Mathieu Lehanneur's designs have played a starring role at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In this interview, the French designer explains why his "flying" Olympic cauldron may become a permanent Parisian landmark.
Lehanneur, who is known for his playful and often thought-provoking product designs, began work on the cauldron and the Olympic torch in early 2023 and says he was given free reign over the designs.
Mathieu Lehanneur designed a floating cauldron for this year's Olympics
"It was a kind of carte blanche," he told Dezeen.
"For the torch, we received constraints in terms of size ? big enough to be visible from the public, high enough to not burn the hairs of the relay runners, and on top of the list was the constraint that the flame cannot be extinguished; it has to always be visible whatever the weather conditions." Designs were informed by waterĀ 
The torches and the relay cauldrons lit along the route from Greece, also designed by Lehanneur, have a rippled design informed by the River Seine, which runs through Paris and saw athletes arrive on boats during the opening ceremony.
"I wanted to express the context and took inspiration from Paris itself," Lehanneur explained.
"Instead of being inspired by the historical monuments or the Eiffel Tower, the super well-known postcard monuments, I took inspiration from the river ? because La Seine is the stage for the opening ceremony, but also because in a larger sense, the water i...