Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

New Zealand’s Expo 2020 Dubai pavilion’s hosting venues - The Cooperative Room, The Courtyard and restaurant, Tiaki – are home to some of the country’s best-loved sustainable brands for lighting, soft furnishings, tableware, and furniture. Curated by pavilion architects Jasmax, each bespoke design object reflects New Zealand’s Expo theme of ‘Care for People and Place’ - the indigenous Māori environmental ethos of kaitiakitanga and the idea there is a deep, inextricable connection and responsibility between people and the environment.

Located in Expo’s Sustainability District, the design story begins at the pavilion’s kinetic façade by Kaynemaile, which moves in time with a low-frequency sound to create a rippling pulse effect. This is a reference to the mauri, or life-force within the pavilion - a Māori worldview that everything has a life principle.

The pavilion’s custom type rauponga-inspired design was developed by Jasmax in partnership with Haumi. The lines, notches, and curves of the design represent the extended fern frond and are often seen depicting the ribs of an ancestor symbolising protection, care and connection to the land. This type design features on the wayfinding throughout the pavilion and on Tiaki’s bespoke chairs by Jasmax in collaboration with Resident and Simon James. The sustainably-sourced solid oak seats are a limited-edition collection designed especially for Expo 2020 Dubai and an homage to the ‘Osaka Expo Chair’ designed by Michael Payne for New Zealand’s Pavilion at Expo 1970 Osaka. Lightweight in both form and visual imprint, the 2020 seat and backrest are defined by a gentle, welcoming curve.

Upon entering Tiaki, the David Trubridge ‘Navicula’ aquamarine pendant light fittings immediately stand out as statement features in the restaurant. The designs are inspired by microscopic diatoms, or algae, which live in water and produce 50 percent of the air we breathe.  David Trubridge is a recognised leader in sustainable design for his high-end lighting that is produced with minimal environmental impact.

Showcasing the country’s innovative, sustainable spirit, the pendant at the restaurant reception is a custom biopolymer made of rare pāua shells, the Māori name given to New Zealand’s unique variety of Black Foot Abalone native to its waters. The bioplastic Trubridge light was developed by Scion, a New Zealand Crown research institute that aims to promote and create a circular bioeconomy.

Città, the artisan design team that created Tiaki’s tableware, furniture and lighting pieces strives to create unique pieces that are made ethically, sustainably, and with respect to the provenance of the raw materials. Its comfortable Aiko Sofa and stylish Linear Tables, designed by David Moreland and Nikolai Sorensen, offer a relaxing space within the restaurant’s Courtyard area. And the striking AB Pendant Light, with its simple, organic form, is a collaboration between Città and award-winning New Zealand designer Alex Buckman.

Celebrating clean, simple and functional design are the Tim Webber Designs Nixon barstools and Duffle stools – furniture to be treasured now and forever.

Outside the main dining area, Tiaki’s open courtyard chairs are provided by Noho – meaning ‘to sit, stay, dwell, live’ in te reo Māori. The two styles of chairs - the ‘noho move’ and the ‘lightly chair’ - are made of upcycled plastic waste. Noho partners with eco-innovators like Aquafil, whose ECONYL regeneration process turns recovered waste materials like fishing nets and end-of-use carpets into regenerated nylon that they use to create furniture.

Abodo eco-timber battens, fins, and panelling bring a soft, warm touch to the eatery’s interiors. Abodo timbers are sustainably harvested from rapidly renewable New Zealand plantations and thermally modified with heat and steam rather than chemical processes, meaning they’re safe for people and the environment.

“The hosting venues’ design not only showcases our ideas and culture but New Zealand’s spirit of ingenuity and creativity. As kaitiaki (guardians), New Zealanders believe we have a responsibility to leave the world in a better place for future generations – and we can see this in the shared sustainability ethos of the design companies specified by Jasmax. These companies are always innovating at every step of the design process to improve outcomes for the environment and for all of us,” said Clayton Kimpton, New Zealand’s Commissioner-General to Expo 2020 Dubai.

“Our vision was to create a welcoming and contemporary space that truly embodies kaitiakitanga – a space that is mutually beneficial to society and the environment. It was a pleasure working alongside like-minded design teams that are not only environmentally conscious but have unparalleled levels of creativity and innovation,” said Sarah Delamore, Design Manager and Project Architect at Jasmax.

Tiaki is open daily from 10:00 am to late at the New Zealand Pavilion. For more information about the New Zealand Pavilion and events at Expo 2020 Dubai, visit www.nzatexpo.govt.nz

Unseen Lithuania: The exhibition by Lithuanian photographer, editor and author of documentary films Marius Jovaiša comprises a selection of photographs taken over more than one hundred hours of flight with the idea of immortalizing landscapes, cities, villages, monuments and natural phenomena in Lithuania.

Romas Jankauskas, Commissioner General of Lithuanian Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai, and Head of Expo Affairs at the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania, says that the exhibition at the pavilion’s main space uses videos and still images of high-quality aerial visuals of the nation’s major attractions.

“This exhibition reveals the stunning beauty of the entire Lithuania covering big cities and small villages, rivers and lakes, forests and fortress mounds, sea and sky. The exhibition covers the most famous places to go in the country including its mysterious and unseen corners. This gives the visitors a unique experience and a new feeling to witness the incredible beauty created by nature and people of Lithuania,” he added.

The Unseen Lithuania exhibition brings together a selection of 250 aerial photographs that Jovaiša published in his book titled the same. The selection includes large-scale photographs endowed with great artistic quality and the apt light and colour nuances, which the photographer captured from the sky, sometimes by means of unusual flying devices such as the aerostat.

Sharing his experience Jovaiša said, “Everybody finds his/her way to get to know one’s native country. In order to understand how wonderful Lithuania is, I had to travel around half the world. I am proud to live in such a beautiful land and I would like to give this feeling to my countrymen, guests and all people in the world who will decide to come to Lithuania and to see everything themselves after this.”

He says that Lithuanian landscape is impressive as much as the best-known and most-visited countries of the world. “We have no snow-capped mountains, heat wheezing deserts, death breathing volcanoes or coral reefs coloured like in a children’s picture. But where else than in Lithuania you could see the mounds remembering heroic achievements, the narrow land thread between the lagoon and the sea, unique drawings of rivers’ meanders and lakes’ islands, the dunes washed by the restless sea, the villages nestling near the water, the impressive churches that look like ready to rise to space like rockets. A visitor can see so many shades of the green colour.”

“Lithuanian landscape, which has been carved by ice fields, tramped by drifters and aggressors, injured by wars, formed and nurtured by many generations, is equal in all over the world. Especially when you look at it from above,” Jovaiša concluded.  

Bologna Fiere: With a focus on four international events – Cosmoprof, the world’s leading trade fair for the entire beauty industry; SANA, the International Exhibition of Organic and Natural Products; MARCA by Bologna Fiere, Private Label Conference and Exhibition; and Zoomark International, the International Exhibition of Pet Products and Equipment – BolognaFiere was at the centre of one of the initiatives promoted by the Emilia-Romagna regional administration to showcase the region’s excellence at Expo Dubai.