CIFF Shanghai 2025: The Italian Lounge, a cultivating ground for collaboration

Transcending traditional exhibition formats, The Italian Lounge at CIFF Shanghai 2025 established a refined 'bleisure' environment while merging Italian products with immersive sensory experiences and a rich programme of forums and talks

Having successfully concluded its second edition at the 56th CIFF Shanghai, The Italian Lounge celebrates the distinctive value of Italian design within the context of the Chinese market. A strategic meeting point where prestigious Italian brands, professionals and institutions engaged in dialogues with key players in the Chinese furniture industry, the project explored how Italian excellence could help augment the quality standards of Chinese spaces, generating a virtuous cross-cultural exchange.

The exhibition space, as designed by Davide Pavanello Lab, offered visitors a complete multisensory experience involving all five senses, creating a profound empathy between design and character. Under the artistic direction of Vudafieri Saverino Partners, an architecture and interior design studio with offices in Milan and Shanghai, and with the patronage of the Politecnico di Milano – School of Design, The Italian Lounge also presented an extensive agenda of forums, talks and networking sessions that garnered strong participation. Activities were coordinated by Prof. Francesco Scullica, a scientific director who seeks to find the right balance between academia and commercial connectivity.

The programme revolved around the concept of ‘bleisure’, or the fusion of business and leisure, to celebrate Italian lifestyle rituals. The opening address titled “A toast to Italian Design” featured Prof. Scullica’s keynote speech exploring Italian hospitality design. The following “Voices of Design” forum brought together architects, designers, university professors, brands, communicators and various Italian and Chinese opinion leaders in a panel that analysed the evolution of Sino-Italian design relations.

The ensuing “Let’s take a coffee with” talks saw presentations by two studios Vudafieri Saverino Partners and Mauricio Cardenas Laverde, with a special testimony from Laminam. The Italian Lounge hosted prestigious Italian brands like Kartell, Natuzzi Italia and Oluce, with carefully selected collections that captivated and engaged visitors.

The positive response to The Italian Lounge lays the foundation for the platform to grow as a strategic tool for promoting Italian principles in an innovative and synergistic way. To collectively disseminate identities, conversations like such must be developed in future editions of CIFF and other new initiatives.