Lexus, Japan's proud luxury automobile brand, presented a large-scale installation at Milan Design Week 2015. This year marked Lexus' eighth participation. This year, it became the first car manufacturer to win the "Best Entertaining" award at the official "Milano Design Award Competition," a win that attests to the sensationalism of the exhibition, as well as its high level of completion and attention it attracted.

The unique aspect of this highly acclaimed installation, "LEXUS - A JOURNEY OF THE SENSES," can be summed up simply as "the way it communicates design through food."

This exhibition was realized through a collaboration between Lexus and two cutting-edge designers. The two are Philipp Nigro, a chef based in France and Italy known for his collaborations with top fashion houses like Hermès, and Hajime Yoneda, acclaimed for his unique gastronomy-based culinary philosophy and named one of the "100 World's Greatest Chefs" by the French magazine Le Chef. In Yoneda's words, this installation pioneered a new genre known as "installation gastronomy." We first spoke to Philipp Nigro about how he came to complete the design of this space. "For me, the experience of Japan, whether it be the food or the architecture, is deeply moving," Nigro said. The space he created evokes a harmony of cutting-edge modern style and a warm, intimate atmosphere. "I found the theme of this exhibition, 'Senses,' extremely challenging, but after many discussions with Lexus and food designer Yoneda, I came to understand that 'Senses' represents the five senses, and I tried to incorporate this abstract concept into the spatial design concept." The resulting concept was "Inside-Out." Indeed, the spatial design was heavily influenced by his experiences in Kyoto and other parts of Japan, including the rows of vermilion torii gates at Fushimi Taisha Inari Shrine. The exterior walls and corridors of the venue are made of dozens of wooden pillars, creating a space that exudes a sense of mystery and comfort. "While inspired by traditional Japanese architecture such as torii gates, it is ultimately my own unique interpretation, captured from a uniquely European perspective. I incorporated my own ideas into the Lexus exhibit." His perception of the difference between the view from the inside and the view from the outside led him to realize that cars are similarly "Inside-Out." In other words, changing your perspective can lead to different experiences, such as seeing the design of a car from the outside versus the sensation you get when you actually sit in the cockpit.

"Inside-Out" also expresses new discoveries that go beyond the realizations gained from a multifaceted perspective. This is the Lexus philosophy, an approach to craftsmanship that focuses not only on the visible design but also on the hidden, unseen details. One of the important concepts of this exhibition is bringing to the surface the intricate beauty that is usually hidden from the eye.


--In the second part, we will take a closer look at Chef Yoneda's "Installation Gastronomy," who says, "The answers to cooking lie in the mysteries of the universe."