Dispatch from Milan
SOMETHING IN THE
AIR
lexus AnD ARCHITECT SOU FUJIMOTO CELEBRATE THE LFA with crystallised wind By A m a r Pat e l
Architect Sou Fujimoto and his acrylic chairs, created to complement an LFA–inspired gallery exhibition in Milan
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I’m in a room of darkness, broken only by mysterious bursts of light, some casting fleeting, shimmering fragments on the walls, others freezing like suspended ornaments. Currents of sound, which whizz by as if blown by sudden gusts of wind, are punctuated by a shiiing that sounds like the unsheathing of a katana blade. ‘Mind your step,’ warns Sou Fujimoto, the soft-spoken co-creator (with Lexus) of crystallised wind, this year’s Lexus art exhibition at the annual Milan Furniture Fair. (Lexus has participated in this prestigious event since 2005.) Here, inside the Museo della Permanente, we are in a shadowy world, far away from the city’s sunny piazzas where couples sport designer eyewear and lick cones filled with pastel-colored gelato. The performance is masterful: exactly 10 minutes after the first ripples of light and sound, the faint form of a car chassis becomes visible – a ghostly beacon awash in cobalt blue, glowing with a white-hot edge. What we are looking at, I realise, is an elegant X-ray of the LFA Lexus concept car. In what he calls an ‘inversion’, Lexus and Fujimoto have used the type of LED lighting usually found in a Lexus headlight to illuminate the vehicle’s interior – the engine and cockpit – while the exterior remains almost transparent. ‘In Japan, people are used to dealing with opposing ideas,’ he tells me. ‘Especially in architecture, there’s the notion of engawa, or in-between space. There’s no clear distinction. And this can create something quite different – a new perception of space.’
The House N project in Oita, Japan, for example, illustrates Fujimoto’s ability to blur boundaries: it is a simple box house that is simultaneously a garden. A sports car-assculpture is a very different proposition than a home, however – and depicting something invisible, such as wind, alongside something visible carries its own aesthetic challenges. To Fujimoto, the ambience of crystallised wind is very similar to that of a Japanese stone garden. ‘Of course, stones are not living things but you can see the line of water flowing, like the flow of nature in a still environment,’ he explains. ‘We’ve tried to reinterpret this feeling using acrylic. It’s the best transparent material for crafting smooth, flat-front surfaces with sharp wave-like undersides for the chairs. Using one material throughout for both the moulded LFA model and the furniture also creates a sense of unity of space.’ Fujimoto takes a moment to consider his attraction to L-finesse, the Lexus design philosophy that honours Japanese design tradition through its unique blend of intriguing elegance, incisive simplicity and seamless anticipation. He appreciates the counter-intuitive approach, the value of thinking outside the box. ‘L-finesse is very similar to my architectural point of view,’ he says, ‘particularly the idea of two different elements coexisting and combining to create something new.’ And then there was the allure of the car itself. ‘I was very interested in driving the LFA but Lexus told me it is like a monster. I said I’d like to drive the monster!’
Lexus’ model of the ‘monster’ captures this excitement, as it was fashioned from 20 laminated acrylic boards, which were cut, sanded and polished for a transparent effect. This near-invisibility allows key interior components, such as the vacuumformed instrumental panel, seats and V10 engine to be seen and appreciated. ‘For the interior we collaborated with a lighting engineer,’ says Fujimoto. ‘Together, we tested to find the best positions for conveying the LFA’s character and expressing the silence of the exhibition. Then we varied the brightness and colour of the LEDs.’ Space and time are also crucial to Fujimoto’s vision of crystallised wind. ‘I’m a big fan of Einstein. He realised that time can change to space and vice versa. Neither is certain nor separate. Similarly, I don’t want to impose one feeling on the audience. With crystallised wind, I hope that some people will feel calm, while others will feel energised.’ Fujimoto leaves me with words of kodawari – his ‘burning desire’ – and it becomes clear that his achievements in residential architecture, and now in the world of L-finesse, make him feel like a missionary for hope. ‘Architecture is a very public endeavour,’ he allows. ‘But the very first motivation for me is personal. I like to experience something new and exciting in everyday life. That is my core social responsibility. Hopefully, people then feel that the door is open for new possibilities. It gives people hope for progress.’
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