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Born from the vision of Alberto Fiorenzi and Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, the Collection continues to grow with new pieces that further develop the project's language and stylistic code. The original idea is that the tapestry is a platform for communication, narration, code, and furnishing. It is an installation and a work of art itself, equally at home in museums, galleries, and residences. Over the centuries, tapestries have recounted and represented events and cultural shifts in human history with ever-contemporary poetics. Tapestry encompasses and transcends the functional dimension of weaving to become epic, imaginary, and theatrical.
Today, this extensive and multifaceted collection has been enriched by works produced for Expo 2025 in Osaka by Yuko Nagayama, Kengo Kuma, Tomo Ara, and Migliore + Servetto.
This renews the alchemy that starts with thread as the elementary particle of creation and acts as a device for design and pattern, creating a new, innovative landscape of signs and references. The tapestries on display in Osaka—inside the Italian Pavilion designed by Mario Cucinella Architects with i-Mesh exterior walls—are based on thirty years of experience producing yarns for high-tech sectors and the visionary talent that interprets millennial pattern cultures with an authorial sensibility. These cultures are united by functions yet different in terms of aesthetics, hailing from various latitudes and geographies.
The Collection is a multicultural journey through the symbols and imagery of different peoples, balancing the particular and the general, the recurrent and the distinctive. For this reason, it is a laboratory of semantic experimentation rather than technical experimentation. This research reveals the potential of i-Mesh and its ability to apply knowledge from many local contexts in the Marche region. It also has the complementary ability to speak in metaphors. The first refers to soft architecture as a design culture that is compatible with the ecosystem: organic, responsible, and systemic.
Today, this set of symbols resonates between Osaka and Osimo, spanning the temporary city of the Expo and the iconic walls of Palazzo Gallo. The patterns chase and intertwine, overlap and reveal themselves in dialogue with the graceful decorations and landscapes on the walls, the historic parquet floors with their wooden virtuosity, the lozenges and high-quality cabinetry inserts, and the gentle frescoes that oversee the threads and textures. At Palazzo Gallo, the dialogue between eras and styles is an intimate encounter and a short circuit that enriches the perception of monumental heritage through tapestries as vectors of contemporary thought. The views of the public space and of the legendary Palazzo Campana, which houses magnificent underground caves, offer a unique experience that connects Time and History.
Each tapestry in the “inside/outside” exhibition tells a story and is a paradigm of augmented reality, connecting places and threads that change identity with each other. The first works are on the walls next to the new tapestries: the deserts of Rona Meyuchas Koblenz, the iridescent monochrome weaves in black and white by Marco Ferreri, and the material abstractions of Salida Basica.
Then, your gaze meets Shades. BG designed by Migliore + Servetto, it is a dense shadow resting on the dark wall — an open work searching for a horizon. Inspired by the concept of traversability, the tapestry is shaped by light and its relationship with the context through graphic textures. The fascinating and mysterious Fuku-Ori, designed by Kengo Kuma, is inspired by Kumiko, the traditional Japanese art used for shōji screens, sliding doors, and other decorative wooden elements. These screens are made without nails and often incorporate symbols of good luck. The colors of wood and elegant patterns create overlapping motifs, referencing multiple layers of blessings.
The dynamic design, consisting of movements from top to bottom, gradually transforms the structure and texture—from dense and solid to open and airy—with virtuosic use of thread that explores uncharted territory. The tapestry Cascata/Griglia Morbida, Tribute to Cristiano Toraldo di Francia by Tomo Ara, is a tribute to Toraldo di Francia and reflects the global influence of Superstudio's avant-garde on generations of artists, architects, and scholars. The Istogrammi di Architettura (Architecture Histograms)—at once a quotation and a new work—are interpreted by Ara as rational elements and bridges between things, forms, and meanings. In this tapestry, some inspirations distinguish a profound human relationship.
There are many sources of inspiration and many places. From Osimo, you can see and hear the Adriatic Sea. Coincidences multiply—i-Mesh, which comes from the sea, returns to it. Wave, as a phenomenon by Yuko Nagayama, is an exaltation of flow and movement, and of instability. Nagayama says, "When thinking about architecture, we can transcend the limits of the three-dimensional material world and incorporate 'phenomena', things that may not have a tangible form but undoubtedly exist, alongside the materials that make up the structure. In the tapestry, the waves move in response to people walking towards it."
Thus, i-Mesh, with its alchemy derived from the sea, returns to its fertile testing grounds. The sea has taught us innovation, an organic and systemic vision of the ecosystem, wonder, and enchantment. The sea has also presented us with daring challenges at the intersection of geometry, performance, and beauty. It has revealed the potential of precious and radical materials for architecture, design, and public and private furnishings, both indoor and outdoor.
"The sea is our infrastructure" - says Alberto Fiorenzi, the visionary founder "and it is made up of relationships and insights, quality of thought and ideas, technologies, materials, and technical solutions. It is in tune with the evolution of taste, desires, creativity, and design."
The temporary exhibition is open by appointment only until August 31.
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