Winner of the 2024 Gold Medal for Design, Maison & Objet, creator of the Olympic torch for the Olympic Games, has his work on display in the collections of MoMA, Arts Deco and the Center Pompidou.
800m of office space since the opening of La Factory last year2: In Ivry-sur-Seine, near Paris, where he imagines, paints, experiments, collects all his creations, this designer without borders, who combines art, science, nature and technology, is preparing to open a New York giga- the showroom. .
Madame Figaro. – What inspired me to participate in the Olympic project?
Mathieu Lehannur. – It is extremely rare in a creator’s life to have the opportunity to create such an iconic object. A “valuable” object that can be seen by 4 or 5 billion people.
” data-script=”https://static.lefigaro.fr/widget-video/short-ttl/video/index.js” >
Competitive spirit or fair game?
I have the lonely side of the competitive spirit, but the awareness that I won’t go very far on my own. The collective spirit and my desire to conquer coexist within me.
My space of freedom.
Having the confidence that between the initial desire, the initial sketch and the implementation, I will be able to bring the idea to the end, as I see fit. This is the power of La Factory. It allows me to not have to answer to anyone throughout the creation of the piece.
Eco-friendly and techno, my design biathlon.
It is the pair of humanity, born with two legs in nature, in a prehistoric cave. But he was never content to stay in his cave. Man needed and always had artefacts and tools to create and invent, which enable him to live better in nature and with nature. The challenge is to combine our needs, the environmental challenge and current technologies to offer new opportunities.
The collective spirit and my desire to conquer coexist within me
Mathieu Lehannour
Sport and me.
We love each other very much, but we rarely see each other. If I have been very seriously involved in the Olympic Games project, it is certainly not for the athletic side of me.
A message I would like to convey.
We are an infinitely complex species, but we tend to move a little too quickly towards simplicity. It would be good if we made an effort to accept and manage this complexity and subtlety.
Stress that inhabits me.
That my life is too short, the acute awareness that everything can change from one moment to the next.
My goal is to combine the ecological challenge and current technologies to offer new possibilities
Mathieu Lehannour
What makes me want to take off my boxing gloves?
As soon as my freedom is attacked, I’m ready to enter the ring.
What would I like people to say about me?
Let my friends, or St. Peter, if he be, say at the time of my departure:
The question that makes me sweat.
There are no bad questions. I am annoyed by the responses which are too often substandard.
Stress that inhabits me. That my life is too short, the acute awareness that everything can change from one moment to the next
Mathieu Lehannour
Do I still have the holy fire?
Oh, yes! And the more things go, the greater the flame of my desires.
The next object of my desire.
I would like to be asked to create a school from a pen to a building. Education is perhaps one of the only truly serious programs today.
What am I going to do after this interview?
One second. Then I’ll work on all the projects in progress, alternating between the design teams on the same floor as me and the parts assembly shop downstairs. I like this back and forth.
Source: Le Figaro
