LVMH unveils medals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024:
gold…silver…bronze…, and above all, Paris
Paris,
February 8, 2024
In the heart of 12, place Vendôme, the emblematic hôtel particulier that is home to the Chaumet jewelry workshop, LVMH presented the medals designed and crafted to reward winning athletes during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
As Creative Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, LVMH has called on several of its Maisons to apply their creative talent to showcase France’s unique savoir-faire during this global celebration of high-level sports. Parisian jeweler Chaumet, located at Place Vendôme since 1812, has drawn on its unparalleled experience in creating the design of the medals, the ultimate Olympic symbol.
The first jeweler in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to have the honor of designing these medals, Maison Chaumet embarked on the task with creativity and passion. Conceived by the Chaumet design studio, these medals illustrate the shared vocation of LVMH and the renowned Parisian jeweler: The Art of Crafting Dreams. Chaumet drew inspiration from its rich heritage, its powerfully evocative stylistic repertoire, as well as iconic symbols of France and Paris, resulting in a truly unique design that fuses tradition and modernity. With striking creativity and innovation, Chaumet has reinvented the most coveted of all awards for elite athletes. The medal design is both confident and bold, perfectly matched to the sporting feats of the athletes.
In close collaboration with the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, headed by Tony Estanguet, Chaumet creative teams proposed a side specific to Paris that pays tribute to France and the City of Light while echoing the creative codes of the Maison.
The hexagon, a visual emblem symbolizing France, is also a cherished figure for Chaumet. Reprised from the Maison’s style vocabulary, the eight -sided symbol which also represents France is amplified by a series of rays that evoke the radiance of the nation as it hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, as well as that of the athletes whose performances will thrill the world, along with the radiance of exceptional savoir-faire. This radiance is heightened by the faceting on the medals, designed to reflect light and evoke the French capital’s much-loved nickname, the City of Light. At the same time, it imparts a special brilliance to the athletes who will wear the medals around their necks. These rays engraved in the metal breathe dynamism and life into this exceptional object.
The materials chosen for the medals are highly symbolic as well. Made of gold, silver or bronze, these are above all medals from Paris. Paris 2024 and its Athletes Commission, headed by Martin Fourcade, felt that the medal-winning champions should have a little piece of France close to their heart. The center of each medal has thus been cut from an authentic piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower, preserved during the renovation of the monument.
Chaumet has innovated by crafting this center in a hexagon shape and setting it inside the medal with a technique known as “griffe setting”, which the Maison employs for the precious gemstones in its high jewelry pieces. This setting evokes the ‘Clous de Paris’ hobnail motif found in fine jewelry, as well as the pattern of rivets on the Eiffel Tower itself.
The other side, which is identical for all Games, illustrates the rebirth of the modern Olympic Games in Greece. Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, is depicted against the backdrop of the Acropolis leaving the Panathenaic Stadium, where the first Modern Olympics were held in 1896. For this edition of the Games, Paris 2024 wanted the Eiffel Tower to join the Acropolis. This side of the Olympic medal thus pays tribute to the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece, as well as the modern Games, which this year celebrate their return to the French capital a century after the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Sharing this desire to celebrate Paris on the Paralympics medals, the creative team was given carte blanche to design the obverse side. Chaumet chose to depict a view from the foot of the Eiffel Tower looking up, a perspective very familiar to both Parisians and visitors. The inscription ‘Paris 2024’ also figures on the medal and is engraved in universal braille, symbolizing accessibility, as well as a nod to the French inventor of the language, Louis Braille.
Crafted with exquisitely French savoir-faire, the red or blue ribbons reprise the elegant, tapered lines of the Eiffel Tower.
“This first ever Olympic medal created by a jeweler is emblematic of LVMH’s role as creative partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024. In a close creative dialogue between Paris 2024 and Chaumet, the artisans of the Maison delved into their archives and explored powerful symbols of Olympism to imagine a medal inspired by high jewelry creations. Building on its centuries of rich history, Chaumet is writing a new page that will remain engraved in the heritage of the Maison for eternity.” – Antoine Arnault, LVMH Image & Environment
“With this magnificent medal design, LVMH and its Maison Chaumet perfectly and concretely illustrate the raison d’être of their partnership with Paris 2024, truly expressing ‘The Art of Crafting Dreams’. More than a medal, this is a combination of the most coveted object of the Games and the most iconic symbol of Paris and France, the Eiffel Tower. Thanks to Chaumet, the medal for the Paris 2024 Games becomes a veritable objet d’art, a jewel that brings together the radiance of Paris and the crowning achievement of all those who will ascend the podiums during the Olympics and Paralympics.” – Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024
LVMH and its Maison Chaumet are proud to unveil the design of the medals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, a design that embodies the French savoir-faire of the Parisian jeweler and the creativity of its teams. Chaumet and LVMH wish the best of luck to all the athletes competing in this universal event eagerly awaited by the entire world.
