Lexus has announced the winners of the international design competition, the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2016.

The competition called for design submissions under the theme of "Anticipation." 1,232 entries were submitted from 73 countries, with 12 winners selected by a panel of judges and mentors in November of last year. Four of the winners received advice from architects and designers Neri & Hu, Elena Manferdini, designer Max Lamb, and artist and architect Snarkitecture to create prototypes. The prototypes, along with panels displaying the other eight winning designs, will be exhibited at the Lexus venue at Milan Design Week 2016, held in Milan, Italy, from April 11th to 17th. A final judging session will be held at the venue to select one Grand Prize winner from the four prototypes. Of the four works for which prototypes will be produced, "AGAR PLASTICITY - A POTENTIAL USEFULNESS OF AGAR FOR PACKAGING AND MORE" by team AMAM (consisting of Kosuke Araki, Noriaki Maetani, and Akira Muraoka) is a new, environmentally friendly packaging material made from agar. "TRACK" by Begum Ayaskan and Pique Ayaskan uses a solution that changes color in response to ultraviolet light, allowing time to be visually displayed. This will be joined by "Shape Shifters" by Angeline Laura Fenuta, a garment that utilizes the principle of modularity to freely change its silhouette according to the wearer's preferred style, and "DADA," blocks by Jang Myung-sik that can be used to create a variety of works using the imagination of the person who picks them up. These four works will be prototyped together. The panel exhibits include "aniknown," clothing for animals designed according to their habitats and ecology by Ayami Marugata, "Bio-Vide," a table and envelope made from fallen leaves by Takuma Yamazaki that visualizes the concept of returning to the earth, and "Slow Door," a slow-motion door that allows you to experience space by Deepak Jawahar & Irina Bogdan.