Lexus Design Award 2016 Grand Prix Winner: AGAR PLASTICITY
by: mocoloco, 2016-04-14 20:46:02 UTC

This sponsored post is brought to you by Lexus. Announced at the Lexus Design Event 2016 during Milan Design Week, AGAR PLASTICITY is the Grand Prix winner for the fourth annual Lexus Design Award. The innovative concept from the Japanese team of AMAM – Kosuke Araki, Noriaki Maetani, Akira Muraoka – finds a major new use for agar, a jelly-like substance extracted from red algae that is often used as an ingredient in Japanese cuisine. In keeping with this year’s theme – Anticipation – AMAM envisions a future in which ubiquitous packaging materials harmlessly biodegrade when discarded.

AGAR PLASTICITY and three other prototype finalists were chosen from among 1,232 entries from 73 countries. Last January, each of the prototype winners were partnered with an internationally renowned design mentor, granted a 2.5 million yen budget, and tasked with creating a working prototype of their concept for the Lexus Design Event in Milan. The AGAR PLASTICITY team worked with the UK’s Max Lamb, a product designer and design instructor at the Royal College of Art. Using his expert knowledge of unconventional materials and manufacturing processes, Lamb encouraged his mentees to consider broader possibilities by mixing agar with other natural materials like seashells.

The three runner-up prototype finalists include reconfigurable clothing constructed with a modular fashion textile (Shape Shifters), a clock that continually marks the present moment with a fleeting visual event (TRACE), and a building block toy that opens up imagination by transcending rigid, right-angle geometry (DADA).

Kosuke Araki, Noriaki Maetani, Akira Muraoka

An elite judging panel evaluated the four prototypes: Paola Antonelli (senior curator, MoMa, New York), Aric Chen (curator, M+ Museum, Hong Kong), Toyo Ito (Pritzker Prize-winning architect), Birgit Lohmann (chief editor, designboom), Alice Rawsthorn (design commentator), and Tokuo Fukuichi (president, Lexus International).

Lexus Design Award: 4th annual Grand Prix winner, coming up!
by: mocoloco, 2016-04-08 01:15:41 UTC

This sponsored post is brought to you by Lexus. On April 11, in the midst of Milan Design Week, the Grand Prix winner of the fourth-annual Lexus Design Award 2016 will be revealed. Chosen from an international field of over 1,200, 12 project entries made it to Milan, eight runners-up on photo display, and four finalists with working prototypes to show. One, selected from four finalist prototypes, will take the prize.

The theme of this year’s competition is Anticipation – of the needs of people and society – in keeping with the Lexus Award’s mission to encourage rising design talent and smart, future-improving design. The competition involves a world-class judging panel, and a funded mentorship stage that pairs top designers with four finalists, to turn concepts into fully working prototypes. This clever twist allows fresh ideas to be identified early and put to the test through development and refinement, as part of the awards process.

DADA by Myungsik Jang is a building block toy that opens up imagination by transcending rigid, right-angle geometry.

By the numbers, there were 1,232 entries from 73 countries, curated down to just 12. The leading four projects chosen for prototyping include a naturally occurring, biodegradable alternative to plastic packaging (AGAR PLASTICITY), a modular fashion textile for reconfigurable clothing (Shape Shifters), a clock that continually marks the present moment with a fleeting visual event (TRACE), and a building block toy that opens up imagination by transcending rigid, right-angle geometry (DADA).

AGAR PLASTICITY by AMAM is a naturally occurring, biodegradable alternative to plastic packaging. (an earlier version is shown here)

The additional eight finalists are equally intriguing:

– a smart planter that wears soil status in shifting colors

– a parachute-free airdrop system for distributing humanitarian aid

– a magnetized umbrella that gently connects people

– educational fashion in the form of functional animal clothing

– a playfully versatile wireless lamp made from magnetic rubber

– a headphone system that precisely locates the source of sounds

– a table made by upcycling fallen leaves

– a door that slows down the transition from one space to the next.

Exciting!

Shape Shifters by Angelene Laura Fenuta is a modular fashion textile for reconfigurable clothing. (an earlier version is shown here)

The thoughtfully conceived Lexus Design Award, a testament to the meticulous design philosophy of a Japanese luxury automaker, is nothing short of profoundly refreshing. The fourth-annual Grand Prix winner will be announced on April 11th, with all the details here at MOCO LOCO…coming up!

TRACE by Begum Ayaskan, Bike Ayaskan is a clock that continually marks the present moment with a fleeting visual event.

How to Increase Automotive Plastics Recycling
by: Environmental Leader, 2016-04-28 17:44:55 UTC
Automotive recyclers have focused on recycling some car parts — steel parts, for example — for decades. Today, 95 percent of vehicles are recycled at the end of their practical life. The recycling of plastic automotive parts, however, is still in its infancy, according to SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, because recycling some plastic […]

The inside story of the Paris climate agreement | Christiana Figueres
by: TEDTalks (video), 2016-04-18 14:55:20 UTC
What would you do if your job was to save the planet? When Christiana Figueres was tapped by the UN to lead the Paris climate conference (COP 21) in December 2015, she reacted the way many people would: she thought it would be impossible to bring the leaders of 195 countries into agreement on how to slow climate change. Find out how she turned her skepticism into optimism -- and helped the world achieve the most important climate agreement in history.