The new multi-sensory experience opens up Leone’s live working factory, inviting visitors into a world of craft, imagination and sensory discovery.

London, 23rd September 2026: Today, Leone opens the doors to the Happiness Factory, a new visitor experience in Turin that brings audiences closer to one of Italy’s best-known confectionery brands. Curated by Design Bridge and Partners, WPP’s global brand and design agency, the agency led the creative vision and experiential identity for the space, bringing the craft and imagination behind more than 170 years of Leone confectionery to life through participation and the senses.

Design Bridge and Partners’ relationship with Leone began in 2022, when the agency evolved Leone’s strategy and packaging by drawing on the spirit of founder Luigi Leone, whose imagination, innovative mindset and fascination with the fantastical helped shape the business. The work created a more cohesive expression of Leone’s heritage and inspired Sensory Escapism, an idea that captures the brand’s ability to offer moments of curiosity and imagination away from the everyday. For the Happiness Factory, the challenge was to take Sensory Escapism beyond packaging and visual identity and turn it into something audiences could physically step into and experience for themselves. The result is a place where sweets and chocolate are not simply made, but where the sights, sounds, tastes and rituals of their creation are designed to awaken a sense of childlike wonder and joy.

Design Bridge and Partners led the overarching creative vision and experiential identity for the Happiness Factory to translate Sensory Escapism from a simple emotive idea into an immersive experience that taps into every sense. Design Bridge developed the creative concept, shaping an immersive and distinctive visual language. The exhibition design was created by Studio Paolo Monzeglio, which transformed the narrative into a physical and emotional space, while the interactive, multimedia and graphic elements were developed by Fo.LL.iA. Together, these elements move the experience beyond a conventional factory tour, creating the feeling of stepping inside Leone’s imagination.

Across a 2000mq visitor journey, audiences move through 14 distinct experiential zones, from the Leone Hall and Leone Wonder Ramp to the Leone Piazza and Garden of Delights. At the heart of the experience is the live working factory itself, visible throughout the journey and bringing visitors directly into the sights, sounds and rhythms of production. Rather than simply observing how confectionery is made, visitors are invited to feel part of the process, with live production, mechanical interactions, hands-on activities and moments of human craft immersing them in the art of sweet and chocolate making.

The visual language draws directly from Turin, combining the architectural elegance of its piazzas and arches with Leone’s more fantastical brand world. The space was inspired by gilded brass detailing, ornate filigree and hand-painted signwriting introduce a distinctly Italian sense of craft, while playful interventions push the environment into the surreal. The result balances heritage and sophistication with the curiosity and imagination that characterise Leone.

Throughout the journey, scent, flavour, texture and sound work alongside the visual environment and live production to bring visitors closer to Leone’s products and the craft behind them. Designed to feel enduring rather than screen-led, Design Bridge and Partners prioritised analogue interaction, kinetic mechanics and tactile materials, using digital elements, including dynamic projection mapping, selectively to heighten rather than dominate the experience. The result retains the human, hands-on quality of confectionery making while creating moments of sensory discovery, delight and surprise.

The Happiness Factory extends Leone's brand beyond the products and packaging through which most consumers have traditionally encountered it. By opening up the craft, taste and imagination behind its products, the experience gives audiences a new way to engage with Leone, while creating an experiential design system that can extend into future pop-ups, trade fairs and retail environments.

Ed Mitchell, Deputy Managing Director at Design Bridge and Partners, says: “Leone has an extraordinary history, but what interested us was the spirit behind it. The imagination of its founder, the joy associated with the products and the sense of escape they can create are all incredibly relevant today. Sensory escapism gave us a way to capture that character, and the Happiness Factory allowed us to turn it into something people could discover for themselves. The experience is deliberately tactile, playful and human, that is where Leone’s magic really comes to life."

Michela Petronio, President at Leone, says: “The Happiness Factory has given us the opportunity to share our history in a completely new way with a much wider audience. It is a place where our heritage, craft and products come together, while giving people a chance to see Leone from a different perspective. We are proud to bring this experience to Turin and to create a new chapter for the brand in the very city where our story began.”

Michela Petronio, President at Leone, says: “The Happiness Factory has given us the opportunity to share our history in a completely new way with a much wider audience. It is a place where our heritage, craft and products come together, while giving people a chance to see Leone from a different perspective. We are proud to bring this experience to Turin and to create a new chapter for the brand in the very city where our story began.”