The Sumitomo Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka celebrates the group’s 400-year history by highlighting its deep connection with nature, and more particularly with forests. Since its beginnings, Sumitomo has always valued biodiversity and respect for living things, values that are at the heart of its development. The Sumitomo pavilion invites visitors to reflect on humanity’s place in nature and to envisage a future where humans, forests and all forms of life coexist in harmony.
The pavilion’s architecture is inspired by the Besshi mountains, a symbol of Sumitomo’s industrial origins. It is built mainly from wood – in particular cypress and cedar from the Sumitomo Forest, an area of forest that has been sustainably managed for decades. The wood, some of which was planted as long ago as 1970 (the year of the previous Osaka Expo), is used to visually represent tree rings and geological layers, emphasizing the passage of time and the passing down of generations.
The Pavilion has been constructed using approximately 1,000 trees from the Sumitomo Forest. Based on the concept of ‘valuing each life, one tree at a time’, the trees that have been nurtured across centuries were cut into thin strips using a rotary cutter in order to ensure that the tree was used without waste. The entrance façade features wood installed in layers to express tree rings and geological layers.
Throughout its 400-year history, Sumitomo has treasured the forest, and this is the spirit upon which it has grown. Respect the diversity of life dwelling on this precious planet, there is so much we can learn from the different forms of life co-living in the forest. We humans heading toward the future are also a piece of that nature. The Pavilion then represents a starting point where visitors can venture into a bright future where people, forest, and all living things resonate and live in harmony.
Inspired by the peaks of the Besshi Mountains in Shikoku, the foundation of Sumitomoʼs growth, the roof and façade of the pavilion is made from plywood made from Japanese cypress from the Sumitomo Forest and designed like the silhouette of its rolling mountain peaks. Wood from forests owned by the group was processed into plywood to make full use of the wood, driven by the Group’s desire to value each and every tree, which has led to the creation of a space offering the warmth and tranquility of wood.
Sumitomo, which has grown like a forest nurturing diverse life on the foundation of the Besshi Copper Mines, is symbolized here. A single seed born from the unity of the group companies is planted in the hearts of the visitors, representing growth into the future. The Group developed this mark hoping that a ‘forest’ shaped like an exclamation mark would spread wonder and excitement around the world from here. The symbol represents wonder, diversity and the promise of a fertile future. Each company in the Sumitomo Group contributes to this project like a seed, and together they hope to plant inspiration in the hearts of visitors.
