From July 31, 2025, the group and traveling exhibition "Detour" sponsored by the Moleskine Foundation, the exhibition that brings to the stage a selection of Moleskine notebooks transformed into pieces of art by internationally renowned artists, architects, graphic designers, filmmakers, musicians and illustrators, arrives in Japan with a new stop at the Italian Pavilion of Expo 2025 Osaka, after making stops in cultural capitals such as London, Shanghai, Paris, New York and Milan.
The Moleskine notebook, a symbol of creative imagination, is shown here deconstructed, sculpted, drawn and engraved; a canvas of artistic and intimate manifestations that open to the gaze of those interested in grasping its quintessence and genealogy. Among the 68 authors selected for the exhibition, special attention was given to Japanese and Italian architects, along with the expression of these two design cultures. They include Toyo Ito, who interprets the notebook as an extension of a process of cellular expansion, Kengo Kuma, Kazuyo Sejima, Oki Sato, who returns the usual minimalist irony that characterizes his objects; and again the duo Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin (Formafantasma) who transform the moleskine into an almost archaic-conceptual object, the designer and director of Domus from 2007 to 2010 Flavio Albanese, Alberto Meda and Massimiliano Fuksas. But there are many prominent figures who make up this collage made of paper, signs and memories, from Francis D. Kéré and William Kentridge to Antonio Marras and artist Pascale Marthine Tayou.
In addition to the 1,600 collected works, the Moleskine Foundation has invited a number of artists, stylists, and graphic designers from the Kansai region to contribute to the event, alongside a program of activities devoted to the transformative power of creativity, including a talk featuring the CEOs of Moleskine and Moleskine Foundation. The discussion - entitled "Can Creativity Change the World?" - will focus on the value of design and critical thinking in educational processes and socio-cultural transformation, which will be framed by a workshop in which visitors will be invited to take part in a collective drawing session.
"Detour" will also be followed by a second exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight Gallery 3 in Tokyo from September 10 to 23, to continue to advance the philosophy behind the foundation, as stated by Moleskine Foundation CEO Adama Sanneh, in the belief that "creativity has the power to transform the world."