Lexus Design Award 2018 reveals 12 finalists

Lexus International today revealed the 12 finalists for the prestigious Lexus Design Award 2018. Now in its sixth year, the international competition invites emerging designers to create work inspired by this year’s “CO-” concept. Taken from the Latin prefix, “CO-” means: with or in harmony with.

The theme considers how design can help find solutions and overcome worldwide barriers and challenges by bringing nature and society together harmoniously.

This year’s edition attracted an unprecedented level of interest, receiving more than 1,300 entries from 68 countries. Sir David Adjaye, one of the jury members, said:

“It was exciting to see how the next generation of designers is drawing inspiration from new concepts and philosophies, translating them into innovative solutions for today’s key concerns.” Following the achievements of previous finalists - including Sebastian Scherer’s 2014 “Iris”, winner of the German Design Award 2016, and Caravan’s 2015 “Sense-Wear”, which won the Wearable Technologies Competition at Venice Design Week in 2016 - this year’s 12 finalists were selected by a panel featuring leading figures such as architects David Adjaye and Shigeru Ban.

Lexus Design Award 2018 final four

Of the 12 finalists, four have earned the opportunity to develop their own prototype under the guidance of renowned mentors Lindsey Adelman, Jessica Walsh, Sou Fujimoto and Formafantasma. Portugal has secured a place in the “final four”. Brimet Fernandes da Silva and Ana Trindade Fonseca of DIGITALAB will represent Portugal with CO-Rks, a system that works with cork thread, a sustainable material that uses computing to create design products. Lindsey Adelman will mentor them during this final stage.

Joining the Portuguese duo among the four finalists are the following projects:

• Honest Egg, aesthetid {Paul Yong Rit Fui (Malaysia), Jaihar Jailani Bin Ismail (Malaysia)}:
  Mentor: Jessica Walsh. A combination of connection technology (smart ink pigment) and design (an indicator) to verify whether an egg is edible.
• Recycled Fibre Cultivator, Eriko Yokoi (Japan):
  Mentor: Sou Fujimoto. A co-fusion of textiles and green design intended to reuse worn clothing.
• Hypothetical Test Site, Extrapolation Factory {Christopher Woebken (Germany), Elliott P. Montgomery (USA)}:
  Mentor: Formafantasma. A collaboratively built imaginary test location for exploring speculative relationships between society, technology and the environment.

Lexus Design Event at Milan Design Week

The four prototypes, alongside the other eight finalist projects, will be displayed at the Lexus Design Event, an integral part of Milan Design Week*, in April. All 12 selected projects will be presented to the jury and international media.

Once the presentations have concluded, the overall winner will be selected. Further details of Lexus’s presence at Milan Design Week 2018 will be announced in mid-February on the official Lexus Design Event website.