2025.04.25
Panasonic Group People
Discover the Earth Area at The Land of NOMO
Cellulose Fiber kinari—
Plant-Derived Biodegradable Molding Material
At the Panasonic Group’s pavilion The Land of NOMO at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, the Unlock area, designed to unleash the hidden power of children, is complemented by the Earth area, which showcases five unique technological innovations. In this issue, we spoke with the staff engaged in creating large leaf installations* using Panasonic’s sustainable material kinari.
＊Many leaf installations are displayed in Zone 2 of the Unlock area. Please visit the pavilion to see them.
Hideo Yamamoto
R&D Management Department, Mold & Die Technology Center
Manufacturing Innovation Division
Panasonic Holdings Corporation
Shin Obinata
CEO, sekisai inc.
Rie Noritake
Organizer,
100BANCH
Eagerness to See What Would Happen Led to Our Collaboration
Noritake: My curiosity sparked a new collaboration when I wondered what could be created by combining kinari and sekisai’s 3D printing. I was eager to see the outcome. The team sekisai was chosen in 2020 for the GARAGE Program of the 100BANCH incubation initiative hosted by Panasonic. Although all team members were students at the time, they created beautiful pieces of work using 3D printing. Therefore, I asked them to create drinking cups for 100BANCH using kinari.
Yamamoto: We wanted to prevent the enormous quantity of paper and plastic cups used during an event from ending up as waste. However, we had only a month until the event (laughs).
Noritake: Although the schedule was tight, they created cups before the event and met our hopes for holding a sustainable event. The material kinari can be handled like plastic but has the feel and texture of a wooden material. We initially regarded kinari as only a sustainable material but then discovered its interesting features only after using it.
Yamamoto: Cellulose fiber accounts for up to 85% of kinari’s composition. Accordingly, kinari is known to be very environmentally friendly for its ability to significantly reduce the use of petroleum-derived plastic. Moreover, kinari has enhanced strength because it contains cellulose fiber, and it is highly recyclable and less prone to quality degradation when recycled.
Noritake: With its low environmental impact and high durability for extended usage, kinari is an ideal sustainable material. We assumed that its unique wooden texture would further broaden the material’s applicability, such as using it for larger objects, and this led to collaboration with sekisai.
Leaf installations made from kinari, a biodegradable material, enhancing the atmosphere of Zone 2
Excitement at Tackling the Unknown Led to an Abundant Flow of Ideas
Obinata: I was invited to the project in late 2022. Our mission is to open up the possibilities of 3D printing to people’s lives and society. Over the last two years, we attempted a variety of experiments and expressions with kinari until we achieved the creation of leaf installations. Although kinari looks and feels like wood, it offers flexibility for curvy and complex shaping.
Yamamoto: I felt excited when they first showed me 3D printed prototypes. In the initial year, I asked them to create partitions and chairs. The creation of such large items was unimaginable with conventional injection molding, which casts materials into molds. At sekisai, you are expanding the potential of 3D printing using various materials and designs. What was your impression of handling kinari, a material made mostly from wood?
Obinata: Since kinari was a completely new material for us, we had trouble at the beginning. With its specific properties, we repeatedly tested hypotheses and eventually gained the ability to handle it with high accuracy. As we groped in the dark, we consulted with the kinari team members many times.
Yamamoto: When there were things I couldn’t understand, I asked for advice by chatting within the kinari team. The team members also positively considered new trials of 3D printing. They answered my questions by approaching them with an analytical mind specific to engineers. This process literally applied the principle of making use of collective wisdom. Such a productive atmosphere arose because all of us felt this novel project was exciting.
Obinata: We forged relationships that enabled us to exchange ideas freely and openly whenever we reached an impasse in 3D printing processes. Although it was a rocky path, we were motivated to join hands and resolve all problems.
Noritake: As the coordinator, it was my top priority to create the relationships necessary to share the same goal. Hierarchical relationships cannot create new or distinctive products. On many occasions, challenges created ideas that led to new values because all team members worked together to develop quality products while maintaining pride in their own expertise.
Facilitating the Material’s Cycle along with the Hopes of All People Involved in It
Yamamoto: We were able to create very beautiful leaf installations. It was a great advance to find that kinari is usable for 3D printing, but our more important and meaningful achievement was to redefine the value behind the material. I hope that people come to understand the comprehensive background of the material’s origin and development through our leaf installations.
Noritake: Until I came to know kinari, I had thought that resins, or plastics, made no difference. However, kinari looks and feels warm, making me feel attached to it. I may have this kind of feeling because it’s a plant-derived material.
Obinata: I feel that today’s world needs warmth and imperfection unique to plant-derived materials. In industrialized modern society, we tend to shun imperfect things in an attempt to eliminate errors. As a result, our personal belongings, buildings, and towns are homogenized and standardized, losing the natural local character and warmth that creates affinity. We hope our exhibition will bring this trend into question and spread an interest in, and even amusement at, the virtue of imperfection.
Noritake: When we created a chair using kinari as a prototype, we faced a problem due to the inclusion of impurities, since kinari is a plant-derived material. Initially, we discussed ways of removing foreign materials. However, the foreign materials created textures that resembled knotty wood in the finished chair. Therefore, we came to regard such imperfection as an attractive feature.
Yamamoto: It is not technically impossible to remove impurities or smears, but we don’t want to do that for kinari. It may be considered part of our role to come up with ways of using what we receive from nature as is.
Obinata: That’s right. In today’s society, there is too much pressure to be homogeneous and error-free. However, richness dwells in inhomogeneous or uneven materials, I believe. The material kinari puts the insistence on perfection into question. We want to create products and objects that make people feel attached to appearances specific to plants and the land where the plants grew, as well as the background of the processes that gave shape to the objects in front of their eyes.
Yamamoto: Using kinari, we hope to give shape to background stories, such as how the wood and bamboo grown in people’s towns are actually formed or used, along with the passion of people who entrusted us with their materials. I believe the 720° cycle, which we must exhibit at the Expo, refers not only to a material cycle but also to conveying the hopes of the people engaged in the creation of our objects.
Leaf installations floating in the Earth area (left) made of small and soft biodegradable segments (right)
Noritake: Some materials have been discarded as waste, such as twigs and lumber remnants left at forestry sites and unmanageable overgrown plants like bamboo. It sends an important message to transform materials that were previously treated as a nuisance into something highly valuable. It makes us very happy to think that we can use something that already exists rather than something made from scratch.
Leaf installation prototypes
Obinata: Children will encounter many unknown things instead of just the familiar at this Expo. It will be fun to offer them experiences that stimulate their curiosity about things they don’t know. Aligning with our hope for the Expo, our exhibits will be recycled after the exhibition to create other things. Thus, we will be able to say our project was successful only after the recycling is achieved. I hope we hear someone saying, “This object was made using the exhibits displayed at Expo 2025,” at yet another Expo in Japan after a few decades.
Yamamoto: That would be great. I hope that kinari takes root as a seed that grows into such a future.
The content in this website is accurate at the time of publication but may be subject to change without notice.
Please note therefore that these documents may not always contain the most up-to-date information.
Please note that German, French and Chinese versions are machine translations, so the quality and accuracy may vary.
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