How Do You Represent Peru at a World’s Fair?

Exterior of Peru Pavilion
The design on the exterior of the pavilion represents an intricate Peruvian textile.

An Exhibition and Experience Design MA alumna was part of a team that won a People’s Choice Award for designing the Peru Pavilion at World Expo 2020. The pavilion exterior is covered with a representation of a colorful fabric featuring striped patterns and icons to emphasize 3,000 years of textile traditions in Peruvian culture. Visitors cross a recreation of the famous Q’eswachaka bridge, made of grass woven into ropes. Every year, the local population remakes the bridge just as the Incas did hundreds of years ago.

The Peru Pavilion won out over 190 other entries. Diana Estabridis ’12 worked as an exhibition design specialist on the project. 

Estabridis, who lives in Lima, is proud that the installation hosted more than 1.4 million visitors. “We cannot compete with developed countries that have three to five times the budget Peru has,” she said. “We cannot compete with the technology that other countries produce. But we can try to send a different message, to reflect and make people wonder about simple things that are very often overlooked.”

World expos, or world’s fairs, are large international exhibitions that showcase the achievements of nations. Expo 2020, delayed by COVID-19, opened in fall 2021 and closes at the end of March.

The Commission for the Promotion of Peruvian Exports and Tourism (PROMPERÚ) executed the project, in part to attract investors. Estabridis was in charge of analyzing, evaluating, and monitoring the exhibition design process. She worked with the contractors to help them understand the story PROMPERÚ wanted to convey—and help the construction team understand Peruvian culture.

Exhibitor magazine, a monthly publication featuring best practices in trade show marketing, organized the award, which expo visitors voted for online.

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