LEXUS “BEST ENTERTAINING” Award at 2015 MILAN DESIGN WEEK

21 April 2015

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]exus has won the “Best Entertaining” award at the Milano Design Award Competition for its “Lexus – A Journey of the Senses” exhibit at Milan Design Week, the world’s largest design event. Lexus is the first automaker to win this award.

Now in its 5th year, the Milano Design Award, organized by cultural association Elita, is the only official award dedicated to the best installations of Milan Design Week. The Milano Design Award recognizes the best overall exhibits as well as individual winners in five categories (Entertaining, Tech, Sound, Impact, E-commerce). The winners are chosen among all exhibitors present at the Milan Design Week in the various districts throughout the city.

The “Best Entertaining” award highlights the project that best “succeeds in involving the audience in a particular dimension of recreational and/or cultural entertainment”.

“Lexus – A Journey of the Senses” offered visitors a wide-ranging and exciting sensory experience, underlining Lexus as a brand placing great emphasis on human senses throughout its design processes. The exhibit consisted of 3 distinct zones: a sound and light installation featuring a special execution of the latest Lexus concept car, the LF-SA, a room dedicated to the finalists and winner of the Lexus Design Award competition, and a succession of three cocoons constructed of an intricate wooden lattice work, titled “Rain” “Wood” and “Earth”.

The exhibit was designed by two internationally acclaimed artists: space designer Philippe Nigro and chef Hajime Yoneda, who added a tasting experience to the sensory journey. The fruit of this collaborative approach from very different artists created a truly unique experience that left a deep impression on many visitors.

The exhibit ran from April 14 to 19 at La Torneria, Via Tortona 32, Milan, and attracted 50,000 visitors over 6 days.

Enjoy the two-minute interactive, virtual walkthrough video of the exhibit from the Lexus International website

DESIGNERS’ PROFILES

Philippe Nigro – Space Designer

Philippe Nigro, was born and educated in France and divides his time between his homeland and Italy. Nigro’s works are characterized by a mixture of prospective research and a pragmatic appreciation of the manufacturers with whom he works. This knowledge allows him to navigate among projects of different designs and scales. Some objects he designed are in museum collections including his “Twin-Chairs” and “T.U. table” at Centre Pompidou. He also collaborates with a number of prestigious international brands. In 2014, Nigro was named Designer of the Year by Maison & Objet in Paris, and was commissioned to create the scenography for the 7th edition of the Triennale Design Museum in Milan.

Hajime Yoneda – Food Designer

A former computer engineer who has become one of the world’s most talked-about chefs, Hajime Yoneda has earned the admiration of the restaurant industry for his extraordinary skill, innovative thinking, uncompromising insistence on perfection, and the vast scope of culinary vision. His restaurant was awarded three Michelin stars in 2009, only a year and five months after opening, an honour no other establishment in the world has earned so quickly. It is also ranked in the Foodie Top 100 Restaurants and Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. In January 2015 Yoneda was listed among the 100 Best Chef’s of the World by the French magazine Le Chef.

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