During these days on the stage of Maison&Objet, French designer Mathieu Lehanneur is enchanting viewers with his poetic design and exceptional approach, ranging through a wide variety of contaminations and influences (science, first of all but not exclusively). It is enough to observe any one of his creations – artistic, but also shaped by remarkable craftsmanship – to remain spellbound. Which is not by chance: in his philosophy, design should create relationships and interactions, becoming a part of those who experience it.
With this in mind, he has founded a multidisciplinary studio working in various sectors (from technology to furniture, lighting to nautical and interior design, as well as cultural projects), reflecting his eclectic personality in terms of styles and viewpoints.
You will be one of the protagonists of Maison&Objet Talks: what’s the focus of your conference?
The talk will mainly focus on the outdoor projects. Outdoor has to be considered in a wide vision : it could be projects and pieces for outdoor but also inspired by the outdoor life…
You’ll also show the “Suite No. 4” project realized with Renault: could you explain us the concept behind it?
To mark the 60th anniversary of the famous 4L, Renault asked me to give it a free interpretation. The 4L is a myth, and it was an invitation that I couldn’t refuse. I didn’t want to just pay homage to its immense success and its impressive age, but also to show that it has never been so contemporary! I’ve always loved working on monuments in this way; I love playing with their history and reactivating them through our contemporary preoccupations and sensibilities. I wanted to create a room with a view but whose view could be endlessly recreated… Like the missing link between mobility and immobility, between travel and refuge; I wanted to make the experience as enjoyable on the road as at the destination. So I created a hybrid of the automobile world and the world of architecture in praise of the escape. Suite Number 4 isn’t a car, it’s travel architecture.
You have a long-standing relationship with M&O, since 2010 with the nomination of “Designer of the Year”: how do you think the exhibition has changed over the years?
M&O has continuosly reinvented itself to open its vision. Year after year it turns into a more and more inspirational and welcoming place. It is not only a trade show with endless alley with booth next to booth, it becomes a platform of creation. Basically, M&O is not a place to show, sell and buy anymore, but an open field to meet and create.
In general, what do you think is the role of trade shows today?
The contemporary digital world is a permanent trade show, on a daily basis. So, the physical trade shows have to offer something more. They have to offer an experience that can be lived only physically. It is just like a dinner you would host at home: you have to offer more than food, you have to deliver a moment that worths to be lived. Above all, when your guests come from the entire world!
And of a designer?
A designer aims to be the missing link between what we really need and what we want to be. So, the questions and debates about functionality, rationality and aesthetic belong to the previous century. Nowadays, we need both silence and music, we need both functionality and spirituality, we need both basic stuff and exceptional pieces. It’s an important role actually.
Talking about you: what are your latest projects? What are you working on?
We are working on an exhibition at Triennale Milano in June… I am looking forward to seeing you there…
Your products are halfway between art and design, and organic shapes seem to prevail. What do you aim to transmit? And what is the inspiration?
It is a question of inspiration but of relation I want to create. First, I want my pieces to be touched as the primal step of experience, like a kid would do, instinctively. Then, I aim to create a magnetic attraction around them to make people interact with them culturally, physically, aesthetically. At last, I want them to be transmit, as a part of you that will keep existing while you won’t.
A great attention is given to materials and their processing, isn’t it? Any preferences?
Absolutely. Every material, even in its raw state, talks a much about our human history and Earth history in a larger scale. Some stones we are working with are about 350 millions years… In that sense, they are not only selected according colors or finishes but in order to make people in contact with something definitively bigger than us.
In the same way, we experiment some very ancient processes and brand new ones. I love them all, and I keep learning everyday. Processes express the permanent quest of human beings to adapt their surrounding to their needs. My team and I collaborate with lonely artisans and technological laboratories at the same time. There is no hierarchy between them, it is only a challenge of selecting the right material and process to provide the best experience and interaction between a living person and an object.
How much space you reserved for technology in your design? (I’m also thinking about the State of the World collection)
I include technology in my works as a material or as a tool. On some projects we are experimenting datas and complex technologies but I do my best to hide it. I don’t want to make tribute of technology. It has to remain a mystery as a magic trick. For 50 Seas projects, we have commisioned satellites high resolutions photos of seas and oceans worldwide. We received 50 shades of blue, green or grey. Every single one is unique according its position on earth. The challenge have consisted to use those colors on enameiled ceramic wall pieces. It is an inventory of the liquid state on Earth. In such project, technology is key but invisible, only includes in pieces as an hidden soul.
In the same way, the project Tomorrow is Another Day reserves space for technology but offer at the end a meditative and spiritual experience. Originally intended for the Palliative Care Unit of the Diaconesses / Croix-Saint-Simon Hospital Group, this device eludes the course of time by offering everyone the opportunity to see tomorrow’s sky. Conceived from weather information gathered in real time on the Internet, the luminous – atmospheric and impressionist – image of this sky is diffused through the network of a honeycomb structure, appearing both like a sculpture and a celestial globe.
You recently opened a new space in New York: can you tell us about the genesis of this project and its perspective?
This space is a place where my guests and clients can enjoy my art and furniture pieces in their real context: a home. It is not a gallery, it is not a showroom, it is a large penthouse where we can take time to meet and talk. The best position to enjoy a couch is not to see it in a booth or a store but chilling on it ! Every single piece we make takes months, sometimes years. They are even conceived to live longer than us, so I wanted to take time also to introduce them to the clients and collectors who come.
