Cartier Women's Pavilion Opening Ceremony

FRAY Studio was invited to design the video content for the opening ceremony of the Women’s Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. Sponsored by Cartier and Designer by Es Devlin Studio, the pavilion opened with a ceremony that celebrated creativity, connection, and global perspectives. Our role was to create a visual language that supported the intent of the event while integrating seamlessly into the sculptural environment designed by Es Devlin Studio.

Working closely with their team, we developed video elements built around the pavilion’s central idea: the ripple effect of individual actions and voices. The concept began with a single drop of water falling into stillness, sending ripples outward; a metaphor for how influence travels through communities and how shared impact is formed. We aimed to express this visually through imagery grounded in the real behaviour of water, sound, and light.

To build the content, we designed physical setups where soundwaves moved through water, using the show’s original soundtrack to shape movement and pattern. These sequences were filmed with high-speed Phantom cameras at up to 1,000 frames per second, capturing the fine detail of each impact and wave. The intention was to create material that felt organic to the space; textural, simple, and connected to the wider environment rather than something imposed onto it.

We also introduced a set of hand-drawn ink animals that linked the work to nature and the landscapes of Japan. These drawings added a quiet narrative thread while keeping the overall composition minimal and reflective.

A meaningful part of the project was seeing the work presented alongside contributions from Dame Jacinda Ardern, Her Royal Highness Princess Takamado, Anna Sawai, JJ Bola, and June Miyachi.

Read more about the process of creating the opening ceremony here