LEXUS AT MILANO DESIGN WEEK 2025: A LANGUAGE BEYOND MOVEMENT

This year, Lexus didn’t come to Milan to talk about torque or top speed. It came to talk about energy—the kind you don’t always see, but definitely feel.

At Salone del Mobile 2025, the brand parked its usual identity at the door and stepped into something softer, stranger, and a little more intuitive. The centerpiece was A–Un, an immersive installation created by Japanese studios SIX and STUDEO. Think: a massive butterfly made of bamboo strings that moves in sync with your heartbeat. It doesn’t look like a car, but somehow it makes you think about what driving could feel like if the car actually cared how your day went.

There’s something bold about a mobility brand that doesn’t show a single car. No dashboards, no prototypes, no hype reel. Just breath, texture, and silence. Lexus seems to be betting that the future of movement isn’t about going faster—but about being understood.

Elsewhere in the space, the vibe continues. Three new works—part of the Discover Together collection—offer more gentle provocations. In Earthspective, Tokyo-based Bascule invites you to see the planet not from your window, but from far above. In Our Energy Nexus, students from Northeastern University ask what happens when small, everyday gestures—breathing cleaner, walking more—are collected into something greater. And in Discover Your Butterfly, we’re reminded that minor shifts can change everything.

None of it screams for attention. There are no QR codes. No hashtags. No calls to action. Lexus isn’t trying to sell you something. It’s inviting you to stay in the moment for a bit longer than usual—and maybe rethink how motion actually feels.

In an industry obsessed with speed, scale, and spectacle, this kind of restraint feels radical. Lexus doesn’t offer answers. But it leaves space for better questions.