Latest news with #Women'sPavilion
The National
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Cartier Women's Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Japan
The Women's Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka was conceived by Yuko Nagayama, a renowned Japanese architect, reusing the facade of the Japan Pavilion from Expo 2020 Dubai that she had also designed. Victor Besa / The National
The National
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
From UAE to Japan: Women's Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka has roots in Dubai's world's fair
Japan's crowd-pleasing pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai has been transported from the Middle East to the Far East to wow visitors five years on at the latest world's fair in Osaka. The white origami-inspired structure has been repurposed as the Women's Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, serving to build on the strong cultural connections between the past two event hosts. The translucent membrane-like structure that combines both Japanese and Middle Eastern geometric patterns was among the most popular sites of the Dubai Expo. The geometric motifs were reassembled by a renowned Japanese architect into the Women's Pavilion to forge a link between two global expositions in the UAE and Japan. 'I wanted to express Japanese reality as it is for our generation, as our consciousness is not entirely immersed in Japan. We are a global mix and a distinct kind of Japanese-ness has arisen from that mix,' said Yuko Nagayama, who conceived both the Japan pavilion at the Dubai Expo and the Osaka project that tells stories of women, empowerment and gender equality. People can take a pause in our Japanese garden which is a quieter space and look at the expo below Emmanuelle Begue, Cartier Women's Pavilion deputy lead A stunning example of adaptive architecture, the facade that drew millions in Dubai has been reutilised in Osaka and is drawing curious visitors once again. Ms Nagayama said she designed it merging traditional Arabesque and Japanese patterns to reflect the connections with cultures of the Middle East. Tradition mixed with modernity At the Osaka Expo that opened in April, the remodelled pavilion sits beside the world's largest wooden ring that encircles hundreds of national pavilions. About 10,000 steel rods and ball joints were given a new lease of life and reassembled at the new site in Japan to inspire others to conserve and recycle. The origami cubes that knit into a tightly-closed frame at the Dubai Expo have opened up in Osaka almost like windows looking over the Expo site. 'We saw this as a great opportunity to show the potential of reusing material,' said Ms Nagayama. The facade draws inspiration from Japanese kumiko woodwork, a traditional technique that assembles thin slats of timbre without using nails. 'I hope the Women's Pavilion will be a starting point, and eventually the issues that women face will be resolved and the next generation will no longer need a separate pavilion,' she said. Core message Instead of water bodies that surrounded the pavilion in Dubai, green spaces have been created by replanting shrubs and plants from the mountains surrounding Kansai and Osaka. The play of light and shade on the origami exterior lends it a different feel when lit up at night and under the glare of the sun. The core message is a call for a bright future with mutual respect in which everyone, irrespective of gender, has the opportunity to reach their full potential and live together in harmony. 'The idea to use plants is about nurturing so people can take a pause in our Japanese garden which is a quieter space and look down over at the expo below,' said Emmanuelle Begue, the Cartier Women's Pavilion venue deputy lead. 'We want people to browse and get immersed in the experience.' Once the Expo ends, the plants and trees will be replanted in a forest outside Osaka. The Women's Pavilion in collaboration with Cartier is a project of Japan's Ministry of Economy and Trade and the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition. The idea of a women's pavilion dates back to the Expo 1873 Vienna as a powerful expression for women to converge, showcase their work, ideas and highlight their rights. At Osaka, the pavilion seeks to stimulate the senses with canvas, stone and plant art work using storytelling to amplify the voices of women, train the spotlight on their contributions and empower the next generation. Visitors can select various paths, watch a series of video and audio messages from women lawyers, activists, artists, entrepreneurs and leaders. 'You can listen to a woman who explains what it is like being a refugee and coming from a country at war, the women talk about the environment, the challenges we face, there are so many different layers,' Ms Begue said. 'We are working on the theme of togetherness and want everyone to feel involved.' Award-winning British artist Es Devlin, the global artistic lead of the Women's Pavilion, said the focus was on their transformative power. Ms Devlin had conceptualised the UK pavilion at the Dubai Expo where visitors were asked to contribute a word and the text was broadcast across a massive wooden conical structure. 'I've always viewed World Expos as a collection of unique musical instruments, where each pavilion sings and reverberates well beyond its initial six-month lifespan,' Ms Devlin said in a bulletin on women released by the BIE, the organisation that supervises the World Expos. She said the stories shared in Osaka would engage visitors as 'facts are far more effective when they are felt.' 'I feel the impact could be immense as the pavilion really has the ability to touch, reach and make a difference. The pavilion is for all. It's using the word woman as a lens to explore specific challenges and to celebrate specific achievements.' Plans for parts of the structure to have a life beyond the two expos are being worked out. The pavilion has more than 150 programmes and workshops around gender, art, culture, financial education scheduled through to October.
Elle
30-05-2025
- Business
- Elle
Inside Cartier's Global Mission to Empower Women
Cartier is more than a storied house of the finest jewelry, it's a brand dedicated to platforming women in philanthropy. Since 2006, the Cartier Women's Initiative (CWI) has nurtured women-run and -owned businesses across social, economic, and environmental fields. In its nearly 20 years, the program has championed 330 entrepreneurs and awarded $12.2 million in financial support. CWI is open to any applicant across the globe, offering successful candidates a $100,000 grant for their initiative. In 2020, the house took its mission one step further by honoring former fellows with the CWI Impact Awards. For its second installment, Cartier transported guests and honorees to the World Expo in Osaka, Japan earlier this week to present the 'Women's Pavilion,' the first of which was staged five years ago at the Expo in Dubai. At the pavilion, the nine former fellows shared stories about their inspiring and impressive work. 2013 fellow Nabita Banka has radically transformed India's access to public bathrooms with her Biotoilet. 'We had an idea for a solution, then we proved it worked. However, I knew I couldn't tackle open defecation and lack of access to sanitation facilities by myself,' Banka says in a statement. While living in Nairobi, 2019 fellow Caitlin Dolkart noticed ambulance sirens were rare and that residents rarely called them because of slow response times. 'The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 50 percent of emergency-related mortality and morbidity could be avoided in low-income countries if ambulance response times were faster,' she explains. Through her app Flare, ambulance drivers are now able to have a direct line of communication with local hospitals, filling a crucial gap in the emergency medical system. The winners of the 2025 Impact Awards will receive an additional $100,000, mentorship, and media visibility to continue to expand their work. Applications for the Cartier Women's Initiative are open now through June 24, 2025 at 8:00 A.M. EDT (2:00 P.M. CEST).
New York Times
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Cartier to Stage Second Women's Pavilion at Osaka Expo 2025
Building on its debut at Expo 2020 Dubai, Cartier plans to introduce its second Women's Pavilion next month at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, an event bringing together countries, organizations and businesses from around the world. This year, 165 national pavilions, along with various corporate ones, are to participate in the six-month exhibition, scheduled to open April 13. But Cartier's pavilion, developed in collaboration with the Japanese government, will be the only one dedicated to women. 'The Women's Pavilion celebrates all women, without a political or religious angle,' Cyrille Vigneron, the chair of Cartier Culture and Philanthropy initiative, said in a phone interview from Geneva. 'Women's issues are universal.' The exhibition is to be held on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay, through Oct. 13. The expo's theme is 'Designing Future Society for Our Lives,' so sustainable design and craftsmanship are being highlighted. Mr. Vigneron cited gender inequality as a key reason for doing a second edition of the pavilion, emphasizing that progress on women's issues remains uneven globally. 'Since Dubai, we have seen some advances in women's rights and empowerment, while many countries have regressed,' he said, referring to the exhibition in 2020. 'On reproductive rights, the U.S. has taken a step back. In Iran and Afghanistan, women's access to basic education is denied. Japan has a low ranking of 120th out of 140 countries in gender equality.' The metallic facade of this year's Women's Pavilion first appeared on the Japan Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Originally designed and now reworked by the Japanese architect Yuko Nagayama, its intricate latticework was inspired by kumiko, a traditional Japanese woodworking technique that does not use nails. 'My focus was not simply reusing the materials but striving for a different expression and beauty from the previous building,' Ms. Nagayama wrote in an email. 'The kumiko-inspired facade acts as an environmental device, like a great tree in a vast forest, protecting not only human beings but also the trees from the harsh environment of climate change.' Several designers and artists have been involved in the pavilion project, including Chitose Abe, the founder of the fashion brand Sacai, who designed the khaki gender-neutral uniforms for the pavilion attendants, and Toshiya Ogino, a landscape designer, who created a garden of local vegetation. The pavilion's interior was conceived 'as a kind of musical instrument or radio station, broadcasting its messages through time and place,' Es Devlin, the English designer who is the pavilion's art director, wrote in an email. As visitors enter, they will be invited to say their names, making their identity part of the pavilion's narrative. They will see a three-minute introductory film on the lives of three women, created by Ms. Devlin and Naomi Kawase, a Japanese filmmaker. 'What we are trying to offer is a way of seeing, even just for a few minutes, through the eyes of others,' Ms. Devlin wrote. Then visitors will be asked to choose among three paths, each illustrated with more information on one of the women, eventually arriving at a mirrored space beneath an open skylight, which Ms. Devlin said symbolized connection and the collective power of storytelling. During the run of the exhibition, a series of talks on topics such as activism, equality, sustainability and biodiversity, also are scheduled for the pavilion's 'WA space,' named for the Japanese concept of harmony, peace and balance. 'We invite visitors to reflect on these issues and consider steps forward,' Mr. Vigneron said. So will the Women's Pavilion become be a permanent fixture at future expos? 'We don't just set up our tent, we engage in dialogue and cooperation with the host country,' Mr. Vigneron said. 'But we believe that every World Expo should include a Women's Pavilion, whatever form it takes.'
South China Morning Post
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Style Edit: Cartier's Women's Pavilion for Expo 2025 in Osaka, designed by Japanese architect Yuko Nagayama and English artist Es Devlin, is a call to action for global gender equality
If there's one place to be in 2025, it's Expo 2025 in Osaka, running from April 13 to October 13, where Cartier is making a statement with the Women's Pavilion. More than an exhibition, it's a conversation – a space where stories, ideas, and actions converge to spotlight the role of women in shaping a better future. Cartier has long championed the belief that when women thrive, the world thrives. That ethos fuels the Women's Pavilion, which first made waves at Expo 2020 in Dubai and now returns to Osaka with even greater purpose. With a nod to the expo's theme, the pavilion embraces the motto 'Living Together, Designing Together, For the Future', celebrating the power of women to drive meaningful change. Cartier's Women's Pavilion for Expo 2025 in Osaka. Photo: Handout Advertisement Designed by Japanese architect Yuko Nagayama, the pavilion's facade is inspired by ancient kumiko patterns, symbolising sustainability and craftsmanship. Step inside, and the experience becomes an immersive journey as imagined by British artist Es Devlin. Through evocative and interactive installations, visitors are invited to engage with real-life stories, and participate in the global dialogue on gender equality. As a gesture of solidarity, guests can put their names to the pavilion's narrative, making themselves part of a movement intended to well extend beyond the event. Cartier's Women's Pavilion for Expo 2025 in Osaka was designed by Japanese architect Yuko Nagayama and English artist Es Devlin. Photo: Handout Nature plays a vital role in shaping the experience, with landscape designer Toshiya Ogino curating a garden that will evolve with Japan's changing seasons. This lush, living installation reinforces the pavilion's commitment to harmony between people, progress and the environment. That leads also to another intended legacy with the replanting of the installation's locally sourced trees in Osaka's mountains to contribute to a spirit of renewal and responsibility. The sculpture garden at Cartier's Women's Pavilion for Expo 2025 in Osaka. Photo: Handout Fashion, too, has its place in the story, with renowned designer Chitose Abe crafting gender-inclusive uniforms for the pavilion's attendants. Merging tradition with modernity, Abe's designs embody the pavilion's inclusive and forward-thinking ethos. Interior of Cartier's Women's Pavilion for Expo 2025 in Osaka. Photo: Handout Art is at the heart of the pavilion, with contributions from visionaries like Naomi Kawase, Mélanie Laurent, Hiro Chiba and Mariko Mori, spanning film, sculpture, digital art and photography. Beyond the visual, the WA Space is a hub where thought leaders, activists and innovators can discuss the issues that matter – from climate action, to the future of business and technology.
