GOT A GREAT IDEA?: This year’s six finalists selected for the Lexus Design Award have presented proposals geared to anticipate, innovate and captivate.
Each will receive mentorship from renowned design specialists and funding of more than $25,000 to create prototypes for their projects. Culled from 2,042 submissions — a milestone for the annual competition — this six-pack of creatives are representatives of the U.S., China, Europe, Pakistan and Kenya. Applicants from 79 different countries were in the running.
This year’s contenders are Bio.Scales by Sutherlin Santo, a modular, carbon-sequestering air filtration system assembled from robotically 3-D-printed biopolymer scales; Feltscape by Théophile Peju and Salvatore Cicero, a “breathing felt cloud” made partially from thermoplastics that captures sound and customizes acoustics and lighting for a more serene environment, and Flash Pak by Yaokun Wu is an inflatable flotation device that can also be strapped to other Flash Paks to create a raft — all of which can be used to guide wearers to safety in flash floods via a haptic navigation system with LED lights. The other three contenders are Lick, by Irina Samoilova as a portable body cleaner for humans with a surface similar to a cat’s tongue; Open Source Communities by BellTower
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