We don’t need to disturb Calvino or even Gombrich before him in order to ascertain how innovation, whether in art or other environments, originates from a clever game of pick and mix. This year, Lexus celebrates its 10th anniversary at the Milano Design Week by choosing the creative philosophy YET as the focus for its Triennale event. The leading hybrid automotive brand will launch a challenge to force designers to reflect on combining elements that appear quite incompatible. It was a decidedly coherent decision, therefore, to involve Neri Oxman from the MIT Media Lab and his team The Media Matter Group, pioneers of so-called ‘Material Ecology’ – a trend that proposes new models of digital fabrication through the hybridisation of natural resources and advanced technology – in a spectacular multidimensional installation. The eight finalists for the Lexus Design Award are also stepping up to the theme and their work will be shown as part of the exhibition. Yet again, yesterday as today, ‘hybrid’ truly seems to be the key to the future.