Expanded to include Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington for the first time, the 2025 Lexus Design Award highlights fresh talent, thoughtful mentorship and ideas with meaningful potential.
Last Thursday Homestyle attended the Lexus Design Award at the Simon James showroom in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, where work from emerging designers across Aotearoa took centre stage. Guests took their seats on an assortment of chairs pulled from the showroom floor, surrounded by the considered pieces that define the space. It created an immediate sense of being inside the design culture these students are stepping into — an intimate setting for an evening focused on future talent.
Vice President of Lexus New Zealand, Andrew Davis, opened the event by noting that sustainability and design sit at the heart of the brand, and that the award continues to champion ideas with environmental and social impact. With ninety submissions across four universities in Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Whanganui-a-Tara, the breadth of concepts on display showed how firmly those ideas are being embraced by the next generation.
Among the many thoughtful submissions, the winning projects stood out for the clarity of their ideas and the strength of their execution. Clara Chemin from Victoria University of Wellington won with Cradle, a circular system restoring kelp forests by turning kina predators into value-added products. Massey University’s Cameron Murray was recognised for Lifeline, an inflatable emergency shelter delivered by autonomous drones to support people stranded in places difficult for search teams to reach.
In Tāmaki Makaurau, AUT student Oliver Lloyd took the top place for Roll a Rat, a flat-pack biodegradable bait station designed to control invasive rodents while regenerating ecosystems through embedded native seeds. The University of Auckland’s Marissa Porteous won with her Compost Chemigation System, an underground irrigation network that repurposes rainwater and organic fertiliser to improve soil health and manage stormwater.
Runner-up projects also demonstrated strong thinking and inventive problem solving. AUT’s Christine Botha created NiraFlow, a wool-based greywater filter capturing microplastics. The University of Auckland’s Olivia Lee was recognised for The Light Map, a modular lighting system activating urban parks at night. Victoria University’s Maggie McMillan-Perry developed Access Bites, a platform connecting disabled users with accessible eateries. Massey University’s Jack Johansson presented WoolFlow Air Intakes, automotive components crafted from New Zealand’s strong wool.
This year marked the first time the mentorship programme extended to Te Whanganui-a-Tara, with ACME Cup’s Megan Wyper and Patrick Kennedy and Kowtow founder Gosia Piatek with business director Emma Wallace joining long-time Lexus ambassadors Simon James and Scott Bridgens of Resident. Together they brought perspectives across product design, industrial design, sustainable fashion and interiors.
During the panel discussion, the mentors spoke about one of Aotearoa’s advantages: the ability for designers to stay closely connected to their makers and manufacturing processes. That direct line often leads to more refined outcomes than might be possible in larger, more fragmented markets. They also spoke candidly about their own practices, encouraging students to stay in touch and to ask questions — a generous passing of knowledge that felt central to the evening.
Emma Wallace from Kowtow reflected on the value of widening the design lens. Fashion can sometimes sit at a slight remove from these conversations, she noted, so being invited into the programme felt significant. This sentiment underscored the richness that comes when different creative disciplines share the same platform.
The open format of this year’s brief helped draw out that breadth. Students were invited to interpret Anticipate, Innovate and Captivate in their own way, while aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The result was a mix of ideas spanning ecosystem repair, accessibility, emergency response and urban wellbeing — all driven by a desire for long-term impact.
All four category winners will present their projects at Auckland Design Week in 2026. From regenerative systems to technologies that support safety and resilience, this year’s entries showed a cohort thinking ambitiously about the world they’re stepping into. The Lexus Design Award remains a vital platform for that ambition, supporting ideas with the potential to reshape how we live, create and care for our environment.
For more on the awards programme visit Lexus.co.nz
The post Future Thinking: The 2025 Lexus Design Award Winners appeared first on homestyle magazine.
