The first edition of Lexus Design Award India (LDAI) was conducted in Bengaluru, where Lexus recognised local talents and awarded them for the creative social projects that can make a difference in our day to day life and build a better future. The awards were chaired by Neelam Chhiber along with a panel of eminent design personalities from the automotive industry.
Entries for the awards were conducted in December last year. More than 700 entries were received from professional design communities and students combined. Elephant Design Pvt. Ltd got the top honours for the Grand Prix award for the Designer/Design House of the Year category. At the Pune Design Festival, the winners received a trophy specially designed by the well-known designer Michael Foley. The lucky winner also gets to see his/her design prototype put up for display at Lexus Guest Experience Centres in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Mumbai and New Delhi.
PB Venugopal, President, Lexus India, commented,“We are absolutely thrilled with the outcome of the first Lexus Design Award India. The volume and quality of the entries surpassed our expectations. The entries truly reflected the spirit of imagination, craftsmanship and design on which the Lexus brand is built.”
LDAI will be an annual event that aims to recognise talents in various initiatives including social causes for a better tomorrow. Here is the list of all the winners in different categories:
| CATEGORY | WINNER
| DESCRIPTION |
| Design for Craft | Saif Faisal Design Workshop
| Project Title:Bidriware Collection Saif Faisal works with the 700-year-old craft of Bidriware, infusing the traditional craft with new thinking and innovative designs. His work strives at designing products for urban consumers using this technique.
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| Textile Design | Toile Indienne
| Project Title: Toile Indienne Collection Toile Indienne attempts to honour the Indian tradition of storytelling through contemporary and classic fabric collections – inspired by the romance of India’s history, crafts and legends.
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| Design Thinking | Greensole
| Project Title: Greensole Greensoleupcyles the soles of high quality discarded sports shoes into trendy chappals and sandals. They help reduce waste and generate employment with their innovation
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| Furniture & Interior Accessories | Baro/SiddharthSirohi
| Project Title: Baro Furniture Collection Baro’s furniture embodies design influenced by the timeless mid-century modern movement, with particular attention to the balance between form and function.
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| Product Design | Design Directions Pvt. Ltd.
| Project Title: iBreastExam iBreastExam (iBE) is ergonomically designed and well suited medical scanner, that is designed to be easily used by the Community Health Workers. The form is friendly, non-invasive. The way it is held allows for a light touch on the breasts that translates into effective readings.
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| Packaging Design | Elephant Design Pvt. Ltd.
| Project Title: PaperBoat range of fruit juices With the packaging for Paper Boat fruit juices, the design team at Elephant aimed to create an experience similar to squeezing and sucking a fruit. The form was aimed at making the consumption experience playful and fun. |
| Design for Public Utility | Venkataramanan Associates
| Project Title: Redevelopment of Church Street The concept of the project is centered on re-imagining the character of the road; to create a social hub of food and festivities that meet international standards, where pedestrians are at the top of the hierarchy. |
| Jury’s Choice Award | The AkshayaPatra Foundation
| Project Title: Unlimited food for education AkshayaPatra is the world’s largest Mid-day Meal programme, providing wholesome lunches to over 1.6 million school children across India, every single day. They leverage technology, design thinking and innovative engineering to run their enterprise at this scale. |
| Jury’s Choice Award | PBK Waste Solutions Pvt Ltd.
| Project Title: Daily Dump – Making Waste Visible and Beautiful Daily Dump has created a slew of segregation products, composters, books, services and more to help people reduce the amount of trash and waste that ends up in landfills.
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| Design House of the Year | Elephant Design Pvt. Ltd.
| Project Title: PaperBoat range of fruit juices With the packaging for Paper Boat fruit juices, the design team at Elephant aimed to create an experience similar to squeezing and sucking a fruit. The form was aimed at making the consumption experience playful and fun. |
| Best Student Project | Gowtham Reddy, NID
| Project Title: Osmos – The Self Watering Planter Gowtham Reddy, student of the National Institute of Design has attempted to create a solution to the problem of watering plants regularly without daily human intervention. His self-watering system can keep plants watered for a 15 day period without allowing mosquitoes to breed in the stored water
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| Open Category | Indi Design
| Project Title: Pool Magazine Pool Magazine is a monthly magazine that focuses on Indian Designers, Design firms, Businesses, Arts and Crafts. Perhaps the only one of its kind in India, Pool has helped bring focus and attention to the Indian design fraternity
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