Innovation: a coveted quality, the pursuit of which delineates the sphere of design today. But what does innovation encompass? Is it something ahead of its time or an approach that meshes the past with the present? Innovation—and its many interpretations—sprout across the canvas of the globe, animating its nooks and crannies in or away from the spotlight. As much as the world needs these voices of creativity, it needs platforms and springboards to make them reach an audience. These interventions in product design and industrial design call to be acknowledged and amplified—striving to paint a better future for all through the semantics of design.

Sustainability is the bridge, or link, between Lexus and LDAI. We are looking for designers who are thinking sustainably about solving the nation’s current and future problems. Lexus stands for ‘designing for a better tomorrow.’ This year, we have also selected a jury which truly represents people who are specialists in fields. They are names to reckon with, and have made a mark in different domains of the creative industry. – Naveen Soni

Since its inception in 2013, the Lexus Design Award has cultivated ideas that contribute to society by inviting designers and creators who envision a better future through their work. Laying the groundwork for the seventh edition of Lexus Design Award India 2024 (LDAI), Lexus India announces the call for entries summoning design professionals to showcase their unique perspectives. The celebrated design event seeks innovative ideas from creatives who harness the power of design and technology to ‘Anticipate, Innovate and Captivate.’

Entries are being accepted from July 20 to September 30, 2023. "We are delighted to announce the Lexus Design Award India 2024, a remarkable platform that highlights the ability of design to address and solve pressing issues in our country. At Lexus India, we strongly believe in cultivating innovation, pushing the limits, and nurturing emerging talent,” says Naveen Soni, President, Lexus India.

Since its first edition in 2018, LDAI has garnered numerous entries across India. In a span of six years, LDAI has accumulated over 4300 entries from participants with unique designs for a better tomorrow for society. The curation of designs catered to problems in diverse areas such as health care, energy conservation, sustainable goods, and waste management. Alongside the highly anticipated LDAI 2024, Lexus India unveils a limited edition coffee table book that is a compilation of some of the designs that have highlighted the esteemed event.

The Lexus Coffee Table Book furthers the objective of the award to recognise and honour creations of industrial design by talented Indian designers. It resonates with the ethos of the brand to spotlight designs that address obstacles of society and strive to present plausible solutions for a sustainable future that ensures overall happiness and well-being. In an exclusive conversation with STIR Soni elaborated on this aspect of LDAI saying, “This prestigious award is designed to honour and uplift the most brilliant minds in the Indian design community, showcasing their visionary ideas and solutions. We are excited to witness the profound impact that design can have in tackling the challenges faced by our nation, as we pave the path towards a brighter and more sustainable future".

Anticipate. Innovate. Captivate.

This year, the designers are asked to anticipate the needs and challenges of the present day and contrive innovative design solutions that are fuelled by authenticity and three guiding pillars—Anticipate, Innovate and Captivate. These tenets encourage the designers to express their innovative thinking and originality that anticipates challenges faced by the contemporary society and imagine engaging and unique solutions that will bolster a sustainable future—seamlessly enhancing the happiness of all.

Anticipate - How do the concept and design anticipate global challenges facing future society? Innovate - How does the design demonstrate new thinking and originality both in the proposal and in the execution? Captivate - How does the design intrigue and compel when realised in concept and execution? Enhance Happiness - How does your design bring happiness to people around the world?

Introducing the categories

LDAI 2024 cleaves into six categories: conceptual design, industrial design, textile design, furniture design, built environment and tech design. The diverse and mutually exclusive offshoots ensure that the submissions exhibit a solution-oriented approach in every dimension of design.

The Conceptual Design category invites ‘presentations that speak of the ideas that underpin any design process.’ Submissions in this category will be expected to detail the viability of the proposed design by presenting the material source, production specifications and assembly processes. The Furniture Design category of the award, on the hand, welcomes creatives to share experiments that can either be created as a solitary entity or deemed suitable for mass production. The specifics shared by the organisers detail, “This category invites submissions that showcase a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of furniture design, production processes, materials, and circularity. The designers may build on this groundwork with applied sciences and applied arts that further a furniture’s function or form.”

Shifting focus onto a creative practice that demands further adeptness and artistic creativity is the Textile Design category, which, apart from demanding focus on the patterns and colours sprinkled across the fabric, challenge designers to explore tactility, technique, and material technology. “The category invites entries that emphasise material innovation using textiles, their patterns, shapes, and craft and how it pivots itself to varied extensions of utility and its impact on environment,” details the award note. The fourth category, namely Industrial Design, invites designs that attempt to address a problem, a need, with innovative solutions contrived after thorough research, and that address the factors of ‘accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity through a human-centric and planet-centric approach.’

LDAI’s Technology Design awards is set aside for the design of product interfaces, components of prosthetics, specific construction details, and more. It invites submissions that utilise technology to accentuate inclusivity or bridge the gap between accessibility and output. Lastly, the Built Environment category of LDAI ‘aims to recognise the vital roles of creativity, technical expertise, local skills, and usage of materials that harbour conscience development across the social, cultural, and environmental context.’ This category invites architectural and design interventions that are undertaken with the intention of improving lives, both at the individual and community level.

Meet the LDAI 2024 Jury

The jury mirrors the multifariousness of the categories—embodying a wealth of expertise across fields of art, architecture, fashion and the automotive industry. The discerning eye and profound understanding of the distinguished jury will shape the outcome of this year's awards

Subodh Gupta, one of India’s most renowned contemporary artists, is known for building large-scale installations with everyday objects such that these artworks engage with his childhood, his home country and the themes of migration, globalisation and the cosmos.

An internationally renowned architect, author, and researcher, Dr. Anupama Kundoo's passion for sustainable architecture has turned heads around the world. With social issues as protagonists, her projects seamlessly blend functionality and meaningful refuge, reflecting her vast experiences across cultural contexts. Kundoo divides her time between India and Germany. Her experiences of working, researching and teaching in a variety of cultural contexts across the globe inform her ideas, theories and practice.

Having been on the global Lexus Awards has been a very interesting experience for me, and I think it is one of the most interestingly arranged design awards. An award like Lexus does not hastily announce a winner based on the most seductive or attractive outcome. It is designed to first finalise the shortlist, beyond which the participants are mentored and encouraged to take their idea forward. That kind of co-creation aspect is a very exemplary thing. – Anupama Kundoo

Vinu Daniel, Principal Architect and Founder of Wallmakers, designs structures that are poetic renditions etched in brick, mud, scraps and waste. With a language that attests his commitment to eco-friendly design, he conceives thought-provoking structures that embrace sustainability while delivering exceptional aesthetics.

Fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani who belongs to a dichotomous creative field, will, as a jury member, append the discussion with a fashionable addition. The fashion designer has several lines, including prêt-a-porter, diffusion, accessories, and couture bridal wear. He is also a founding member of the Fashion Design Council of India, the governing body of the country’s official fashion week. Apart from his work in the realm of fashion, Tahiliani has contributed to the fields of architecture and interior design with the design of boutique hotels, holiday homes and various institutions across India.

Giri Venkatesh, Vice President for Area Operations and the Executive Marketing Coordinator at Lexus Asia Pacific, has been associated with Lexus since its inception. Owing to his passion for design and creativity, he brings his experience and insight to the jury, ensuring that the Lexus Design Award India continues to inspire and push boundaries.

The Shortlist Jury

Complementing the award jury is a coterie of esteemed professionals—hailing from diverse backgrounds and showcasing a spectrum of expertise—who make up LDAI’s Shortlist Jury.

Rajiv Makhni, TV and radio show host, author and social media presenter, is renowned as the Tech Guru of the country. He was awarded the Chanakya Award for TV Host of the Year and also the Television Anchor of the Year 3 years in a row. He has a multi-million following on social media platforms and recently won the award for Influencer of the Year and Content Creator of the Year.

Nonita Kalra has three decades of media experience in print and television. From 2016 to 2020, she was the Editor of HARPER’S BAZAAR, following her tenure as the Editor-in-Chief of ELLE India, where she spent nearly 13 years. An influencer in fashion, beauty and lifestyle, she is currently Editor-in-chief, Tata CliQ.

A lighting designer, curator, critical thinker and creative director, Samta Nadeem is passionate about engaging with issues of social and environmental justice through design and discourse. She has an MA in Curating Contemporary Design and freelances with institutions such as the Design Museum London. She leads curatorial programming and communications at STIR.

Ronitaa Italia, a prolific writer with over 24 years of experience, is at the helm of India's premier design and lifestyle brands GoodHomes India and Home & Design TRENDS. With her holistic experience in the media industry, and in various lifestyle subjects, Italia is known for her innate ability to create engaging content and piquant ideas that have raised the bar for design practices across the country.

Kamna Malik is an Independent Design Curator and a Strategist. ELLE India’s Former Editor and India Design ID’s former curator, is an established name in the Indian media and publication industry. With a career spanning over 16 years, across design, architecture, lifestyle, art, fashion, and luxury, Kamna has been associated with some of India’s best media companies and has been instrumental in shaping and driving creative visions.

Cristina Kiran Piotti is an Italian-Indian freelance journalist. She studied at the “Walter Tobagi” school of journalism in Milan, before finishing her training with a master's degree at the Ca' Foscari Challenge School in Venice. Since 2008, she has primarily covered design, current affairs, and culture for Italian and international newspapers such as D – Repubblica, Wallpaper and Vogue India.

Manju Sara Rajan is a writer, editor and arts manager. Her main areas of expertise are aesthetics and lifestyle trends. She is presently a Senior Advisor at Asian Paints and the Editor-in-chief of beautifulhomes.com. Nearly two decades of experience has provided her a great deal of insight into the creative and commercial parts of design, art and media.

Kaiwan Mehta is a theorist and critic in the fields of visual culture, architecture, and city studies. Mehta has studied Architecture (B. Arch), Literature (MA), Indian Aesthetics (PGDip) and Cultural Studies (PhD). In 2017 he completed his doctoral studies at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bengaluru. Since 2022, he is the Dean at Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, at SVKM's NMIMS University.

The jury will select five winners from each of the categories. The finalists will have the opportunity to be mentored by a team of eminent design pioneers from diverse design disciplines at a specially curated workshop. The workshop will guide the designers to refine their entries before they present their projects to the judging panel, who will then select a winner from each of the categories. Furthermore, winners also stand the chance to travel to Milan and experience the Lexus Design Event at Milan Design Week in Italy in 2024. Encouraging and empowering the next generation of creators in India, LDAI 2024 reaffirms Lexus India’s commitment to a future of innovation, sustainability and well-being.