Paris 2024 has revealed the high-concept medals for the upcoming Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (following the already-revealed Paris 2024 torch design by Matthieu Lehanneur). 'It was a bit of a crazy idea,' says Mathieu Prigent, Paris 2024’s special project manager of the medal concept. 'We reflected upon the meaning we wanted to convey. How a classic element can be different, or revolutionary?' The resulting idea was to inject a bit of the Eiffel Tower, the symbol of Paris since its construction in 1889, into every single medal. To do this, the team approached the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel to obtain the ‘puddle’ iron that was removed from the body of the so-called ‘Iron Lady’ during several major renovations and has been secretly preserved.
Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic medals by Chaumet
Once this iconic material was sourced, Chaumet, the most historic jeweller in France (the first jewellery house that moved to Paris Place Vendôme in 1812), was invited to join the project to design the medals. The choice was natural, for the house’s important role in French history, its creativity and its savoir-faire. For the last 25 years, Chaumet has been part of the LVMH family, one of the Premium Partners of Paris 2024.
'For this special commission, we looked to our patrimony for inspiration. The research was based on two principal ideas. Firstly, to transform fragments of the Eiffel Tower into a hexagon and place it in the centre of the medal,' explains Clémentine Massonat, the head of design at Chaumet. Needless to say, the hexagon represents the shape of France while the Eiffel Tower iron is an old, storied and industrial metal. 'Secondly, to surround the hexagon with faceting, like sunbeams – to put athletes in the ray of light and make France shine at the same time,' adds Massonat.
Thibault Billoir, Chaumet’s head of archives, cites the nickname of Paris, ‘city of light’. He also referenced the Olympic Games in Paris of 1924, during the art deco period, at a time when the sunbeam was a popular stylistic motif. According to Billoir, the solar motif appears on many pieces in the house’s archives, notably on head jewellery such as Chaumet tiaras and aigrettes. (They are both iconic creations of the house). 'A tiara lights up the wearer. So does a medal.'
Billoir describes the graphic effect of a tiara design that caught his attention in the archives: 'The successive lines that vary in size, shape and thickness, create a rhythm and reflect the vibrant light.' A second inspiration was found in a bracelet project from 1950s or 1960s, with a hexagon-cut emerald placed within a circular motif. Billoir continues: 'Its sunbeam radiance is extremely dynamic, giving the impression that everything originates from the hexagon.' The iron geometric piece was then encrusted in the medal by a Chaumet’s highly skilled craftsman using a ‘claw-setting’, as if it were a gem.
Turning the Olympic Games Paris 2024 medal over reveals that the Eiffel Tower has been added to the Parthenon in the background, and that in the foreground Nike of Samothrace, the goddess of victory, is featured in line with the Olympic Committee’s specifications. For its counterpart of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 medals, Massonat explored the Iron Lady from a different angle. 'The bottom view of the tower is quite graphic and recognisable,' she muses. Within the arched square, lines of small geometric motifs give an optical effect of infinity, suggesting the top of the 300m tower. 'I wanted to bring life to a static object,' says Massonat.
Each medal, gold, silver and bronze, of 85mm in diameter and 9.2mm in thickness, weighs around 500 grams, including 18 grams of iron. After several months of intensive dialogue between Massonat and Benoît Verhulle, the head of Chaumet’s workshop, the design of the medals was perfected and its resin finished. Now, the Monnaie de Paris is manufacturing the 5,000-plus medals. The entire team of Paris 2024 and the house of Chaumet are looking forward to seeing the medals shimmer in the sunlight around the necks of the winners, with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop.
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will take place from 26 July through 11 August, followed by the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 from 28 August through 8 September
