Wood and Textile: Chile’s Cultural Wealth Shines in Japan

This Monday marks Chile Pavilion Day at Expo Osaka 2025, where a large loom installation is displayed over a wooden structure provided by Arauco.

From the Ñuble Region to the city of Osaka, Japan, traveled “Makün: The Mantle of Chile”, the large-scale installation representing Chile at Expo Osaka 2025. The piece, measuring approximately 240 square meters, consists of an enormous textile crafted by 200 women weavers from the La Araucanía and Biobío regions, all part of five Mapuche groups. The textile is supported by a wooden structure built with wood from Arauco.

The piece — designed by the architecture firm Constructo — symbolizes Chile’s cultural richness and its deep commitment to sustainability, a value that runs through all of Arauco’s operations both in Chile and globally.

“We are deeply honored and proud to represent Chile at a global event such as Expo Osaka. This is a unique opportunity to showcase our country’s potential, its cultural wealth, and the commitment of companies like Arauco to sustainability, innovation, and development with local identity,” said Charles Kimber, Arauco’s Senior Vice President of People and Sustainability.

Chile’s participation in Expo Osaka represents a strategic opportunity to strengthen its international presence, especially in Asia, and to project a modern, sustainable, and culturally rich national image.

In the same vein, Arauco’s Deputy Manager of Timber Construction, Fernando Marcone, commented: “Participating in Expo Osaka was the result of a challenging collaborative effort between the project’s design team and a multidisciplinary team from Arauco. Together, they managed to turn the design of the pavilion into something manufacturable, container-transportable, and smartly conceived to be assembled on the other side of the world. Without a doubt, the effort was worth it: Chile and its great forestry potential are represented in Japan — a country with an ancient tradition of wooden construction — at a pivotal moment when the use of this material is expanding to build sustainable cities.”

The wood used in the structure comes from certified forests, with trees that were planted, nurtured for 24 years, and replanted after harvesting. This long-term vision has made it possible to promote the use of renewable wood in both national and global initiatives, like the one we now see in Japan. In this case, the structure was made of cross-laminated timber (CLT) sourced from the Hilam plant in the Ñuble Region.