*This press release is an English translation of LIXIL Corporation’s press release issued on March.12, 2012 in JapanFor Immediate Release

March 12, 2012
LIXIL Corporation

LIXIL to participate in the Milano Salone for 2 consecutive years
At the world's largest design event held in Italy
Introducing the future living by blurring wet and dry areas made possible
with “foam” generating water technology
March 12, 2012 – LIXIL Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), a global leader in housing equipment and building
materials headquartered in Tokyo, Japan will participate in the Milano Salone taking place in Milan, Italy
from April 17 to April 22, 2012 for 2 consecutive years. The company offers various products andservices utilizing its unique technologies, and aims to create enriched and comfortable living space while
seeking a balance between richness of life and reducing impact on the environment. As a commitment tofurther pursue this mission, using “foam” created by its new water control technology, LIXIL will present
the future of the living space through installation at the Milano Salone. The installation proposes alifestyle that is created by blurring the distinction between the dry areas and the wet areas where water isallowed, awakening the unknown desire. This idea is deeply rooted in the Asian way of thinking, “makingthe opposites coexist”.
Tadashi Arishiro, Company President of LIXIL Corporation Kitchen & Plumbing Fixtures Company, who
is in charge of the product development and production of water-related business said, “In Asia, webelieve that everything has opposite sides such as the interior and the exterior, the individual and thegroup, closed and open, and people and nature. There has been a long history of people living in anenvironment surrounded by opposing elements. In this history, LIXIL has provided comfortable living
through individual products for each category such as in interior, exterior, water related andnon-water-related products in the housing and building equipment business. Now, LIXIL endeavors tomerge and blur the opposing elements and create a completely new living environment such aspositioning the wet and dry together, by using its unique technologies and solutions to contribute topeople’s enriched comfortable life and earth’s environment. The audiences are encouraged to touch andexperience the foam. The very inspiration that the audience will have through the exhibition is “A NewDesire” which LIXIL envisions and proposes. “LEFT: concept image, RIGHT: concept bathtub

Through participating in the Milano Salone to conceptually communicate ideas and technology, LIXIL aims topresent its capability as a company which offers solutions to the future in lifestyles and the living environment.
Exhibition Theme: A New Desire - Discovering Bliss LIXIL will propose new possibilities of the living environment and the living area with its unique
technology to control the water and air. Focusing on water, the exhibition will showcase a striking andsymbolic presentation of fine creamy foam leading to bliss. This innovative foam will propose the “futurefunctions and interiors of the home”.
Exhibition Concept
Imagine time passing pleasantly - you are enveloped in warm foam; you’re reading a book, watching amovie, feeling the air and the light on your skin. You're bathing in creamy foam. More than a new style ofbathing, this is something that will liberate a new horizon of human desire. Witness a small slice of thefuture of bliss and relaxation that we human beings can savor, from a perspective in which the human
body, our living spaces and technology are treated as one.

(Kenya HARA)

Exhibition Outline
LIXIL will propose “new living” through innovative technologies and ideas represented by the 3 distinct
bathing experiences on display in the 180 square meter exhibition space.
1. Experiential BathExperience the warm velvety and fine creamy foam
2. Visionary BathIntroduce a bathing experience which visualizes the future standard in bathing
3. Beyond BathUnprecedented installation which changes the way of living by “bathing in foam”. that leads to a
new lifestyle.
General InformationEvent

Milano Salone (Salone Internazionale del Mobile)

Dates

April 17 (Tuesday) - 22 (Sunday), 2012

Press preview

April 16 (Monday), 2012 (3:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.)

Venue

c/o Superstudio Più, via Tortona 27

Floor space

180 m2

AccessMetro:
Tram:
Bus :

URL

http://www.lixil-milano.com/

MM2 Porta Genova
2, 9, 14, 19
47, 68, 74, 90, 91(10:00a.m. - 9:00p.m.)

Designer profile
Kenya HARA
Designer, Kenya Hara (b.1958) emphasizes the design of both objects
andexperiences.

In

2000,

heproduced

theexhibition"RE-DESIGN--Daily Products of the 21st Century", which successfully
presented the fact that the resources of astonishing design are found in
the context of the very ordinary and casual. In 2002, Hara became amember of MUJI's advisory board and began acting as its art director. In
2004, he planned and directed the exhibition"HAPTIC - Awakening the Senses" revealing to the audience that great
resources of design are dormant in the human senses. Much of his work,
including the programs for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of theNagano Winter Olympic Games and Expo 2005 is deeply rooted in
Photo : Yoshiaki TsutsuiJapanese culture. In 2007 and 2009, he produced two exhibitions titled"TOKYO FIBER -- SENSEWARE" in Paris, Milan and Tokyo, and from2008 through 2009, the exhibition "JAPAN CAR" in Paris and at the Science Museum in London. Hara's
focus in these kinds of exhibitions is on visualizing and widely disseminating the potentiality of industry.
The radius of his activity has been expanding to the rest of Asia as well, including the traveling exhibition"DESIGNING DESIGN Kenya Hara 2011 China Exhibition" that starts in Beijing in 2011.
Several books authored by Hara, including Designing Design and White, have been translated into a
number of languages, including other Asian languages. Representative, the Nippon Design Center Inc.
Professor at Musashino Art University President, Japan Design Committee Co., Ltd. Vice President,
Japan Graphic Designers Association Inc.
LIXIL 2011 Milano Salone Exhibition
2011 marked the first for LIXIL to participate in the Milano Salone. LIXIL introduced the newly developed
technology of creating fine creamy foam, and presented a Japanese style bathing experience, bathing tosooth the body and the soul. The exhibition received great attention from not only European industry butalso from all over the world including Asia, attracting over 28,000 people to the exhibition booth. Theexhibition was prepared with hands-on corners including a foam filled bathtub for people to feel andtouch the foam, attracting many visitors to experience the sensation.
This year, LIXIL will advance further in taking the last year’s introduction of “foam” bathing to anotherlevel, and create an installation to propose the possibilities of a new lifestyle.

About the Milano Salone
Milano Salone (Official name: Salone Internazionale del Mobile) is one of the largest international
furnishing exhibitions in the world which is held in Milan, Italy’s heart of design and culture. The exhibitionis held every April and 2012 will mark the 51st year. The exhibition is divided into “FIRERA SALONE”
held in the main exhibition space and other venues spread across the city called “FUORI SALONE”
involving the whole city of Milan. The event has a great influence and attracts attention as the world’s
cutting edge in design trends, noted as one of the most highlighted design events. Last year the event
received over 320 thousand visitors.