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At Expo 2025 Osaka, the story of contemporary Italy takes shape through architectures, materials, and visions capable of combining memory and future. At the heart of this setting, the Italy Pavilion has stood out as a manifesto of design culture and innovation. It was precisely within this space that the Marche Week took place, a strategic opportunity to present the very best of the region to an international audience. Among the key players, i-Mesh assumed a central role, not only as an exhibiting company, but as a Marche-based excellence already integrated into the architectural design of the Pavilion.
The Italy Pavilion, designed by Mario Cucinella, is based on a powerful concept: reinterpreting the Renaissance ideal city in a contemporary key. The declared inspiration is the painting “The Ideal City” attributed to Luciano Laurana, a symbol of perspectival balance, harmony, and the centrality of the human being within urban space.
This vision translates into an architecture that combines aesthetics and function, historical memory and sustainability. Within this framework, i-Mesh’s technological textile was selected by Mario Cucinella as an integral part of the Pavilion’s design. Not a simple cladding element, but a component capable of contributing to light control, environmental quality, and the scenographic impact of the spaces. The selection of a Marche-based company for a project of such international relevance represents significant recognition of the quality and reliability of its know-how.
The setting of Marche Week was further enriched by contemporary tapestries that reinterpreted the Italian textile tradition through the perspective of internationally renowned designers such as Yuko Nagayama, Kengo Kuma, Tomo Ara, and Migliore+Servetto. Their works translated the language of tapestry into a contemporary form, transforming it into a narrative and architectural surface capable of merging art, design, and material research.
Alongside the tapestries, evocative Byōbu (traditional Japanese folding screens), redesigned in a contemporary key by architect Matteo Belfiore, completed the installation. Together, these elements created a refined visual dialogue between Italian and Japanese culture, between Renaissance verticality and Eastern lightness, perfectly embodying the spirit of Expo.
During Marche Week, the project “ARS: Tradition and Innovation” developed as a cultural journey aimed at narrating the evolution of Marche craftsmanship. The term “ars” recalls the idea of art as both technical and creative expertise, a synthesis of manual skill, ingenuity, and innovation.
i-Mesh fully embodied this narrative, demonstrating how textile, a symbolic element of Italian manufacturing tradition, can become a high-tech material capable of engaging with contemporary architecture. The company represents a model in which research, sustainability, and customization merge, projecting tradition toward new applications and global markets.
The highlight of i-Mesh’s presence was the masterclass featuring Alberto Fiorenzi and Salvator-John A. Liotta, a leading figure in the international architectural landscape and a profound connoisseur of the dialogue between Italian and Japanese design culture.
The meeting became a true laboratory of ideas, where enterprise and architecture engaged in open dialogue before a qualified audience of professionals, stakeholders, and Expo visitors. Fiorenzi illustrated i-Mesh’s growth journey, focusing on the collaboration with the Italy Pavilion design team and on the importance of material research as a competitive driver. He emphasized how innovation is not an isolated act, but a continuous process involving technical expertise, investment, and strategic vision.
Alongside him, Salvator John Liotta offered a reflection on the role of advanced materials in contemporary architecture, drawing attention to how technological textile surfaces can contribute not only to aesthetics, but also to environmental performance and building sustainability.
The masterclass was further enriched by interviews and contributions from three prominent Japanese architects: Jiro Endo, Yuko Nagayama, and Taichi Kuma. Their testimonies broadened the discussion, offering different perspectives on the use of innovative materials and on the dialogue between tradition and experimentation in the Asian context.
Through shared questions and reflections, a common theme emerged: the need for an integrated approach in which designers and companies collaborate from the earliest conceptual stages. Materials are not neutral elements, but narrative and performative tools capable of influencing spatial quality and the experience of those who inhabit it
Participation in Marche Week at the Italy Pavilion thus represented far more than a simple trade fair presence for i-Mesh. The company affirmed itself as an emblem of a territory capable of combining craftsmanship and technology, local roots and global openness.
The fact that its textile was chosen by Mario Cucinella for a Pavilion inspired by the Renaissance “Ideal City” carries strong symbolic value: it demonstrates that excellence from the Marche region can contribute to shaping architectural visions of international scope.
Through the project “ARS: Tradition and Innovation” and the masterclass with Alberto Fiorenzi and Salvator John Liotta, enriched by the contributions of Jiro Endo, Yuko Nagayama, and Taichi Kuma, i-Mesh conveyed a story of conscious innovation, intercultural dialogue, and shared future.
