Lexus has long been known for its discreet elegance and innovation. Even as a motoring amateur, I know it produces covetable, high-concept cars, so I was excited to see what the company’s designers and engineers had cooked up for Milan Design Week. Since 2005, Lexus has presented its latest ideas at the week-long creative showcase, and they get bolder and more thrilling each year.
The concept
This year was very zeitgeisty—the synergy of man and machine. Soon, cars will most likely program and drive themselves and we will be mere guests—but what Lexus wants to prove is that humans and machines can have an emotional and intellectual connection, essentially “re-imagining the driving experience”.
These are big ideas indeed and cynics might argue that it could lead to dangerous data harvesting and over-reliance on technology. But it was difficult not to get caught up in Lexus’s vision especially when chatting to the softly-spoken but intensely passionate creators who fly over from Japan every year for Lexus’s participation in Milan Design Week.
Lexus’s latest project was presented in a series of silent pitch-black rooms at the Superstudio Più, and the highlight was definitely the Black Butterfly, a dual-interface cockpit control system developed by Lexus for its LF-ZC concept car. Futuristic, sleek and stealthy, the low-slung vehicle offered a peek into how motoring will evolve. The interface is designed to facilitate seamless communication between the driver and vehicle, and, crazy technology aside, the LF-ZC was also stunning. Touted as an all-electric offering, it also ticked a load of sustainability boxes with its recycled bamboo interior and next generation, hyper-efficient batteries. It is hoped the LF-ZC will debut in the near future. No pricing is available as yet but I don’t expect it to come cheap.
The experience
For those not convinced, Lexus showcased some other installations, all featuring variations of this year’s premise. A-Un was an interactive experience that drew from the ancient Japanese concept of Aun no kokyo—breathing in harmony. It’s a beautifully calm, Buddhist idea of two opposing entities complementing each other. A large 3-metre by 10-metre black butterfly-shaped screen emerged from the space and came to life as visitors approached, responding to their heartbeats to create a unique, almost spiritual experience.
Developed by Tokyo-based creative agency SIX and the STUDEO design studio, I feel more zen even thinking about it. “Be more A-Un” was the mantra my fellow journalists and I repeated to each other over the course of the week!
Discover Together, produced by Bascule Inc in Japan, Northeastern University in the USA and the Lexus Designer Team, was another interactive treat that made one reflect on the future relationship between AI and the individual. The project demonstrated the different chemistry and experience that occur when humans interact with the Black Butterfly through three different elements. For example, visitors could engage with real-time pollution levels and Milan’s global air quality index data by viewing glowing stars which shined brighter as the air became clearer.
Experiencing the installations took a few hours and the reverential silence and darkness of the space was a clever way to encourage introspection and challenge one’s reservations about AI.
If Lexus wants to promote the idea that technology becomes an extension of the driver rather than just a tool, it certainly gave this sceptic pause for thought.
Milan Design Week
Visiting Milan Design Week is also certainly an experience in itself, even if automotives aren’t your thing. Fashion designers, artists and disruptors all congregate in the stylish city to basically show off. It’s a marvel to see. Every few feet in the Tortona district is a studio, space or show to behold, and combined with Milan’s outstanding food, fashion credentials (hello Gucci flagship store on Via Monte Napoleone) and history, it’s worth a visit even for the most committed philistine.
Milan Design Week takes place each year in April.
All images courtesy of Lexus.