February 3, 2014
Toyota Corp.'s Lexus narrowed down a submission pool of 1,157 candidates to 12 winners for its 2014 Design Award.
The international competition garnered submissions from all over the world, with winners hailing from Germany, Italy, Israel, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and other countries. As a brand that touts itself as an idea innovator, the competition's global outcome bolsters Lexus' credibility.
"Great design is an international language and doesn’t need any translation," said Nancy Hubbell, prestige communications manager at Lexus, Torrance, CA. "At Lexus we want to inspire people to find their inner designer and share ideas.
"The mentors will help the designers create displays at Milan Design Week where they will be showcased with other well-known designers," she said.
"It’s the mix and migration of designs and their creators that spark fresh ideas."
Curiosity
The theme for this year's Design Award was curiosity. The 12 winners have created a design prototype and, of these winners, two will be selected to realize their design with the help of a mentor.
All of the winning entries will be exhibited in the Lexus space at Milan Design Week in April.
A group from Israel comprising Ronen Bavly and Ornit Arnon designed a bookshelf that also functions as a balancing game.
“Crane”
Phuoc Nguyen of Vietnam designed an electric wheel for bicycles.
“E-Wheel”
Aldo De Carlo of Italy and Judith Ccasa Caceres of Peru teamed up to design a record player.
“Flynote”
Meng-Ling Yang of Taiwain designed an interactive rug that helps babies learn.
“JoyCarpet”
An interactive light that displays the colors of the sky was developed by Yoshiki Matsuyama of Japan.
“Sky Lighthouse”
Mamikim & Co. from Britain used rotating wooden cubes to create an interactive display.
Other winning designers come from Spain, India, the United States and France.
“Piximot”
Lexus is also showcasing the works of three designers Apr. 8-13 at Milan Design Week as part of its ongoing “Amazing in Motion” campaign.
The designers were tasked with conceiving a new and unexpected way of expressing the Amazing in Motion idea. Italian architect and designer Fabio Novembre, Japanese designer Nao Tamura and the Tangible Media Group led by Professor Hiroshi Ishii of the MIT Media Lab will have their work highlighted at the exhibition (see story).
More information on the awards can be found here.
The next generation
Luxury brands regularly support young talent.
For instance, precision cut-crystal maker Swarovski has hand-picked a number of fashion designers to show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York as part of its Swarovski Collective.
In addition to providing financial support to the designers, the brand will give them crystals to use in their designs. Swarovski is able to showcase its own creativity through this project, as well as show its good citizenship within the fashion industry (see story).
Also, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton introduced a new annual international design competition to uncover new talent and assist them in starting their fashion careers, proving the conglomerate’s influential position in the fashion industry.
The prize consists of a grant and a mentorship from an LVMH team for a year to develop the winner’s company. By creating this contest, LVMH is able to show on a global scale that it is foremost in discovering and nurturing creative minds, as well as point to the creativity of its own designers (see story).
Although consumer markets have distinct boundaries, ideas tend to transcend cities and countries.
"Lexus is sold in more than 90 countries, and we wanted the winners of the Lexus Design Award to reflect the global nature of our company," Ms. Hubbell said.
"Lexus recognizes that the seeds of design come from many facets of life and we want to encourage up-and-coming designers from all the corners of the world to share their vision," she said.
Final Take
Joe McCarthy, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York
Share your thoughts. Click here
