PRESS INFORMATION

Lexus constantly strives to deliver unexpected and highly satisfying experiences that surpass customer expectations. The “Amazing in Motion” concept inherits this brand essence.

We are proudly hosting LEXUS DESIGN AMAZING at Milan Design Week 2014 to communicate this ethos in a visible and tangible form. Full of unexpected and exhilarating encounters, the event allows visitors to experience our forward- thinking approach to design.

Visitors to LEXUS DESIGN AMAZING 2014 MILAN experience an exhibition of three new works created by world- renowned designers in response to the Amazing in Motion theme.

The venue also showcases the twelve winning works from the second Lexus Design Award, an international competition that aspires to nurture and support a new generation of designers from around the world.

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INTRODUCTION

Title LEXUS DESIGN AMAZING 2014 MILAN

Date April 9th (Wed) – April 13th (Sun)

Press Preview: April 8th (Tue) 13:00 – 17:00

Venue Circolo Filologico Milanese

(Via Clerici, 10, 20121 Milano, Italy)

Organizer Lexus International

* The award ceremony takes place on Tuesday April 8th at 7:00pm.

LEXUS DESIGN AMAZING2014 MILAN Amazing in Motion exhibit

Lexus commissioned three designers renowned for their unique perspectives to each create a work in response to the exhibition’s

theme of “Amazing in Motion”.

The Second Lexus Design Award exhibit

This display showcases the twelve winning designs from the second Lexus Design Award. Two of the winners present finished prototypes of their designs prepared in collaboration with creative professionals who served as mentors. This year’s mentors are Taiwanese architect/engineer Arthur Huang and American game designer Robin Hunicke.

EVENTOVERVIEW

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THEMEAmazing in Motion

THE DESIGNERS AND THEIR WORKS

Fabio Novembre (Italy)“We Dance” represents the dawn of life and draws a direct connection to the cosmic motion of planets and galaxies.

Nao Tamura (Japan) “Interconnection” relies on natural motion as it explores mankind’s interdependent relationship with nature.

Tangible Media Group led by Prof. Hiroshi Ishii from MIT Media Lab. (U.S.A.)“TRANSFORM” represents the fusion between technology and design that aims to inspire viewers with its transformation from still furniture to dynamic machine.

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AMAZING INMOTION EXHIBIT

FABIO NOVEMBRE

“We Dance” represents Fabio Novembre’s response to the Amazing in Motion theme.

“Any motion can be amazing; it depends on the memories it evokes. Any action can be a dance; it depends on the harmony you put into it. Life itself is a dance. Everything from infinitesimally small atomic structures to the cosmic motion of planets and galaxies seem to constitute a harmonic dance. You add light and sound and here it is, a small representation of the whole: ‘We Dance’.

Individual elements orbit around the mirrored sphere in the centre, directing beams of light toward the centre. The overall effect gives birth to a harmony and unity between the orbiting elements, the illumination, and the music. Viewers also become an integral part of this harmony as the light reflected from the sphere and sound reach out to them, and as they view their own reflection in the face of the mirrored sphere.”

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FABIO NOVEMBREhttp://www.novembre.it

Fabio Novembre was born in Lecce in 1966 and graduated in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano in 1992. After studying filmmaking at New York University in 1993, he proceeded to open his own studio in 1994. His work has been published all over the world for its visionary approach, much of which has been with leading Italian Design brands.

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“Interconnection”There are forces in nature that are beyond the control of mankind. We have learned how fragile we are in the face of such forces.However, we have also learned the importance of accepting nature and learning to live in harmony with it. Interconnected and interdependent, there is a constant give-and-take in nature. Life does not rest. Our collective motion, nature’s response to our movements is essential to our planet’s delicate balance. When we are one with nature, we are at our most powerful.Our movement together gives us life.Our movement forward creates the next generation of ideas.

Life is always more amazing in motion.

The piece hangs from the ceiling on threads, with individual elements creating three-dimensional depth. The individual elements move in response to the natural fow of air as visitors move through the space. Light and shadow shift constantly as the elements move. Credit: Design engineer: Takeshi Miyakawa Sound design: Aya Nishina

NAO TAMURA7

NAO TAMURAhttp://naotamura.com

Nao Tamura studied communication design at Parsons School of Design in New York. She later founded her studio in Tokyo and is currently based in New York City. As a product of the Tokyo and New York City creative communities, her solutions are equally at ease in the world of 2-D and 3-D with an uncanny ability to find that emotional connection with the audience. Nao defies the kind of categorization that the industry status-quo often insists upon. Her unique solutions are more than simply design and possess a rare balance of innovation and beauty.

Nao Tamura has received a number of prestigious awards, including: the IF Product Design Award, Red Dot Award, Industrial Design Excellence Award (Gold), and Milano Salone Satellite Award (1st prize).

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TANGIBLE MEDIA GROUP LED BY PROF. HIROSHI ISHII FROM MIT MEDIA LAB.

“TRANSFORM” echoes the theme of “Amazing in Motion” by fusing technology and design to celebrate its transformation from a piece of still furniture to a dynamic machine driven by the stream of data and energy. Created by Professor Hiroshi Ishii and the Tangible Media Group from the MIT Media Lab, TRANSFORM aims to inspire viewers with unexpected transformations, as well as the aesthetics of the complex machine in motion.

The work is comprised of three dynamic shape displays that move more than one thousand pins up and down in real time to transform the tabletop into a dynamic tangible display. The kinetic energy of the viewers, captured by a sensor, drives the wave motion represented by the dynamic pins.

The motion design is inspired by the dynamic interactions among wind, water and sand in nature, Escher’s representations of perpetual motion, and the attributes of sand castles built at the seashore. TRANSFORM tells the story of the conflict between nature and machine, and its reconciliation, through the ever-changing tabletop landscape.

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TANGIBLE MEDIA GROUP LED BY PROF. HIROSHI ISHII from MIT Media Lab.http://tangible.media.mit.edu/

Hiroshi Ishii is a Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, at the MIT Media Lab. He directs Tangible Media Group and co-directs Things That Think (TTT) consortium. Hiroshi Ishii’s research focuses upon the design of seamless interfaces between humans, digital information, and the physical environment. At the MIT Media Lab, he founded the Tangible Media Group in fall 1995 pursuing a new vision of Human Computer Interaction (HCI): “Tangible Bits” through physical embodiment digital information. In 2012, he presented the new vision “Radical Atoms” to take a leap beyond “Tangible Bits” by assuming a hypothetical generation of materials that can change form and appearance dynamically, becoming as reconfigurable as pixels on a screen. http://tangible.media.mit.edu/vision/

The MIT Media Lab actively promotes a unique, antidisciplinary culture, going beyond known boundaries and disciplines to encourage the most unconventional mixing and matching of seemingly disparate research areas. It creates disruptive technologies that happen at the edges, pioneering such areas as wearable computing, tangible interfaces, and affective computing. Today, faculty members, research staff, and students at the Lab work in approximately 30 research groups on more than 350 projects that range from neuro-biology, bio-mechatronics, computational photography, to electric car.

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Judging criteria:

• Designs that display a deep understanding and original interpretation of Lexus design

• Originality of the entrant’s approach and solution in response to the theme

LEXUS DESIGN AWARD

Targeted to attract the world’s next generation of creators, the Lexus Design Award (LDA) is an international competition established to promote design. Following the great response to last year’s inaugural staging of the competition, this year’s second LDA drew 1,157 entries from 72 countries during the submission period of August 1 to October 15, 2013. After careful consideration, the panel of six judges selected the twelve winning designs in January 2014.

L E XU SD E S I G N AWA R D2 0 1 4

The two prototypes and ten other winning works are on display at LEXUS DESIGN AMAZING 2014 MILAN.

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A W A R D T H E M E

C U R I O S I T Y

Paola AntonelliCurator

JUDGES

MENTORS

Birgit Lohmann Chief editor of designboom

Alice RawsthornDesign commentator

Arthur HuangArchitect/Engineer

Aric ChenCurator

Toyo ItoArchitect

Tokuo Fukuichi Lexus International

Robin HunickeGame designerJUDGES

& MENTORS

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Country Germany

Mentor Robin Hunicke

The glass lamp Iris is made of a handblown crystal

sphere, shimmering in different colours from every

angle. An inspiring luminary piece.

Country UK

Mentor Arthur Huang This den building kit is a collection of simple

components; which serve a purpose to help the user

engage in systematic creativity by constructing ideas

using the environment.

IrisDesigned by

Sebastian Scherer

PROTOTYPES

MacianDesigned by James Fox

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WINNING WORKS

Country Vietnam

E-Wheel offers new cutting edge design of the pedal

electric cycle (pedelec), offering the rider new experiments

when they pedal. E-Wheel can be integrated into

conventional or folding bicycles; and also uses wireless

technology for remote control and battery charge.

E-WheelDesigned by

Phuoc Nguyen

Country USA

Dicecover is a sensor-based dice board designed

to excite our innate curiosity, stimulate our playful

nature, and invite us to discover more about our

multidimensional planet.

DICECOVERDesigned by Mansour Ourasanah

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Country China

Moveable, dissociated, comprehensive, lavish is the

essence of curiosity. This game of space is four-

dimensional, also an inclusive and ambiguous time-

participating process.

Country Italy

Flynote is a revolutionary record-player between

past and future. It uses new technologies to reproduce

the best sound quality ever like only vinyl can do.

Game of Space Designed by Group IAO

-architecture

Nan Lei

Xinyi Wang

PANELS

Flynote Designed by Group alDith

Aldo De Carlo

Judith Ccasa Caceres

(Peru)

WINNING WORKS

Country Israel

The library allows lightness and movement within it.

Placing or picking a book creates a gentle swaying

of the construction, and a playful interaction between

person and object.

CraneDesigned by Group Magenta

Ronen Bavly

Ornit Arnon

Sky Lighthouse. Designed by Yoshiki Matsuyama

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Country Spain

“Ooho!” encapsulates water within a double gelatinous

membrane using the culinary technique of spherification.

It creates a new alternative packaging, which is simple,

cheap, resistant, hygienic, biodegradable and even edible.

Country India

A radical design to redefine the perception of time.

The concept brings together time-telling devices from

different eras and grows into a playful yet potent design.

Country UK

An interactive screen of rotating wooden cubes that

simplifies the surrounding environment forming a

pixelated moving image, provoking intrigue and

curiosity in the viewer.

Country Japan The blue colour of the sky, the red colour of sunset,

and the beautiful gradient of colour in between. Colours

of this lighting object are representative of “natural

phenomena”.

Ooho! Designed by

Group Skipping Rocks Lab Rodrigo García González Pierre Pasalier (France)Guillaume Couche

(France)

PIXIMOT Designed by Group MAMIKIM & Co. Mami KimJoe Hardy

PANELS

PAUSE Designed by Group Stuti & Rajeev

Stuti Mazumdar

Rajeev Dave

WINNING WORKS

Country Taiwan JoyCarpet is an interactive carpet that helps babies

develop their potential. It takes use of flashing light as

attraction and sound as reward to make babies love to

crawl more.

JoyCarpet Designed by Meng-Ling Yang

FIND OUT MORE AThttp://www.lexus-int.com/aim/

AMAZING IN MOTION 16

The Lexus vision is to pursue more modern and progressive values for luxury than those of conventional luxury automakers. Lexus is striving to create a more rewarding experience with the car as well as through such technological advancements as “LEXUS HYBRID DRIVE™” in its efforts to solve numerous issues that have surfaced in the modern world.

Lexus believes in creating products and delivering services that will make a better life and future for all of us.

European Newsroomhttp://newsroom.lexus.eu

Global websitehttp://www.lexus-int.com

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