LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2018 GRAND PRIX WINNER ANNOUNCED AT AMAZING ‘LIMITLESS CO-EXISTENCE’ EXHIBITION IN MILAN

Lexus International has announced the Grand Prix winner of the Lexus Design Award 2018 – Testing Hypotheticals by Extrapolation Factory (Christopher Woebken, Elliott P. Montgomery) – leading this prestigious international event to a pinnacle of excitement. Lexus Design Award 2018 drew a record 1319 entries from 68 countries under the theme of “CO-“.

Lexus passionately believes in the power of design to change the world. This is why Lexus nurtures and celebrates up-and-coming designers who harness the power to shift perspectives, communicate ideas and stimulate the imagination to shape a better future.

“This year’s winner permeates the current thinking about the role of design in our evolving and technologically shifting societies. Products played less of a role, and design education/teaching and thinking are at the forefront. How citizens and designers interact with products, processes and future is increasingly critical to mediating this influence of design in our increasingly future-orientated and technologically evolving world. The chosen design shows methods and techniques for engaging the public and designers in role playing possible futures and negotiating the influences of our technological world.” said David Adjaye, Lexus Design Award 2018 judge and architect.

Elliott P. Montgomery of Extrapolation Factory commented, “It was truly fantastic, and the experience was incredible to have worked with our mentors Formafantasma. We could not have done this without the support of Lexus.”

Since 2013, the Lexus Design Award has supported the next generation of designers from around the world. For our sixth year, 2018, the Award’s theme is “CO-”, a Latin prefix meaning with or together. Lexus believes that great design can ensure the harmonious coexistence of nature and society. In that sense, “CO-" is an approach that allows the brand to explore its true potential and that of the environment by creating new possibilities through collaboration, coordination and connection.

From among the wealth of “CO-” design submissions, our elite judging committee has selected 12 finalists, four to be prototyped and eight to be shown as display panels. These will be revealed to the international design community at Lexus’ “LIMITLESS CO-EXISTENCE” exhibition, held 17-22 April 2018 in the Cavallerizze in Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci during Milan Design Week, the world's supreme design event.

For this exhibit, Lexus has called upon Japanese architect Sota Ichikawa to be the overall concept space designer. In the main installation, Ichikawa has used innovative methods to represent the ultimate experience of LIMITLESS CO-EXISTENCE. The Lexus LF-1 Limitless concept, earlier introduced at the North American International Auto Show, is also featured using Ichikawa’s unique method.