settled in the Seychelles in 1992, this singular character has been living since then from his superb wood carvings. How many women has he already sculpted in jackfruit and takamaka, coconut and badam tree... With a fertile imagination, Fillipin also works with other local natural materials, such as coconut from the sea, from which he makes remarkable masks. Also author of original small artistic compositions, such as his articulated spider with a small coconut shell as its body and bamboo stems and legs, Fillipin also sculpts granite with dexterity, as shown in his giant checkers game. Granite! Precisely. It is it that gives strength to his curious temple built over seven years with his own hands. A temple a la Indiana Jones. As soon as the heavy engraved door is opened, the decor is set: you are in the eco-megalo universe of this Dali from the Indian Ocean. Everything is natural, the electricity is produced with a bicycle pump and for the air conditioning, nothing better than a waterfall. At the centre of this captivating living room, the imposing bed of His Majesty is surrounded by kitchissimo blue velvet drapes from which the initials AF of the master stand out. "Each one is unique inside", sums up, in English, this strange artist whose brainstorming has given birth to this curious temple in which man intends to blend in with nature. What a wonder, in any case, for the visitor, who must, in principle, pay a few rupees to enter this fantasy elsewhere, unless he buys one of the artist's works, even symbolic ones. A visit not to be missed, the bar-restaurant Maria's Rock, in the same site, allowing you to come back to your senses over a drink, while remaining in the artist's delirious world, with his pirate ship... And if you want to prolong this magical moment, why not treat yourself to a Stone Age style meal here, with each guest cooking their food on a hot volcanic rock... In short, there is everything here for an afternoon out of the ordinary, before returning to enjoy the dazzling coves of the west coast.