Ambassador Mario Vattani,
Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, opened the
event "Italian Visionaries", an exclusive event of the London
Design Festival 2024.
Organized at the Italian Cultural Institute in London, the
event, moderated by the writer and curator Priya Khanchandani,
developed as a dialogue between two protagonists of contemporary
Italian design and architecture: the architect Mario Cucinella,
founder and Creative Director of MCA Mario Cucinella Architects,
who designed the Italy Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka, and Maria
Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile di Milano (Milan
Furniture Show) and representative of Porro S.p.A..
During his speech, Vattani underlined the importance of Italy's
participation in the Universal Exhibition in Osaka and the role
of the Italian Pavilion as a symbol of innovation and
sustainability.
"Design is the heart of Made in Italy, one of our excellences
recognized throughout the world. In the Italian Pavilion, we
will bring our know-how, creativity and ability to innovate to a
global stage. We will also celebrate Italian design with a
special edition of the International Compasso d'Oro, developing
the central theme of Expo 2025, 'Designing the future society
for our lives, through design'," said Vattani.
The Italy Pavilion, Cucinella emphasized, "is highly
sustainable: it is completely made of wood, can be dismantled
piece by piece and each piece can be reused elsewhere in the
world."
"Sustainability is now a fundamental element at the Salone del
Mobile," added Maria Porro, "and it is becoming more so every
year. Every event within the Salone must be certified in terms
of sustainability; for example, the use of cardboard has now
been completely abolished. Moreover, in my company, we tend to
limit the use of electricity as much as possible: for example,
we encourage staff to start work early in the morning and finish
in the early afternoon.
"It is an honor to welcome Mario Cucinella, a very important
architect of international fame, and Maria Porro, who represents
the greatest design reality in the world, to London. And I am
proud that in our Institute London 'gets to know' the Italy
Pavilion in Osaka", concluded the director of the Italian
Cultural Institute in London, Francesco Bongarrà.
The event represented an important opportunity to reflect on the
future of Made in Italy and its impact in the international
context, with a particular focus on Expo 2025 Osaka.
Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka from April 13 to October 13,
2025 under the theme "Designing the society of the future for
our lives". Italy presents itself with a Pavilion designed by
the architect Mario Cucinella whose slogan is "Art regenerates
life".
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