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LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2021 GRAND PRIX WINNER ANNOUNCED

Lexus Asia

27 Apr 2021

LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2021 GRAND PRIX WINNER ANNOUNCED

‘Portable Solar Distiller’ proposal by Henry Glogau ascends to pinnacle of 2,079 entries

 

TOKYO, Japan (April 27, 2021) ― Lexus today announced that “Portable Solar Distiller” by Henry Glogau has won the Lexus Design Award 2021 Grand Prix, which drew 2,079 entries from 66 countries.

Chosen as the project that best encompasses “Design for a Better Tomorrow” based on the three key principles of the Lexus brand -- Anticipate, Innovate and Captivate -- the Portable Solar Distiller provides clean drinking water from polluted water or sea water, using sunlight. Merging local resource production with community architecture, this low-tech solution also serves as a shaded gathering place.

Upon receiving the award, Henry Glogau, said, "It’s a great honor to be selected as this year’s Grand Prix winner, and I’d like to say thank you to the judges. When you look at the level and quality of the finalists and their projects and the progress that has been made throughout, any one of us could have been the winner this year. I’d also like to thank the Mentors - their expertise in a variety of fields really strengthened not only our designs but us also as designers. We as finalists will cherish the thought-provoking questions and conversations we had, and we were so fortunate to experience them. And lastly, a massive thank you to Lexus. Being part of a prestigious award like this with a company that is truly passionate about Design for a Better Tomorrow, and which gives up-and-coming designers a platform and solid foundation to build their design futures on is incredible".

Among the six global finalists was Indonesian electrical and textile engineer and designer, Irmandy Wicaksono. Currently a Ph.D. student in the Responsive Environments, MIT Media Lab based in the USA, Irmandy’s entry was entitled KnitX, a set of functional textiles that has been computationally integrated with digital knitting. The set comprises a musical keyboard, and an interactive carpet that provides an intuitive interphase between dance and music.

LDA Press Release KNITX

Irmandy said:

“The Lexus Design Award has given me a very unique and valuable experience. With diverse skill-sets and backgrounds, the mentors were committed to supporting the finalists along the way, strengthening our concepts, and realizing our prototypes. My work and trajectory have allowed me to further innovate and explore the relationship between art, design, and technology and collaborate with people from various disciplines. It's been an overall incredible and fulfilling journey, and I learned a lot during the process. I’m also glad to have found an amazing community.”

 

Selected in January this year, the six finalists were mentored and guided by four world-class creators - Joe Doucet, Sabine Marcelis, Mariam Kamara, and Sputniko! towards refining their proposals.

Lexus thanks the mentors, all vastly experienced masters of their fields, for generously sharing their specialized knowledge and encouraging the finalists to bring out the full potential of their ideas.

Lexus also pays tribute to the judges - Paola Antonelli, Dong Gong, Greg Lynn and Simon Humphries, for their uncompromising standards and incisive analysis which have supported the Lexus Design Award mission to build up the next generation of creators.

For more information, please visit LexusDesignAward.com
Official Hashtag: #lexusdesignaward

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