Following its successful participation in previous years, Lexus will be returning to the 2009 Milan Design Week with an art exhibition entitled “Lexus L-finesse – crystallised wind”, a combination of Lexus L-Finesse design philosophy and the very finest in contemporary art, architecture and design elements from Japan.

The exhibition will take place in Milan’s Museo della Permanente art gallery, from April 22nd to 26th , as part of the world’s largest design exhibition, the Salone del Mobile di Milano.

Sou Fujimoto, a ground-breaking Japanese architect, will re-interpret the ambivalence of the Lexus design philosophy ‘L-finesse’ through a dynamic installation that combines unity in space, sound and lighting.

“Crystallised wind is the result of a conceptual interpretation of the underlying principles of Lfinesse design”, said Sou Fujimoto.

“The term wind addresses not only the flow of wind, but also symbolises a flow or current in a greater sense. It is a new horizon where the natural and the artificial coexist in space.

I wanted to find a way to give form to that which is formless: to take the flow of air and the passing of time and to represent them in such a way as to explain the essence of the duality of L-finesse.

The result is an art form that represents movement yet stillness, and the flow of time in a timeless environment.”

The Lexus space will display an acrylic art piece based on the full-size concept car model, the Lexus super sports concept car, the LF-A as well as a specially designed piece of furniture constructed from acrylic.

“L-finesse design is much more than a surface approach and is certainly not confined to automotive design, we are trying to look much deeper than that, we use the Japanese influence in that way,” said Wahei Hirai, Managing Officer of Design Center.

“That is also why we like to collaborate with leading artists and designers instead of just working with our own automotive designers. This way, we inspire each other and we can go much more in depth.

However, even if we keep the same consistency at the same time we change the way we represent our design philosophy over the time.”