20.09.23 in ambassadeurs
mathieu lehanneur
what nourishes you in your profession, the source of your inspiration?
it feeds essentially, even exclusively, on what we are as human beings, and in a fairly raw way. I am convinced that we have not evolved at all since we left our cave. I have two children, childhood is the raw state of being human. since they were born, I have always carefully observed how they interact with their environment, with what objects and it is not necessarily the toy you expect. our impulses are ultimately always the same: impulses for power, sex, transcendence, beliefs, nesting... what has evolved are the technological tools, the artifacts available. whatever the type of project, I therefore do not ask myself the question of the form or the technique at the start, but of the relationship of the human in its raw state and the context which surrounds it. the relationship between a human being and a thing will then modify the relationships between human beings with each other, this is what we must keep in mind.
Who are the people or projects that constitute references for you?
It's not the designers who feed me because what they produce is already digested food, deprived of its nutrients. I prefer people like Richard Buckminster Fuller, an American who has worked on architecture, design, mathematics, complex geometric structures... this kind of profile interests me because these people have not asked themselves the question of their field of expertise but of the time and the state of the world when they were part of it. this type of spirit reminds me of that of the Enlightenment which consists of looking at the world as it is and being a force of proposition there, whether in reaction, in adhesion or in opposition to this world. the only importance, the only question to ask is “what answer do I bring into this world?” », the restitution can then be written, theoretical, material...
what compliment touches you on your work as a designer?
what I have already heard and which is the greatest compliment I can receive is: “with this project, with this thing, I feel more alive”... because the most important emotion, it's good to realize that we are alive today in this world and that it is a miracle, that we had a tiny chance of being there... only things - because they are only things that we realize - can make us aware of this, this is the objective and the ultimate complement.
the city that inspires you or resembles you?
I feel quite good in Paris, it is a city which has found its balance between the sweetness of life and the energy necessary to be able to work there. I also think of Corsica to which I am deeply attached without knowing if I could live there. I see it as a small additional room in the apartment that constitutes a life. my father lived there during the war, I have been going there since I was little, it is an hour and a half away, the real sweetness of life without being outrageously exotic. I'm not someone who loves traveling because I don't like the time difference at all, so paradoxically the further away I go, the more I reduce my stay time even if it means staying only one day there when I go to Hong Kong. Kong for example. I am definitely like a Neanderthal, I never stray too long or too far from my cave.
it feeds essentially, even exclusively, on what we are as human beings, and in a fairly raw way. I am convinced that we have not evolved at all since we left our cave. I have two children, childhood is the raw state of being human. since they were born, I have always carefully observed how they interact with their environment, with what objects and it is not necessarily the toy you expect. our impulses are ultimately always the same: impulses for power, sex, transcendence, beliefs, nesting... what has evolved are the technological tools, the artifacts available. whatever the type of project, I therefore do not ask myself the question of the form or the technique at the start, but of the relationship of the human in its raw state and the context which surrounds it. the relationship between a human being and a thing will then modify the relationships between human beings with each other, this is what we must keep in mind.
Who are the people or projects that constitute references for you?
It's not the designers who feed me because what they produce is already digested food, deprived of its nutrients. I prefer people like Richard Buckminster Fuller, an American who has worked on architecture, design, mathematics, complex geometric structures... this kind of profile interests me because these people have not asked themselves the question of their field of expertise but of the time and the state of the world when they were part of it. this type of spirit reminds me of that of the Enlightenment which consists of looking at the world as it is and being a force of proposition there, whether in reaction, in adhesion or in opposition to this world. the only importance, the only question to ask is “what answer do I bring into this world?” », the restitution can then be written, theoretical, material...
what compliment touches you on your work as a designer?
what I have already heard and which is the greatest compliment I can receive is: “with this project, with this thing, I feel more alive”... because the most important emotion, it's good to realize that we are alive today in this world and that it is a miracle, that we had a tiny chance of being there... only things - because they are only things that we realize - can make us aware of this, this is the objective and the ultimate complement.
the city that inspires you or resembles you?
I feel quite good in Paris, it is a city which has found its balance between the sweetness of life and the energy necessary to be able to work there. I also think of Corsica to which I am deeply attached without knowing if I could live there. I see it as a small additional room in the apartment that constitutes a life. my father lived there during the war, I have been going there since I was little, it is an hour and a half away, the real sweetness of life without being outrageously exotic. I'm not someone who loves traveling because I don't like the time difference at all, so paradoxically the further away I go, the more I reduce my stay time even if it means staying only one day there when I go to Hong Kong. Kong for example. I am definitely like a Neanderthal, I never stray too long or too far from my cave.
“this type of spirit reminds me of that of the Enlightenment which consists of looking at the world as it is and being a force of proposition, whether in reaction, in adhesion or in opposition to this world. »
what is the art of living according to you?
my art of living is this constant - but never resolved - search to succeed in working where I live and living where I work. to find the balance without one and the other cannibalizing each other, it is never resolved and has to be constantly re-configured. work, life, family change but I am always attentive to this balance, we must be vigilant about the conditions we give ourselves to work and live. So I continue to think about the ideal solution. I like living with few things and working with few things too.
your favorite materials?
no favorite subject, apart from the brain. the projects take shape through an in-between, between us and them, the material is only a result of that. whether it is marble, plastic, metal, leather, I do not adhere to any hierarchy or scale of value in materials, they are only a means. we must look at them with the same distance and the same respect, as we should respect the most polished language and the most urban slang.
Do you have design projects that constitute references?
I think first of these urinals developed for public places, of the ingenuity developed to find a solution to the fact that men always put them everywhere - whether it is voluntary or not. These urinals have a small fly that you have to aim for, screen printed on the enamel. and instinctively, primarily, we cannot help but aim for it. it's a minimal and maximal response at the same time, really interested in how a man continues to view himself as a hunter and see his penis as a gun. it is a formidable efficiency between the Dadaist work of art and the resolutely functional object. I am also thinking of another Dadaist object, which revolutionized architecture: escalators. They are absolutely poetic, the fruit of an engineer or a poet, who managed to transform the most static object there is into a moving object. it is something impossible made possible and which has transformed the architecture of shopping centers.
your favorite shape?
the sphere. I never tried to analyze why. there is a form of permanence in it, due to its existence on a natural scale in the infinitely small (the cell) up to the infinitely large (the planet). she is the alpha and omega of our world and we find ourselves in the middle. there is a true spiritual density in the sphere, an obviousness. take a child and a sphere, it will always win among other toys. it invites you to touch it, to hold it, to tap it with your foot... it constantly calls us. a sphere is never a failure, whatever its material, it is always magical.
your biggest challenge achieved or to be achieved?
it will simply be my last day to tell myself I am happy with life as I have lived it, that it is really the one I wanted to live.
your ritual in your job?
it takes place before the blank page. I only take out the famous blank page once I know what I want to draw on it. the page only arrives when I know. I am wary of the hand, it has ease and virtuosity of form. If you leave it to the hand, she will scribble things because she likes them or knows how to draw them naturally. I only give my hand a pen when my brain can tell it exactly what it is going to do and that it will obey. we always come back to this raw material that is the brain, to its capacity to imagine and design to change in a fraction of a second the shape, the scale, the materials... the hand is only there to transcribe and fix the thought. so, when a project ends I must immediately remove all traces of it, the prototypes, the models etc... it must disappear so as not to influence what will take place next. whether to think, draw, write, you have to use virgin territory, so go back to the void to make room.
my art of living is this constant - but never resolved - search to succeed in working where I live and living where I work. to find the balance without one and the other cannibalizing each other, it is never resolved and has to be constantly re-configured. work, life, family change but I am always attentive to this balance, we must be vigilant about the conditions we give ourselves to work and live. So I continue to think about the ideal solution. I like living with few things and working with few things too.
your favorite materials?
no favorite subject, apart from the brain. the projects take shape through an in-between, between us and them, the material is only a result of that. whether it is marble, plastic, metal, leather, I do not adhere to any hierarchy or scale of value in materials, they are only a means. we must look at them with the same distance and the same respect, as we should respect the most polished language and the most urban slang.
Do you have design projects that constitute references?
I think first of these urinals developed for public places, of the ingenuity developed to find a solution to the fact that men always put them everywhere - whether it is voluntary or not. These urinals have a small fly that you have to aim for, screen printed on the enamel. and instinctively, primarily, we cannot help but aim for it. it's a minimal and maximal response at the same time, really interested in how a man continues to view himself as a hunter and see his penis as a gun. it is a formidable efficiency between the Dadaist work of art and the resolutely functional object. I am also thinking of another Dadaist object, which revolutionized architecture: escalators. They are absolutely poetic, the fruit of an engineer or a poet, who managed to transform the most static object there is into a moving object. it is something impossible made possible and which has transformed the architecture of shopping centers.
your favorite shape?
the sphere. I never tried to analyze why. there is a form of permanence in it, due to its existence on a natural scale in the infinitely small (the cell) up to the infinitely large (the planet). she is the alpha and omega of our world and we find ourselves in the middle. there is a true spiritual density in the sphere, an obviousness. take a child and a sphere, it will always win among other toys. it invites you to touch it, to hold it, to tap it with your foot... it constantly calls us. a sphere is never a failure, whatever its material, it is always magical.
your biggest challenge achieved or to be achieved?
it will simply be my last day to tell myself I am happy with life as I have lived it, that it is really the one I wanted to live.
your ritual in your job?
it takes place before the blank page. I only take out the famous blank page once I know what I want to draw on it. the page only arrives when I know. I am wary of the hand, it has ease and virtuosity of form. If you leave it to the hand, she will scribble things because she likes them or knows how to draw them naturally. I only give my hand a pen when my brain can tell it exactly what it is going to do and that it will obey. we always come back to this raw material that is the brain, to its capacity to imagine and design to change in a fraction of a second the shape, the scale, the materials... the hand is only there to transcribe and fix the thought. so, when a project ends I must immediately remove all traces of it, the prototypes, the models etc... it must disappear so as not to influence what will take place next. whether to think, draw, write, you have to use virgin territory, so go back to the void to make room.
" the sphere. I never tried to analyze why. there is a form of permanence in it, due to its existence on a natural scale in the infinitely small (the cell) up to the infinitely large (the planet). she is the alpha and omega of our world and we find ourselves in the middle. »
the type of design that annoys you?
predictability, because it comes from laziness. this hand story mentioned previously avoids predictability. when a person - singer, artist, politician - becomes predictable he becomes boring and no longer interests you. This is also true in our fields, what's more because the things we do survive us and must therefore be even less predictable.
If you weren't a designer, what job would you do?
I would undoubtedly have tried to create a profession that was between psychology and surgery, which could use their tools in a non-hierarchical way, without putting them at a higher level than each other.
a favorite place to usually find yourself?
I am most often found in my office, it is configured on two floors, the first with the team and the second in which I am alone. I alternate between sociability and the most absolute savagery, this allows me to manage these two states.
your favorite object? how much does he weigh ?
I would say my watch. an Audemars Piguet watch that was given to me. I didn't have a particular fascination with watches or accessories before. It's a fairly heavy object, which I remove in the evening or at security when I take a plane. in a few seconds, my wrist is missing this weight which creates an imbalance which I have integrated and which is no longer there. It’s a weight I couldn’t live without. when I put it on in the morning, it is cold and it takes a few minutes to bring it back to body temperature, there is this inertia of the material which will stabilize its temperature which I find quite beautiful. the relationship with temperature is interesting because our existence is based on this temperature which we maintain regardless of the external environment. the only time our temperature will adjust to this environment will be the day we die, when we will no longer be in reaction to maintain it. that's what I find beautiful in objects, the object dies and is brought back to life because you bring it back to your own vital temperature.
what has weight in your life?
where I would like a few grams to remain... I think about what I will leave. maybe not much because I'm not presumptuous about objects.
predictability, because it comes from laziness. this hand story mentioned previously avoids predictability. when a person - singer, artist, politician - becomes predictable he becomes boring and no longer interests you. This is also true in our fields, what's more because the things we do survive us and must therefore be even less predictable.
If you weren't a designer, what job would you do?
I would undoubtedly have tried to create a profession that was between psychology and surgery, which could use their tools in a non-hierarchical way, without putting them at a higher level than each other.
a favorite place to usually find yourself?
I am most often found in my office, it is configured on two floors, the first with the team and the second in which I am alone. I alternate between sociability and the most absolute savagery, this allows me to manage these two states.
your favorite object? how much does he weigh ?
I would say my watch. an Audemars Piguet watch that was given to me. I didn't have a particular fascination with watches or accessories before. It's a fairly heavy object, which I remove in the evening or at security when I take a plane. in a few seconds, my wrist is missing this weight which creates an imbalance which I have integrated and which is no longer there. It’s a weight I couldn’t live without. when I put it on in the morning, it is cold and it takes a few minutes to bring it back to body temperature, there is this inertia of the material which will stabilize its temperature which I find quite beautiful. the relationship with temperature is interesting because our existence is based on this temperature which we maintain regardless of the external environment. the only time our temperature will adjust to this environment will be the day we die, when we will no longer be in reaction to maintain it. that's what I find beautiful in objects, the object dies and is brought back to life because you bring it back to your own vital temperature.
what has weight in your life?
where I would like a few grams to remain... I think about what I will leave. maybe not much because I'm not presumptuous about objects.
I think more of my descendants. what has weight is what will survive me, this is what will maintain my temperature. I don't believe in a second life, nor in eternal life, I chose to bet everything on this one.
your object(s) on le gramme, what is/are they? how do you use the doors?
I have a 5g cable bracelet in 925 silver and a 21g ribbon bracelet in smooth polished 925 silver. the ribbon's shape allows me to put it on and take it off, each time experiencing this little temperature experience that I was talking about.
If le gramme were one thing then what would it be?
it would be a key without me knowing yet which door it is intended for. which has within it this potential to access something other than what it really is and which even in the state of an object is something that we like to see, have and touch. the key takes on this double reading of the thing which serves and which at the same time has an extra soul.
photographer: antoine harinthe
comments collected by chloé prigent
your object(s) on le gramme, what is/are they? how do you use the doors?
I have a 5g cable bracelet in 925 silver and a 21g ribbon bracelet in smooth polished 925 silver. the ribbon's shape allows me to put it on and take it off, each time experiencing this little temperature experience that I was talking about.
If le gramme were one thing then what would it be?
it would be a key without me knowing yet which door it is intended for. which has within it this potential to access something other than what it really is and which even in the state of an object is something that we like to see, have and touch. the key takes on this double reading of the thing which serves and which at the same time has an extra soul.
photographer: antoine harinthe
comments collected by chloé prigent
“this is what I find beautiful in objects, the object dies and is brought back to life because you bring it back to your own vital temperature. »
