IN CONVERSATION WITH MATHIEU LEHANNEUR

Shattering the traditionalities of design, Mathieu Lehanneur, Maison&Objet's Designer of the Year 2024 wires a rulebook of his trusted ingredients of instincts, nature and technology refocusing his agenda to be functional but sentimental

- PRATISHTHA RANA

How do you define good design? "A good design project I is supposed to be explained to your mother over the phone. It is not a question of shapes, forms or finishes. It is a question of what you want to say and what you want to express." Where it begins. Where it ends. Mathieu Lehanneur questions the serendipitous versus the intended premise of life, rather differently. That is, what happens in between it all? An irrepressibly composed yet flamboyant sense of being surrounds the 49-year-old French designer, when we meet him for a long conversation, connected across continents, through our screen. With technology so palpably embedded in that moment, I can't help but draw parallels between his idea of design in entirety. Can technology be a bridge to emotional spirituality? Can an object mirror real-life experiences? How can scientific discoveries be an ally to human beings? And that's when the multihyphenate Mathieu reveals that a few years ago, an elderly Indian couple discovered Mathieu's Liquid Marble at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. As he was later informed by the staff, they spent nearly the whole day sitting by this vast, polished black marble object-depicting the surreal fluidity of the static sea. "I'm convinced that they were probably living the same experience as my young self sitting in front of the sea. For me, su