Prime Minister highlights Antarte’s social project
Luís Montenegro showcased pieces created from wood waste
During the official trip to the East, Luís Montenegro presented pieces created from wood waste resulting from the table that Antarte produced for the Portugal Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka.
Antarte is once again moving forward with another social responsibility initiative involving sustainability and the recycling of raw materials. The waste from national ash wood resulting from the production of the table that Antarte created for the Portugal Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka, where the Pavilion’s guestbook is placed, has been given a new life.
The waste became the raw material for the creativity of the “Sailors of Hope”, children and young people hospitalized in Pediatric Services of the National Health Service. During the official trip to the East, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro took two of the pieces painted by young patients from the Pediatrics departments of São Francisco Xavier Hospital in Lisbon and Nélio Mendonça Hospital in Madeira, depicting their mascots.
This table, designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, author of the Portugal Pavilion project, is an extraordinary sculpture composed of 177 pieces of national ash wood, with different diameters and lengths, manually turned over more than 200 hours of craftsmanship.
This is yet another Antarte social responsibility project with international visibility. Like the great Portuguese navigators who, centuries ago, explored the oceans and gave new worlds to the world, this gesture highlights solidarity and institutional recognition for the work of these children and the healthcare professionals who support them, while also reinforcing Portugal’s commitment to sustainability and the quality of life of future generations.
Luís Montenegro praised, with visible emotion, the creative work of children and young people inspired by the principles of connection, sharing, overcoming, endurance and resilience of the explorers.
For Mário Rocha, founder and CEO of Antarte, “we are deeply moved by the extraordinary creative work carried out by children and young people who, even while facing adversity in their health, find the courage to unleash their creativity and show that, even from waste, works of incredible beauty can be created.”