DESIGN OF THE TIMES
At this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival, Lexus built on its rich history of design excellence as it gave guests a little taste of utopia inside the 2018 Lexus Design Pavilion.
Luxury lifestyle brand Lexus set its sights high for this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival, redesigning its famed Lexus Design Pavilion to reflect its newly announced position as principal partner of the Victoria Racing Club and naming rights sponsor of the Melbourne Cup.
The brand welcomed guests into a world of handcrafted luxury across three levels, where carefully selected design collaborators had taken the brand’s creative inspiration of ‘utopia’ and translated it into bespoke pieces of art, furniture, floral installations, lighting and landscaping.
Guided by the ancient Japanese tradition of takumi craftsmanship and Lexus’s core brand philosophies – anticipation, consideration and hospitality – the 2018 Lexus Design Pavilion used its prime position overlooking the finish line at Flemington to showcase the brand’s design prowess.
The pavilion’s bold, all-black exterior was complemented by texturally rich materials inside – from ash timbers to ecru stone;
warm concrete to matt-black steel – creating a modern and harmonious space to showcase the work of collaborators.
Lexus design spokesperson Henry Wilson described the pavilion as “one of Australia’s most superior design projects”.
“Each year, Lexus evolves the harmony between Japanese humility and boldness, reflected in the choice of exceptional collaborators and the new structure itself,” the acclaimed industrial designer said.
Melbourne-based artisan Grazia Materia brought her industrial lens to the furniture, while landscape architect Jack Merlo softened the space with rich greenery, Volker Haug Studio designed lighting installations, artist Anna-Wili Highfield created a bespoke horse sculpture and Studio Twocan co-founder Maddie Sharrock added her unmistakable touch with striking pieces in coloured concrete.
With every last detail planned to anticipate guests’ needs, the 2018 Lexus Design Pavilion came as close as is possible to providing racegoers with a trackside utopia.