Duvet Souvenirs at Paris 2024
The athletes at Paris 2024 have a special souvenir to take home with them at the end of the Games: their reversible bedspread.
“They were made for Paris 2024 and the athletes will be able to take them with them at the end of the competition. It’s a gift, a little souvenir,” said Laurent Michaud, director of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Village.
The coverlets on the very much talked about Airweave cardboard beds are an extension of the Paris 2024 brand identity designed by Conran Design Group.
Conran chose bubblegum pink as the hero color in their “Games Wide Open” campaign. This pink is featured on every duvet, as well as in the wall art of the rooms and as the color of the recycled parachute poufs near the windows.
The Paris 2024 duvets feature a moonrise/sunrise set amongst a ridge line scene and a sky speckled with stars. It is reversible with cobalt blue on one side and forest green on the other. The Paris 2024 logo and emblem is across the bottom near the foot of the bed.
The Paris 2024 emblem combines three symbols in one, a gold medal, the Olympic flame, and the face of Marianne, a personification of the French Republic who stands for humanism, fraternity, generosity, and sharing. (This is the first year the Olympics and Paralympics share the same emblem.) Sharing, too, may be the inspiration in making this duvet a gift.
The idea to gift the duvet also came from the findings of the Manifesto of the Athletes’ Experience of the Olympic and Paralympic Village, a project by the Athletes’ Commission of Paris 2024. Over 53 athletes from 24 countries were interviewed about which values mattered most to them in the Olympic and Paralympic Village. Hospitality, comfort, friendliness, and societal values were key. But so was “something to remember” it by.
One athlete recalls, “As a way to remember the Games back in 2004, we were given disposable cameras, it was awesome! I just had the film developed; it was a great moment.” The branded duvets are a memento for the Games this year.
The Paris 2024 Olympic medals also include a unique souvenir quality. The gold, silver, and bronze medals, designed by legendary Parisian jeweler Chaumet, each contain a literal part of the City of Lights: a piece from the Eiffel Tower itself.
The iron is authentic and came from when the Eiffel Tower was undergoing restoration. These pieces are at the center of each medal, another way athletes can “keep a little piece of France” and carry the memory of this special time and place.
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