You might not know that Chloë Cassens is the granddaughter of the famous “Time Lord.” Bringing her grandfather’s ideas into the present day is how she takes care of the world’s largest collection of Jean Cocteau art.
Her ongoing project Sacred Monster along with curated events and cultural programming keeps Cocteau’s genius alive while connecting his avant-garde spirit to new audiences. In blending her family legacy with her own bold perspective, Cassens is showing how the past can ignite fresh cultural conversations today.
Chloë Cassens’ life has always been a bridge between worlds. Born in Los Angeles and raised across Switzerland and France, she grew up surrounded by stories of her grandfather, Severin Wunderman, the man the watch world remembers as the legendary “Time Lord.” Wunderman was not just the founder of Gucci Timepieces; he was a collector, a visionary, and a philanthropist whose life was as dramatic and remarkable as the art he loved.
Today, Chloë is the guardian of the largest collection of Jean Cocteau artworks in the world, housed in the Musée Jean Cocteau-Collection Severin Wunderman in Menton, France.
Her grandfather’s obsession with Cocteau, the French iconoclast artist, was so deep that it caught the attention of Vogue in 1989. Today, Chloë carries that passion forward through her project, Sacred Monster, celebrating Cocteau and other avant-garde creatives whose work continues to influence contemporary culture in unexpected ways.
Her journey has not been limited to art alone. Chloë’s early years were steeped in music and media. At fourteen, she worked at The Roxy on Sunset Strip, and later she took on roles at iHeartRadio and SiriusXM, while DJing for WBAR and DASH radio with her show The Trainwreck Sessions.
Her creativity and curiosity have always driven her to explore unconventional paths, from producing groundbreaking podcasts to curating art for global audiences.
Her creative energy found another outlet when she produced the podcast The Sex Ed, hosted by Liz Goldwyn. Through it, she worked on projects with HBO, MatchesFashion, and even Gucci, which marked the first time a luxury fashion house sponsored a podcast.
Her professional journey has always intertwined with her personal passion, helping institutions like the Peggy Guggenheim Collection present Cocteau’s daring works in an accessible way.
She hosts cultural events, including the celebration of Cocteau’s 136th birthday earlier this summer at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, with many more engagements planned across the globe. Through Sacred Monster, a biweekly essay project on Substack which also recently released its first volume in print, she shares insights on art, creativity, and her grandfather’s life, while working on a book about Severin Wunderman’s extraordinary legacy.
Severin Wunderman’s life reads like a novel. A Holocaust survivor, he went from hiding as a child in Belgium to founding Gucci Timepieces, amassing a fortune while quietly giving much of it away. He married seven times, but his greatest love was art.
Beginning at nineteen, he collected works by Jean Cocteau until his death in 2008. In 2004, he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French President Jacques Chirac. The museum in Menton stands as a testament to his devotion, containing over 1200 pieces of art.
Today, Chloë splits her time between Los Angeles and Paris, continuing to educate and inspire.
Photographer : Studio Lazareff
She represents the collection, but she also tells stories about Cocteau and his contemporaries, organizes cultural events, and connects the past and the present, showing how much Cocteau’s legacy lives on in art and culture today.
Through her dedication, Severin Wunderman’s vision is not only preserved but continues to inspire new generations, proving that true creativity transcends time.
Chloë Cassens’ story is a reminder that legacy is not just what we inherit, but how we carry it forward vivid, thoughtful and alive for the world to see.
