LVMH’s French jeweler Chaumet designs and unveils the official medals for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The announcement followed the reveal of the games’ official torch designed by Mathieu Lehanneur which resembles a steel bat mimicking the rippling water in the Seine River. This time, Chaumet crafts the medal designs like a piece of jewelry. Each medal is forged using the original iron from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the first time in the history of medal-making for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Chaumet ties the links between heritage, sports, and jewelry-making, finding the creation of the medals inspired by three themes: hexagon, radiance, and setting. The Paris 2024 committee says that the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the biggest event ever organized in France. The Olympic Games will take place from July 26th to August 11th, while the Paralympic Games will occur from August 28th to September 8th in Paris. Metal Coaster
images courtesy of Paris 2024 (unless stated) | photo © Thomas Deschamps
Flipping the Paris 2024 medals, LVMH’s Chaumet cuts the original iron of the Eiffel Tower into a hexagon and embeds the forged metal in the back of the award. Its geometric shape pays homage to the arches and slopes of the tower too, a recollection that the Olympic and Paralympic Games this year are staged in the French capital. Chaumet strips the iron of its Eiffel Tower brown paint to reveal its original color. In this way, the iron has been restored to its innate shade. The LVMH jeweler then places the hexagonal iron emblem in the center of the medal and engraves the insignia of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in the middle of it. All of the medals – gold, silver, and bronze – include these design elements, giving them a two-tone side and a complementary shade between the iron and the material.
LVMH’s Chaumet designs the medals for Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games | photo © Thomas Deschamps
Surrounding Chaumet’s medal design for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are embossed lines that resemble the sun rays. These are the radiance influences that LVMH’s jeweler regarded too. They are created by pressing the metal to let the material bend and protrude, giving the medals a 3D look. These lines aren’t engraved like carving into wood but are impressed into the metal. Chaumet’s idea for this design is to symbolize the brightness or radiance of France during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as if the rays were capturing the energy of the event. At the same time, these lines represent the vigor of the athletes, a reminder of their performances.
front view of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games medals designed by LVMH’s Chaumet
Aside from the pieces of the Eiffel Tower iron, the medals of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games have claws that lock the emblem in place, a traditional design approach by the House of Chaumet for its high jewelry creations. Six metal appendages are stamped on the surface and placed at the six corners of the hexagon to enclose the piece of iron against the medal. These claws are shaped like the Clous de Paris or the famous rivets on the Eiffel Tower. The athletes can see them as they scrutinize the medals, and these claws are made possible thanks to the concave shape of the iron too.
rear view of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games medals designed by LVMH’s Chaumet
Bridging the similar themes between the Olympic and Paralympic Games became a goal for LVMH and Chaumet, yet introducing distinctive design elements all the while paying homage to Paris and the individual events whose visuals come up too. The rear of the medals is the same for all with the iron-forged emblem, but the front view tells a different story. For the Olympic Games medals, LVMH’s Chaumet revives the traditional Games in Greece back in the day. Looking at the medals, spikes form around the Paris 2024 Olympic Games medals, and the goddess of victory, Nike, is depicted in the middle of the award, a traditional figure on the medals since 2004.
front view of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games medals designed by LVMH’s Chaumet
Nike is blazing and running, emerging from and seemingly leaving the Panathenaic Stadium behind her, where the Olympic Games were revived in 1896. LVMH’s Chaumet links a past-and-present bridge between the Olympic Games in Paris and Greece. In the background of the medals, the Acropolis rises on the left of Nike, above the Panathenaic Stadium. On the other side, stands the Eiffel Tower, mirroring its level and position. The design approach of LVMH and Chaumet makes way for the reminiscent Games of Ancient Greece, the French origins of the modern Olympic Games, and the upcoming Paris 2024, all depicted and represented in the new Olympic Games medals.
rear view of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games medals designed by LVMH’s Chaumet
For the Paralympic Games 2024 medals, LVMH and Chaumet chose the Eiffel Tower as the forefront image of the awards. It pictures the view from below the tower as if the athletes are looking up at the famous architecture. The choice by Chaumet and the Paris 2024 committee allows for a graphic representation of a low-angle view under the Eiffel Tower that invites the athletes to see or discover the Dame de fer from an unusual or little-represented angle. On the sides of the Paralympic Games medals, the inscription Paris 2024 is written in universal Braille, a script symbolizing accessibility and a reference to its French inventor Louis Braille. The official logo of the Paralympic Games 2024 is pressed in the middle of the medals, right between the view from below of the Eiffel Tower.
LVMH’s Chaumet uses the original iron of the Eiffel Tower for its medal designs
Greek goddess Nike on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games medals by LVMH’s Chaumet | photo © Thomas Deschamps
the sunrays or lines are pressed instead of engraved | photo © Thomas Deschamps
LVMH’s Chaumet crafts the medals like a piece of jewelry
name: Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games medals
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