Mathieu Lehanneur, Olympic designer | La Presse

Mathieu Lehanneur designed the torch and cauldron for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The internationally renowned French designer has a multidisciplinary approach. He draws inspiration from science and designs spaces as well as objects. His works are part of the collections of major museums such as MOMA and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Interview.

What does the Olympic torch represent?

Three inspirations make up this torch made of recycled steel, which weighs 1.6 kg, measures 70 cm and is manufactured by ArcelorMittal. There is the notion of equality, which is very strong, because for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, there is parity. That is why the torch is perfectly symmetrical. Then, water is embodied through the ripples on the lower part of the torch. The water symbolizes the Seine which crosses Paris and is the location of the opening ceremony. The torch also crossed the Mediterranean from Greece, and it traveled across the oceans to go to Martinique and Guadeloupe. The third value is appeasement. I made the torch a pure, very gentle object, a symbol of peace that does not evoke performance, because the relay is an emotional and festive moment.

Is this a magic item?

Yes, it is a creator’s dream and, quite honestly, I discovered the magical potential of this torch, but of the Olympic torch in general. When you take out the Olympic torch, it is as if you take out a Grail. Suddenly, people ask you if they can touch it, as if this object carried a magical, historical dimension, which is beyond the object itself. We touch a dimension that is almost sacred. And this torch lights the cauldron on the opening day of the Olympic Games. We are beyond the ritual, almost in the liturgy. The first torch was lit in Olympia, the cradle of Olympism, and it is lit from the rays of the sun. Then the thousands of torchbearers carried it and transmitted this sacred fire. At the end, this cauldron declares the opening of the Olympic Games.

What does design bring to our daily lives?

It can improve life. That is one of its vocations. An object fulfills a function and can provide a solution. We are surrounded by objects, we accumulate far too many of them. We know that some touch us more than others and it is not always because they are more beautiful, luxurious or even useful. It is this dimension that relates to emotion that interests me. What makes an object have this power to touch you a little more than another? The Olympic torch is seen by 4 or 5 billion people, will it touch them? We must try to understand the human being and the times in which we live, understand why an object has a power or a desirability that others do not have.

Should we pay more attention to certain objects or spaces and invest in design?

Absolutely. Winston Churchill said: “We build buildings and they build us.” He understood that spaces have the capacity to transform us and act on us. There are crucial places, like schools and hospitals. A school is a place of learning, and it is important to question the way the classroom is structured, how the chair and the desk welcome the students. All of this acts on us. Design can have an impact on our existence.

Like this project Tomorrow is another daywhich you created for a palliative care unit?

Yes, for the palliative care department of a hospital, I designed an artificial window that transmits to you, through a LED system, what the sky will be like tomorrow. You are in front of a sky that is moving even if you may not be there to see it, but you know what tomorrow will look like and you can choose under which sky you want to leave. There is an effect on patients, because they regain some power over their destiny. They are facing nature, the passing of time. So there are technical and technological means that act on us. This is where design becomes interesting.

Are science and nature your great sources of inspiration?

Yes, that’s where we come from. These are the best tools to understand who we really are, how we live, think, breathe and sleep. Science helps me a lot and technology will help me create magic, to make the sky of Montreal appear in a hospital room in Paris.

What is Andrea, the plant-based air filtration system you designed in partnership with Harvard University?

This system purifies our interiors with the help of plants. It demonstrates that by combining human expertise with the intelligence of nature, this is perhaps how we can become even more efficient and do much more with less.

What would you like to design?

A school is a subject that interests me. I was bored as a student, I realized how lucky I was to go to school, but it was too late, I was no longer there. It is a place where we have curious minds, teachers who transmit knowledge, but who do not always have the right spaces and objects to make us want to. There are so many things to do to be more in tune with the body and mind. It is a real design subject and we must rethink these places.

Visit Mathieu Lehanneur’s website

Who is Mathieu Lehanneur?

French designer born in 1974, graduated from the National School of Industrial Creation in Paris

His final project on patient-involved drug design is so innovative that it is part of the permanent collection of MOMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York).

He founded his design and interior architecture agency in 2001. His creative fields are multiple. He designs furniture, tables, sofas, therapeutic spaces, street furniture and he has just designed the torch and the cauldron for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.