Page 60 - S Fall 2024

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Form and Function
Inspired by the Japanese aesthetic ideal of miyabi, the all-new 2025 INFINITI QX80 must be experienced to be understood.
By Matt Bubbers
W hen INFINITI set out to define a new era for the brand, and for its all-new flagship SUV, the 2025 QX80, the Japanese firm’s
designers looked to the aesthetic ideals that have defined and informed Japanese culture for millennia.
Of course, Japan has no shortage of great cultural exports—food, art, technology, music, animation, fashion, Super Mario—but the culture’s deep-rooted aesthetic ideals have become an increasingly popular export. (As evidenced by innumerable articles listing the best in wabi-sabi interior decor, wabi-sabi wellness products and, well, you get the idea.)
However, the concept of wabi and sabi, iki and miyabi go way beyond any shallow aesthetic notion of colour or cut or silhouette or vibe; Japanese aesthetics are all-encompassing ideals. They’re almost a way of life, one that INFINITI’s designers—many of whom are based in a beautiful campus in Atsugi, in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture—are well versed in.
As INFINITI’s most highly refined offering, the all-new 2025 QX80 is the flagship of the brand. It’s a three-row rolling palace. Fittingly then, its design team was inspired by the ancient notion of miyabi. Directly translated it means courtliness and refinement. It’s an aesthetic derived from royal courts and the exquisite work of Kyoto artisanal culture, typified by the use of soft, layered materials and flowing integration of surfaces. It’s graceful, exclusive, regal, and elegant.
Miyabi manifests on the all-new 2025 QX80 everywhere you look. There are laser-cut metal inlays that flow like a breeze across the multi- layered dashboard, adding a sense of width and air to the palatial interior. The relative spacing of the aluminum trim becomes wider toward the
front of the cabin, helping create a sense of spaciousness. Miyabi is also evident in the optional dot-quilting that adds texture and depth to the seats, and tells of an extreme level of craftsmanship for those who notice such details.
Miyabi can also be experienced in the optionally available new Klipsch Reference Premiere Audio System, which features speakers around the front seat headrests that look almost like a crown. For the driver, navigation instructions come through there discreetly, so as not to disturb the calm in the rest of the cabin.
The newest iteration of INFINITI’s signature double-arch grille with its vertical strakes evokes the organic shapes of a bamboo forest, a motif that’s also carried through the narrow, multi-element LED lights at either side of the upper grille.
“The all-new QX80 is the first production model to be born under our evolved design language, Artistry in Motion,” said Alfonso Albaisa, senior vice president for Global Design. “On the exterior, we held true to the provocative vision we established with the QX Monograph and on the inside, we seamlessly integrated technology amongst the finest materials, to deliver a sense of extraordinary craftsmanship for all three rows.”
Words, however, don’t do it justice. As the influential Japanese aesthetician Teiji Itoh wrote about the difficulty in defining Japanese aesthetics: “The dilemma we face is that our grasp is intuitive and perceptual rather than rational and logical.” In other words, you kind of just need to experience it for yourself. That’s as true of INFINITI’s new QX80 as it is of any great artistic work of miyabi.
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