October 30, 2012 — Lexus announces the launch of the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD, an international design competition targeting innovators around the world.

The LEXUS DESIGN AWARD is aimed to provide an opportunity for innovators to work with a world-famous designer as a mentor to create prototypes of their designs. Through this initiative, Lexus hopes to contribute to nurturing and supporting creators.

The theme of the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2012 is motion - a word and concept directly connected to people´s everyday lives. Under this theme, Lexus welcomes innovators and calls for works that display a deep understanding of Lexus design, uniquely interpret concepts and provide original perspectives on and solutions to various issues of daily life. Lexus welcomes designers from all fields, such as architecture, product design and fashion.

The application period starts today and runs through December 31. The winners are to be announced and their works exhibited during Milan Design Week in April 2013. The award will be officially launched at the Lexus booth during TOKYO DESIGNERS WEEK running today through November 5.

About Lexus

With the vision of Progressive Luxury, Lexus has been pursuing and presenting values different from those of conventional luxury makes. Lexus has been striving not only to create a more luxurious experience through automobiles, but also, through such technological advancements as the Lexus Hybrid Drive, to contribute to efforts to solve numerous issues that have surfaced in the modern world.

Lexus believes that design for this competition goes beyond mastery of form and is a process in problem solving and an effort to propose solutions to shape a better society and future. Lexus therefore welcomes a wide variety of innovative ideas to overcome challenges.
About TOKYO DESIGNERS WEEK 2012

Tokyo Designers Week 2012 is being held under the slogan “Hello Design!” and is aimed to attract a broad range of visitors from different age groups to experience design firsthand.

Dates: October 30 to November 5
Time: 11:00 to 21:00 (18:00 on November 5)
Venues: Meiji-Jingu Gaien (main), and other locations in the Tokyo metropolitan area
Website URL: www.tdwa.com
Organizer: DESIGN ASSOCIATION NPO
Call for Entries for LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2012 Competition

ApplicationsOctober 30, 2012 - December 31, 2012 ThemeMotion Judging criteria- Depth of understanding of the design concepts of the competition and a unique interpretation of those concepts.
- Uniqueness of perspective and originality of solutions proposed under the theme.
JudgesPaola Antonelli, Aric Chen, Jaime Hayon, Toyo Ito, Birgit Lohmann, Kiyotaka Ise (Lexus International president) MentorsSam Hecht, Junya Ishigami Prizes/benefits- Ten entries will win awards. The creators of the awarded works will be invited to the Milan Design Week*.
- Two entries from the ten winners will receive up to five million yen each to cover prototype production costs. The designers of the two entries will create prototypes of their award winning designs between February and March 2013 through sessions with two assigned mentors.
- The two prototypes and also panel displays of the other eight winning entries will be exhibited in the Lexus space at the Milan Design Week in 2013.
OrganizerLexus International In cooperation withdesignboom and DESIGN ASSOCIATION NPO ApplicationsThrough the designboom website (URL below)
http://www.designboom.com/Lexus-design-award-2012.html For more informationVisit http://www.lexus-global.com/design/lda.html (lots of cool info here)
*In the case of individual applicants, the winner will be invited. In the case of group applicants, up to two people will be invited.
this article: http://www.lexus-global.com/news/121030_a.html