The Parisian visionary (and Huawei chief designer) takes MR PORTER around his top local spots .

As a young man, Mr Mathieu Lehanneur had no particular ambition to be a designer – in fact, his first creative urge was towards fine art. He studied this most Parisian of disciplines at university for six or seven months before he decided he’d had enough. “I was concerned that in the world of art it would be a bit difficult to be really engaged in real life,” he says. “I decided to move on.”

Cue a fortuitous change of course (to industrial design), and the beginning of an astoundingly wide-ranging career that has seen him work on everything from glassware (for Veuve Clicquot) to portable audio (for Lexon) to interiors and large-scale installations for the likes of Louis Vuitton and Audemars Piguet.

Today, the 41-year-old’s work is characterised by its diversity (at the moment, he’s simultaneously working on an inflatable boat, a foldable electric bike and a new scheme helping to educate people about medicine), as well as its futuristic aesthetic, often inspired by the forms and principles of science.

This latter element is derived from Mr Lehanneur’s obsession not just with creating beautiful objects (though he does this too, through his ongoing relationship with art-design gallery Carpenters Workshop), but products that respond to our wants, needs and even biology. (A case in point: his 2007 design for Parisian restaurant Flood features a tank of green micro-algae, which photosynthesise to enrich the air with oxygen.)

“If I want to provide the right solution to a problem that someone could have in their everyday life or office, I need to understand the human being, their ways of working,” he says. “For me, science was a really interesting tool for me to understand who my final client would be.”

Speaking of clients, he added a rather impressive one to his books this year, having been announced as chief designer of Chinese tech titan Huawei in March. In this capacity, he is working as “something more like an art director”, advising on communications and retail stores, as well as the details of the products.

“It was very interesting for me to discover that even though I’d never been involved in a big technology company like Huawei before, they trust me, because I make projects that go from experimental and radical to interior design and other things,” he says. “They were looking for someone able to cover this wide range of projects, not just someone who would be absolutely dedicated to designing the buttons on a phone, but to have a global vision of what the brand could be.”

When not travelling, Mr Lehanneur spends his time in Paris with his wife and two children. Scroll down to discover where he goes, and what he wears, in a typical week.

The office

Mr Lehanneur’s office is where he spends most weekdays, arriving early at 7.30am, “because at that moment it’s quiet, without any meetings, without phone calls,” he says. “It’s a good moment to work.”

It’s also, evidently, a rather nice place to work, with its white walls, concrete floor and strictly minimal approach to decoration. “My office is on two different floors and I work on one of them,” says Mr Lehanneur. “There is absolutely nothing there. If you want to have ideas, you need a blank sheet of paper. The office is much the same.”

During his working hours, he carries this ethos over to his outfits, too – a fact demonstrated here by his teaming of grey wool trousers with a classic olive crew neck and black Derbies. “I like to keep my clothing at work as simple as the space is,” he says. “I don’t want distractions.”

Carpenters Workshop

Forward-looking gallery Carpenters Workshop, which represents a roster of talents – including Mr Lehanneur – who straddle the worlds of art and design, was first established in London but has had a space in Paris since 2011. (Another, in New York, is soon to follow.)

“It’s a very beautiful space because it’s quite cut off from the street,” says Mr Lehanneur. “You’ve got to go through two sets of doors to reach the gallery, so it’s quite impossible to know there’s an amazing space behind.”

Mr Lehanneur comes here not only for “every exhibition” but for meetings about such extra-curricular projects as his S.M.O.K.E. series of sculptural lamps and incredible Les Cordes ceiling light. He produces such pieces with creative carte blanche from the gallery on an ongoing basis, and in limited editions.

For this visit, he’s wearing a “more contemporary” version of a classic Breton top designed by fellow gallery lover Mr Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent.

Chez Georges

The received wisdom (in the UK at least) is that all Parisians are partial to a lengthy, three-odd hour lunch break with lots of booze and cigarettes. This (OK, rather old-fashioned) assumption is not, however, true of Mr Lehanneur who says he often works through lunch, both because he doesn’t need that much food and because he’s too busy.

However, if the stars align for a midweek lunch meeting, he’ll conduct it at Chez Georges, a traditional brasserie on the Rue du Mail, and order something with mushrooms in it (his favourite). “It’s quite friendly, quite beautiful and the food is tasty – it’s just an amazing place,” he says. “The only problem is that during fashion week it’s impossible to book a table.”

Here, to celebrate getting out of the office, he’s opted for a more easy-going choice of footwear in the form of a pair of Gucci loafers. “They’re very traditional and I really love them because it gives you the feeling of an Italian 1960s movie. You feel like you’re in Capri, or somewhere like that.”

Antiquités Damien Tison

In the course of an afternoon’s shopping, Mr Lehanneur often makes a point of stopping at Antiquités Damien Tison, on Rue Cherche du Midi in the sixth arrondissement.

Here, he appreciates the range of “vintage pieces, that might be from designers… some from unknown designers.” A key point in its favour is that the prices are relatively low, says Mr Lehanneur, which means that turnaround is high and there’s always something new to discover. He’s also on good terms with the proprietors.

“The two guys who own the shop are very young and friendly, so it’s a place that I sometimes just spend an hour in, talking to them,” he says. “Sometimes, they know the designer of the pieces, but sometimes, together, we try to discover where they came from.”

For such off-duty encounters, Mr Lehanneur is a fan of Parisian brand Officine Generale, designed and owned by his good friend Mr Pierre Mahéo. “I really love this brand,” he says. “I can go into the store and close my eyes and pick up anything, and immediately feel comfortable in it. They are the kind of pieces that, as soon as you wear them, you think you’ve been wearing them for a very long time.”

His apartment, Montparnasse

Paris’ Montparnasse district has an artsy heritage – it was in this left-bank neighbourhood that Messrs Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Jean Cocteau could be spotted hanging out and being wonderful in the early 20th century. But Mr Lehanneur lives here for the view rather than the kudos.

“I love this apartment because it’s a Haussmanian [ie, mid-19th century] building. So a Parisian cliché in a way. But it has a big window in the living room, from which you get an amazing view of the only skyscraper in Paris, the Montparnasse tower. I really like this contrast between the traditional vision of Paris in front of this retro idea of the future.”

His decorations, which include a vintage stuffed puma and a pair of astronaut’s gloves, follow suit, providing a pleasingly weird counterpoint to the parquet floors and wood-panelled walls.

Something of a homebody, Mr Lehanneur spends as much time here as he can – making sure to spend the minimum number of nights away from home as possible when travelling. “Sometimes, I’ll go to the opposite side of the earth without spending a night there,” he says. “I arrive in the morning and leave at night, so I’m not too disconnected from home. It’s a way to remain focused.”

For such downtime moments, he appreciates the versatile nature of these trousers from Berluti, which come with sweatpant cuffs, ”perfect to wear on the weekend to keep relaxed but remain chic,” he says.