Natuzzi Italia takes center stage at Expo 2025 Osaka, furnishing the Italian Pavilion designed by Mario Cucinella Architects. From April to October 2025, the Expo expects over 30 million visitors and 160 participating countries. The Pavilion draws from Renaissance ideals, built around the piazza, theater, portico, and garden, key elements of Italian civic space. Natuzzi outfits the Pavilion’s main interiors, including the VIP Room, VIP Lobby, and Theater.
The partnership brings Natuzzi’s vision of Mediterranean living to Japan, with interiors that reflect warmth, comfort, and attention to materiality. For Natuzzi, Expo 2025 presents an international platform to express its values, design that connects history with progress, and local traditions with global awareness.
Mediterranean Forms Meet Contemporary Design
Founded in 1959 in Puglia by Pasquale Natuzzi, the company continues to evolve while maintaining strong ties to its origins. With nearly four decades of presence in Japan, Natuzzi combines cultural familiarity with regional craftsmanship. At Expo 2025, the brand introduces collections that showcase its refined take on comfort and form.
The Deep and Wave collections, designed by Nika Zupanc, define the Pavilion’s lounge areas. Each piece features curved profiles, smooth textures, and references to water and movement. These collections reflect not just aesthetics but also the rhythm of Mediterranean spaces. The Wave sofa, which earned the Archiproducts Design Award, creates intimacy through its sculptural volume and tactile upholstery.
Engineering Comfort: Re-vive Armchair and Theater Seating
At the center of Natuzzi’s ergonomic vision sits the Re-vive armchair. Developed with New Zealand’s Formway Design, this recliner responds to the body’s movement through a Responsive Recline system. Its internal structure contains over 120 mechanical components that adjust automatically to shifting weight. The chair includes features such as adjustable armrests, a 360-degree swiveling base, and a flexible footrest, all designed to provide comfort in motion.
For the Pavilion’s Theater, Natuzzi created 90 custom seats in collaboration with MCA Studio. The design team focused on proportion, materials, and integration. These chairs support the space’s dual role as a platform for cultural programming and a gathering point for conversation.
A Space Built for Dialogue
Natuzzi’s presence at Expo 2025 goes beyond aesthetics. Each item contributes to the Pavilion’s atmosphere, one that encourages exchange and reflects the Italian approach to hospitality. The Theater, in particular, plays a central role over the six-month event, acting as a venue for conversations around design, innovation, and Italy’s role on the global stage.
According to Pasquale Natuzzi, “Expo Osaka represents a moment of great significance for us, an opportunity to share globally the values that define our DNA – art, beauty, craftsmanship, and quality.” He frames this partnership as a way to extend the Mediterranean sensibility into new contexts, combining the familiar with the forward-looking.
Italy’s Creative Economy on Display
Mario Vattani, Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025, describes companies like Natuzzi as “co-protagonists” of the Pavilion’s mission. He connects the brand’s work to Italy’s regional manufacturing networks, pointing out the social and economic role that design-driven businesses play in national development.
As one of the most recognized names in Italian interiors, Natuzzi reinforces its international presence through this installation. Its work at the Pavilion does more than furnish rooms, it reflects an approach to design rooted in comfort, craft, and adaptability. From southern Italy to Osaka, the brand continues to build bridges through thoughtful material choices and forms that respond to how people live.
Natuzzi’s installations at the Italian Pavilion will remain open throughout the duration of Expo 2025 Osaka. The spaces welcome visitors not just to look, but to sit, reflect, and connect.
i am the biggest fan of their sofas!