A Craft Library in a Louis Vuitton Trunk
For the France Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Louis Vuitton and OMA / Shohei Shigematsu have unveiled a dual installation that transcends exhibition, architecture, and immersive storytelling. In keeping with the French Pavilion’s overarching theme, “Ode to Love,” the collaboration has created two distinct experiences, one rooted in heritage, the other inspired by imagination, inviting visitors to explore the ongoing tension between tradition and change.
The first of the two connected spaces is a repository of exceptional expertise. Eighty-four open wardrobes are stacked from floor to ceiling, forming the structure of the room, creating a luminous space that stores and displays the brand’s 160-year heritage. Each trunk has a bespoke storage space that shows videos of the craftsmen at work, transforming this “library” into a living museum of technology. Warmly backlit like a lantern, the installation shifts from bright openness to understated mystery, reinforcing the symbolic flow from past to present.
Expo 2025 Osaka’s Rotating ‘Theater of the Future’
In the second room of the French Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka , Louis Vuitton and the architects at OMA have taken a different direction with the performative Sphere, a monumental 6.6m globe constructed entirely from the brand ’s white courier rosin trunks. Floating within a double-height space, the globe rotates and moves vertically in sync with Daito Manabe’s mesmerizing video installation. In contrast to the introspective first room, this dynamic environment evokes a futuristic theatre, enveloping visitors in movement, light and sound. Borrowing from the symbolism of the Expo, the sculpture reinterprets Louis Vuitton’s original design module, the trunk, as a metaphor for exploration and reinvention.
Here, the trunk is more than just a container. It is a building block. Shigematsu’s concept meshes opposing spatial narratives: archive and theatre, preservation and performance. “ We created two contrasting spaces with a single module, the trunk ,” the architect explains. “ One is made of stacked open tree trunks, the other is a sphere made of tree trunks. The two interlock to juxtapose tradition and change .” This gesture also reflects a deeper cultural connection between France and Japan, emphasizing shared values of craftsmanship, precision and innovation.
