Designer Mathieu Lehanneur to create Paris 2024 torches and cauldrons

Paris 2024 has announced that it will partner with French designer Mathieu Lehanneur to create the Paralympic and Olympic torches and cauldrons, which are powerful symbols of the Games. The torch design will be unveiled later this year.

“In Mathieu Lehanneur, Paris 2024 has made another bold choice that reflects the audacious approach that we have adopted since the start," said Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee. "A pioneer who has worked with the world’s greatest, internationally renowned French designer Mathieu Lehanneur will bring all his creativity and his poetic approach to the Olympic and Paralympic torches and cauldrons, which are such great symbols of the Games.”

Designer of eclectic, innovative masterpieces

Born in 1974, Mathieu Lehanneur is an internationally renowned French designer. A multi-disciplinary pioneer, he works in a wide variety of creative fields ranging from object to architecture, art to product design, unique hand-crafted items to cutting-edge design technology. His projects combine innovation, magic, design, science, art and an ambition to enhance user well-being.

Lehanneur’s works stretch across countless fields of expression: projects linked to mobility (hybrid engine boat, foldable electric bike), street furniture, interior design for museums and shops, technological product design, exclusive works, and others.

“What a joy to be part of this adventure and what a responsibility to contribute to the history of the Games in this way," Lehanneur said. "Partnering with Paris 2024 to design the torches and cauldrons means giving a visible form to a set of values and transforming a state of mind into iconic objects. Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together… My objective is to take this Olympic motto and add: more beautiful, lighter, more lavish.”

In his collaboration with prestigious brands, leading institutions and start-ups, Lehanneur has often shown a desire to combine aesthetics and sustainability. His projects include a solar street lighting furniture concept launched during COP-21 in Paris and a plant home air filtration system created in partnership with Harvard University, based on a study developed by NASA. For the latter project, the award-winning designer received the Best Invention Award by US magazine Popular Science.

At the forefront of French design, Lehanneur’s works can be found in the most prominent public and private collections in the world, including those of the Pompidou Centre and the Paris Museum of Decorative Arts, as well as the Museums of Modern Art in New York and San Francisco.

Designer selected following a call for tenders

The designer of the Paralympic and Olympic torches and cauldrons was selected following a call for tenders by Paris 2024, in which applicants were invited to demonstrate their understanding of the organisers’ creative ambition.

Mathieu Lehanneur was chosen for his poetic and highly symbolic approach, along with his ability to grasp the values and expectations of Paris 2024.

Key symbols of the Games

Before each edition of the Games, the torch carries a flame. For the Paralympic Games, the flame is created at Stoke Mandeville, Great Britain, the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement. For the Olympic Games the flame is lit by the sun’s rays at a ceremony held in the Temple of Hera at Olympia, Greece, in tribute to the Ancient Olympic Games.

From each lighting place the torchbearers will carry the respective flames through France to the Opening Ceremonies of each Games, where the cauldron is lit, and the Games declared open. 

The Paralympic and Olympic torches and cauldrons are mythical objects of the modern Games. They symbolise the spirit of an edition of the Games through their design, which is usually linked to the culture and characteristics of the host country.

Unveiling in 2023

Members of the public will be able to see the torches during the Paralympic and Olympic torch relays, with the detailed routes being revealed in spring 2023. The torch design will be unveiled by the end of the year.