Lexus In Milan; The Machine and The Human as One

If music be the food of love, then design is the breath by which we all live. After all, breathing is our most natural reflex action, we don’t sit and think about the fact that we breathe all day, in the same way the best design should be as seamless as bringing air into our lungs and expelling it, without a thought. When we ‘interact’ with an object, a building, a surface even, we should instinctively know what to do. That is the very best of what design can bring. Or is it? After many years of design becoming very driven by computer programmes, this year’s Milan Salone, and especially the Lexus presentation, highlighted how design is at its new best when it is AI-connected yet human-driven and human-directed. To understand more of how humans and AI will connect, read Lexus In Milan; The Machine and The Human as One

When you pick up your favourite cup for your morning hot beverage, do you consciously think about how your hand holds the receptacle? Probably not, you just enjoy the feel of the mug in your hand and the taste and comfort of your drink. But of course, that mug has been designed to perfect your experience. That way, you really don’t need to think, to enjoy your quiet, joyous moment.

Great design is human-focused, of course, it is simply because humans are the ones using it. But in many ways, the best designs don’t even get noticed by us. Because the effort of the interaction should be seamless.

Now, of course, there is the slight flipside of that, when you want to feel the love, thrill and even adrenaline of an experience. Again, there is no reason why that shouldn’t happen with a favourite morning drink, but think too of the more active moments like driving a car.

For several years, many car companies took on the world of electric cars and driverless cars. The electric car revolution may well have made cars greener, and also quieter, which is another benefit for city noise pollution, but along the way, did the art of and excitement of driving get lost? Did the human experience somehow get taken out of the equation?

Lexus, the Japanese car company, highlighted this concept more than ever at the Lexus installation at Milan Design Week. With AI rampant within the genre, the design-forward company explored the idea of human-centred technology. As Artificial Intelligence seems to move us further and further away from our very human emotions, the brand explored the key ways we can move forward with technology and humanness hand in hand. Their concept car was presented alongside three art installations reflecting these very values.

“Since the founding of our brand, Lexus has constantly challenged the conventions of the luxury automotive world, pushing the boundaries of mobility to create unique and extraordinary experiences that surpass expectations rather than simply meeting them. Today, as technology advances and transforms the way we perceive time spent in motion, we find ourselves reflecting on how these shifts can lead to profound new forms of engagement and interaction. At Milan Design Week, we seek to express this convergence of technology and humanity, exploring moments in which they intersect and how reimagining time itself can be a catalyst for new experiences”.

Simon Humphries, Lexus Chief Branding Officer

These new immersive installations were inspired by the concept car and its ‘Black Butterfly’ next-generation cockpit control device, a dual-interface control device featured in the cockpit of Lexus’s LF-ZC concept car. The ‘steering wheel’, if you like, except it’s not a wheel. Interestingly, one of the few things never to change in the history of the car is the steering wheel. It’s always been a wheel…except now it is not.

Interestingly, the dual interface control of the concept car used for inspiration has a ‘butterfly-shaped’ steering wheel. Here it contains everything needed for driving, a clean all-in-one station with no added fuss or buttons, alleviating the driving experience for all.

The standout new electric Sedan EV vehicle highlights, via these artworks, how future technologies will bring man, machine and mobility closer together.

Lexus teamed up with the Tokyo-based creative agency SIX and design studio STUDEO to present “A-Un”, an installation inspired by the Japanese concept of A-Un no Kokyū (harmonised breath). This is a traditional concept where two bodies or entities synchronise their movements and emotions. The exact set of emotions we need as humans to live in a world integrated with AI, so that we don’t lose our emotions with this technology takeover

A-Un installations created in collaboration with creative agency SIX and design studio STUDEODiscover Together, saw a collection of works by up-and-coming creators from Bascule Inc., Northeastern University and Lexus’s in-house design team, produced as a legacy project from the Lexus Design Awards, Discover Together – an influential design competition that will be relaunched this summer and the best projects will be showcased at Milan Design Week 2026.

Using the Black Butterfly motif as a window connecting people and society, Lexus brought its vision for the future of mobility to life in an immersive space. Each explored how future technologies will bring man, machine and mobility closer together.

A vast Black Butterfly-shaped screen set within a backend space, three metres high, measuring 10 metres wide and four metres deep, was exposed. Meticulously crafted by hand with exacting precision over a three-month time period, woven threads were utilised, made from about 35 kilometres of bamboo fibre. Bamboo has a significant cultural meaning in Japan: supple yet strong.

The structure became alive not by itself but by the visitors walking up to it. The installation responded to their heartbeats, creating a unique, immersive experience. As the heartbeat synchronised with fluctuations sampled from nature, the Black Butterfly became a medium for discovery.

Live and in the moment, visitors witnessed the seamless connection between people, society and the world as one, the connectedness of every human globally in one visual space.

Earthspective Bascule Inc. (Japan). This work explored the concept of an expanded earth perspective. The combination of ‘earth’ and ‘perspective’ in its title represented a shift in the way we view our world.

As humans, we perceive reality from our own, limited vantage points. However, when we step back and observe the Earth from the vastness of space, we gain a new perspective, an Earthspective. From this view, we are mere travellers on the planet. Usually, when we drive a car, we see the perspective of what is in front of us and around us. We travel from one destination to the next, never thinking further than our own journey. Here, viewers were able to ‘take a step away’ and see themselves within the vastness of the universe from the perspective of space.

The next installation looked at the words we speak and how they become imprints on the future, etched into the ever-expanding universe.

Our Energy Nexus Northeastern University (USA) explored the theme of reducing air pollution, using real-time interaction to visualise the power of community and collective action.

Visitors engaged with real-time pollution levels and Milan’s global air quality index data, channelling their warmth through the Black Butterfly as a symbolic release of energy.

Each contribution was transformed into a glowing star; as the air cleared, these stars shone brighter, reinforcing the connection between personal action and environmental change. Together, the very human energy converged to shape a cleaner, brighter future.

Inspired by the Butterfly Effect, this installation captured the transformative power of small actions. The butterfly effect, in chaos theory, refers to the idea that small changes in initial conditions can lead to significantly different outcomes in complex systems.  It’s a metaphor suggesting that a seemingly insignificant event, like a butterfly flapping its wings, could hypothetically cause a major event like a hurricane. 

The butterfly is a symbol of your unknown potential to make an impact on the world

Lexus in-house designers

It envisioned a world where countless butterflies converged, each unique in its motion, came together and created a dynamic and evolving reality. With the Black Butterfly as a window for unleashing your unknown potential, visitors released their own butterfly, and by doing so, influenced the world around them while discovering new aspects of themselves. Each small flutter contributed to a ripple of beauty and change, proving that even the smallest actions can shape the future in powerful ways.

Discover your Butterfly – Lexus in-house designers (Japan)

Using the Black Butterfly motif as a window to connect people and society, alongside technology, Lexus brought its vision for the future of mobility to life in an immersive space. This encounter between Lexus and emerging talents gave rise to Experience Amazing, which visitors could discover first-hand.

The LF-Z Electrified concept car, first shown in 2024 and on show at the Milan event, signaled future initiatives and the start of an era of brand evolution for Lexus.

Our world and the automotive world are transforming not just at breakneck speed, but in a once-in-a-century period, alongside very diverse human needs. As much as people need mobility, there is also the urgent mission of carbon neutrality. At the same time, people need to be more connected in an ever lonelier, segmented world.

The new LF-Z Electrified concept incorporates driving performance, styling and technologies. For example, it achieves superior dynamic performance, thanks to the ideal location of the battery and electric motor, DIRECT4 all-wheel drive technology and other features that ensure a high degree of mobility freedom that sets it apart from conventional vehicles.

Positioning the battery longitudinally beneath the floor makes for a more rigid vehicle structure, lowers the car’s centre of gravity and helps absorb noise and vibrations from the road surface.

The car’s Driving Signature gives the driver a sense of being seamlessly connected to the car’s acceleration, deceleration and steering at all times, with prompt linear responses that are faithful to their inputs and intentions.

The steering is by-wire, so there is no mechanical connection to the steering shaft. This gives a more direct correlation between steering operation and driving force, so the vehicle can turn with less steering angle in response to the driving conditions.

Most interestingly, the concept for the cockpit takes Lexus’s core human-centred approach to a higher level. It is inspired by the relationship between a horse and rider, where commands are communicated by the use of the reins, interpreted here by the close co-ordination of switches on the ‘butterfly’ steering wheel and a head-up display. This allows the driver to access vehicle functions and information intuitively, without having to move their line of sight and while keeping their attention on the road ahead.

But the cockpit is the heart of the vehicle, because the instrument panel and other elements are positioned relatively low down in relation to the occupants. This creates a refreshing sense of openness and the welcoming ‘omotenashi’ (to wholeheartedly look after guests) quality of a hospitality space where every detail has been carefully considered.

The openness of the space brings with it a relaxation akin to a living space; the car is, of course, another ‘room’ in the family home. The glass panoramic roof adds to the feeling of openness throughout the cabin.

Think for a moment how many of us name our cars; they are not mere machines, they are almost part of the family. It is not just the driving experience, the rush of a motorway if you like, the twists and turns of a snakelike back road, but the intimate space inside the car, as though we are in a moving living room. This is just one of many reasons why the human nature of design really matters.

Since 2013, Lexus has hosted the Lexus Design Award, an international competition dedicated to fostering and supporting next-generation creators through dialogue and co-creation.

Interestingly, many of the ideas shown during the whole of the Salone Fair in 2025 were products with the seeds of ideas created by originators in the Lexus design competition over the years. For example, in an early competition, a student presented the idea of Algae as a green potential for packaging, and now, many years later, this is a commonly used material.

Furthering its commitment to emerging design talent, the programme is being updated as the ‘Lexus Design Award – Discover Together’. It will be officially relaunched this summer with a showcase event scheduled to take place at Milan Design Week in April 2026.

Across the two decades since its first appearance at Milan Design Week in 2005, Lexus has collaborated with world-renowned artists and designers, including Philippe Nigro, Neri Oxman, Sou Fujimoto and Rhizomatiks, to create immersive experiences that embody the brand’s vision and values. Their vision and ideals of future mobility go beyond a car simply responding to human commands, to its anticipation of human intentions.

Not unlike the industrial revolution, which transformed economies based on agriculture and handicrafts into economies based on large-scale industry, mechanized manufacturing, and the factory system. Our AI revolution is changing our industrialized economy into a digitally driven one. Yet we are asking the big question this time: How do we bring together this technology with our need for human emotion, real sensual connectivity and interaction? Lexus has begun to give us the answers.

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