Tellart, a design studio specialising in creating award-winning guest experiences, has designed engaging visitor experiences for both the Netherlands Pavilion and the Philippine Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka. Scheduled from 13 April to 13 October 2025, this event is expected to draw up to 28 million visitors.
It is Tellart’s first project in Japan and the company’s second occasion creating experiences for two national pavilions at a World Expo. For Expo 2020 Dubai, Tellart designed the visitor experience for the UAE Pavilion and elements of the Poland Pavilion.
The immersive experiences, featuring multiple interactive installations, provide holistic, narrative-driven journeys through the pavilions that emphasise our bonds with nature, culture, and community. The Philippine Pavilion promotes meaningful tourism, while the Netherlands Pavilion concentrates on climate solutions related to water and international collaboration.
Celebrating innovation and creativity
“We are honoured to debut our work in Japan at Expo 2025 with the guest experience design of both the Netherlands and Philippine Pavilions,” says Ries Straver, executive producer and partner at Tellart.
“Expo is a global stage that celebrates innovation and creativity, and Japan’s rich cultural heritage and forward-thinking spirit have long been an inspiration to our studio. We are excited to contribute to this vibrant, cross-cultural dialogue of design and ideas. This marks a significant milestone for us, and we look forward to connecting and sharing our vision to inspire global audiences with pertinent stories that bridge tradition and modernity.”
On the importance of experience design in shaping futures, Maia Garau, strategy director and partner at Tellart, says: “Truly experiential design is defined by how the senses are touched and activated to tell the story in an embodied way.
“This way the memory of the experience is multisensory, embedded in your body and emotional core, rather than just in your mind. Experience design is uniquely capable of telling the stories that matter most in a way that touches heart and mind and helps people shift their behaviour towards a better future.”
Tellart is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and this debut in Japan serves as a fitting tribute. The company believes that design, along with emerging technology, can empower us to shape and imagine hopeful futures.
“Every story works to foster empathy, stewardship, and policy aimed at understanding our world as an interconnected ecosystem,” says Tellart founder and principal designer Matt Cottam.
The project comprises 11 installations spanning an area of almost 1 km². At Expo 2025 Osaka, an estimated 250,000 people have already engaged with Tellart’s interactive experiences in the Netherlands and Philippine Pavilions.
The Netherlands Pavilion
Architecture, technology, and environmental narratives converge in a spatial manifesto that advocates for circularity and global collaboration. The Netherlands Pavilion engages visitors in an environment where water is a vital resource for climate resilience.
Guests encounter the Dutch mindset of “Common Ground,” which encourages global cooperation and joint solutions to environmental issues. This philosophy has its roots in centuries past, emerging from the need to safeguard the Netherlands, a nation that is one-third below sea level, against the threat of rising waters.
Today, we again face challenges on a global scale that cannot be addressed in isolation. The Netherlands calls on other nations to collaborate in sharing ideas, expertise, and innovations. This theme also commemorates 425 years of relations between Japan and the Netherlands.
The Netherlands Pavilion invites visitors to actively engage with its story using a personal Energy Orb, an interactive tool that powers and interacts with the pavilion’s installations, showcasing water’s potential. Designed for all ages, beloved character Miffy serves as “Kids’ Ambassador,” with a storyline created by Tellart.
In the Common Ground entry space, visitors can reflect on this mindset through mural panels and the Water Basin installation, which transforms chaotic water patterns into synchronised ripples. This area highlights the Netherlands’ relationship with water and the harmony from collaborative efforts. Visitors receive an Energy Orb, a tool using infrared technology to interact with various installations, including the Water Walls and interactive murals on the walkways.
Inside the sphere, visitors experience A New Dawn, a 360˚ AI-generated film that critiques humanity’s unsustainable consumption of limited resources. The film calls for change and showcases the Netherlands’ commitment to a sustainable future through innovations that harness energy from water. As it concludes, visitors’ Energy Orbs recharge with vibrant violet light, symbolising this renewable energy source.
At Expo 2025, the circular pavilion explores future living through renewable energy, circularity, life sciences, health, agrifood, horticulture, and digital technologies. Visitors see how art and design fuel innovation for smarter solutions.
The Pledge Station, another interactive installation using advanced technology, enhances the visitor experience. It culminates the pavilion journey by translating its message into a powerful call for collective action, urging visitors to commit to a sustainable future through generative artwork that activates as more people step into the circle.
Commissioned by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Netherlands Pavilion was built by A New Dawn (AND) BV, a consortium comprising RAU architects, design studio Tellart, engineering consultancy DGMR, and construction company Asanuma.
The Philippine Pavilion
The Philippine Pavilion celebrates Filipino “Nature, Culture & Community, Woven Together for a Better Future.” Tellart’s immersive installations encourage visitors to explore a joyful bond with the nation’s megabiodiversity and cultural richness.
Tellart created a multisensory guest experience designed to promote meaningful tourism and foster a deeper connection to nature. The focus is on craftsmanship, sustainable materials, interactive AI, and immersive environments showcased in a series of installations.
“The immersive spaces are filled with insights from the traditions of different Filipino communities and the wonders of the natural world to showcase how authentic experiences are more and more challenging to find. The design and creative technology is deeply inspired by an immersion trip where it was clear how community and nature are therapeutic,” says Cottam.
Stepping through the entrance, visitors find a dynamic, immersive space of colour, music, and light. They navigate a forest of woven artworks titled Journey through the Philippines. From Mimaropa’s coral reefs to Eastern Visayas’ secret recipes, custom-designed tapestries highlight key destinations across the archipelago.
The textiles are handcrafted by local artisans and Filipino weavers, emphasising sustainable materials and traditional craftsmanship. Many bespoke woven artworks will continue after Expo 2025 in travelling shows and in their homeland, preserving cultural heritage and inspiring people to discover the Philippines.
Dancing with Nature is a joyful installation showcasing the country’s megabiodiversity and Filipino celebration, inviting visitors to dance as the pavilion bursts with colour, sound, and texture. In this interactive musical experience, Filipino fauna and flora—such as fish, flowers, and fruit—appear as colourful ‘shadows,’ dancing in response to participants’ movements. An AI Photo Booth provides guests with a nature-inspired self-portrait as a digital keepsake for their phones.
Experiential design brings this remarkable archipelago to life, showcasing the stunning diversity of its nature, locations, people, and culture in a meaningful journey of connection and unity.
The Philippine Pavilion was commissioned by the Philippine Organising Committee for World Expo 2025, with the Department of Tourism Philippines and the Tourism Promotions Board Philippines. The architecture is by Filipino architect Carlo Calma, in collaboration with executive architect Cat Inc. Lead guest experience design is by Tellart, and creative production is by Chochay Garcia.
Tellart has designed for numerous international events, including Expo 2020 Dubai‘s award-winning UAE Pavilion and Poland Pavilion, as well as Floriade and COP28.
