-Great success of show at Expo 2025 Osaka-

  OSAKA, Sept. 26, 2025/ANSA=Kyodo JBN/ --

The exhibit ‘SaloneSatellite Permanent Collection 1998–2025’ has wrapped up after drawing extraordinary crowds at the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka.

The show curated by Marva Griffin, the founder and creative force behind the event, was inaugurated on September 7 at the Italy Pavilion during a ceremony attended by the Commissioner General for Italy, Mario Vattani.

It attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors.

On display were 47 design products created from 1998 until 2025 by young talents from around the world.

They were selected among those that have made the history of the exhibition dedicated to designers under 35.

The exhibit is presented every year as part of the Salone del Mobile in Milan.

Special attention was devoted to Japanese designers, many of whom have moved their first steps at SaloneSatellite.

They included Oki Sato (Nendo), Nao Tamura and Yuri Himuro, today leading international designers who are proof of the close creative connection between Italy and Japan.

“SaloneSatellite has always been a reference point for up-and-coming designers from around the world who are beginning their careers”, recalled Marva Griffin.

Founded in 1998, the exhibit “has welcomed more than 16,000 designers from over 60 countries”.

And Japan has a central role, stressed Griffin, with the highest number of designers taking part as well as the highest number of winners of the SaloneSatellite Award.

Super Rat, the studio founded in 2024 by Osaka-based designer Kazuki Nagasawa, “whose product has been exhibited here at the Italy Pavilion”, said the curator, won the latest edition of the award in 2025.

And according to the curator, the ‘Permanent Collection 1998–2025’ in Osaka has “given life to new conversations, inspired by the curiosity of the Japanese public, by the presence of designers who started” their careers at SaloneSatellite and “by the promise of those who still need to come”.

“I am deeply proud of this chapter and enthusiastic about the journeys it will inspire”, she concluded.

Her enthusiasm was also shared by Marco Sabetta, the Director General of Salone del Mobile.Milano.

“The debut of the Permanent Collection of SaloneSatellite in Japan at Expo 2025 Osaka has offered a compelling insight into international creativity as well as Italian production”, he said.

Sabetta stressed how the public’s response has confirmed the mission of the project.

“The enthusiasm we met at the Italy Pavilion confirms the value of our mission” - “putting young talents in contact with the industry and culture and strengthening the bridge between Milan and Japan”, he noted.

The exhibit’s end has thus confirmed the role of SaloneSatellite as a springboard for generations of designers and a privileged place of cultural and creative exchange on a global scale.

Source: General Commissioner’s Office of Italy for Expo 2025 Osaka