On April 23, 2026, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm opened an exhibition that brings together two ceramicists across half a century and half a globe: “Wilhelm Kåge & Shōji Hamada. Ceramics Across Borders.” On the mezzanine level, Gustavsberg’s greatest Swedish designer stands alongside the Japanese folk art movement’s leading figure, and their encounter holds the key to the interior style that has shaped Swedish walls in recent years. If you’re drawn to a poster in Japandi’s calm, earthy spirit, this exhibition is more than a cultural event - it’s the style’s origin story, told in clay and glaze. We’ll take you through the encounter, its background, and how to translate it into art for your own wall.
Quick facts: “Wilhelm Kåge & Shōji Hamada. Ceramics Across Borders” is on view on the mezzanine level of Nationalmuseum from April 23, 2026, to January 10, 2027. The exhibition features more than two hundred objects from Nationalmuseum’s collection and around a hundred works on loan from institutions including Nihon Mingeikan in Tokyo and the Shōji Hamada Museum in Mashiko. After Stockholm, it will travel to Bard Graduate Center Gallery in New York in spring 2027.
What the exhibition shows - and why this encounter matters
At the heart of the exhibition is a kinship that neither artist planned. Wilhelm Kåge (1889–1960) was the artist and designer who raised the Gustavsberg porcelain factory to international standing, while Shōji Hamada (1894–1978) became one of the leading figures in mingei, the Japanese movement for folk crafts and everyday objects. They worked independently, in different cultures, but shared a conviction: that beauty and function belonged together, and that beautiful everyday objects should be for everyone, not just a select few.
The fact that their names are mentioned in the same breath is no invention of the museum’s. When the New York Times reviewed a Kåge exhibition in New York in 1958, it ranked him among the world’s three leading ceramicists, alongside none other than Hamada and the British artist Bernard Leach. Nationalmuseum’s decision to bring two of these three together under one roof is therefore a cultural-historical statement, not a chance pairing.
Visitors encounter an unusually rich collection. More than two hundred objects come from the Nationalmuseum’s own collection, joined by around a hundred works on loan from institutions such as Nihon Mingeikan in Tokyo and the Shōji Hamada Museum in Mashiko. Seeing Kåge’s stoneware and Hamada’s wheel-thrown bowls in the same gallery is a rare opportunity, since they otherwise reside on opposite sides of the globe. Bringing them together is the point: it is through comparison, vessel against vessel and glaze against glaze, that their quiet kinship emerges.
"Two ceramicists who never shared a workshop nevertheless shared a belief: that the everyday object deserves the same care as a work of art."
Gustavsberg, mingei, and two lives in clay
Kåge’s path began with painting. He was a trained artist when Gustavsberg recruited him in 1917, and he brought an artistic seriousness to the porcelain factory. His green splatterware and later, more austere stoneware broke with the heavy ostentation that had often characterized Swedish porcelain. Kåge wanted to create “more beautiful everyday wares” – an expression that became an entire movement in Swedish design and laid the foundation for what we now see as typically Scandinavian: simple, functional, and yet sensual.
Hamada came from the opposite direction but arrived at the same values. Together with the philosopher Sōetsu Yanagi and Bernard Leach, he formulated the idea of mingei in the 1920s: that the anonymous, handmade utilitarian object has a beauty of its own, free from the artist’s signature and ego. Hamada settled in the potters’ village of Mashiko and let the local clay and traditional glazes guide him. Where Kåge refined industry, Hamada elevated craftsmanship, but both arrived at the same truth: form should serve life, not the other way around.
Kåge’s range deserves mention. He created everything from the decorative Argenta ware with silver inlays in green glaze to the pared-back, almost ascetic stoneware he called Farsta. The latter style, weighty and earthy, is surprisingly close to Hamada’s aesthetic – the same reverence for the material, the same aversion to excess. Hamada, for his part, let the local iron-rich clays and ash glazes of Mashiko shape his work, and often refused to sign his pieces, entirely in keeping with the mingei spirit that an object should speak for itself.
This is the shared foundation the exhibition brings to light. By placing Swedish stoneware alongside Japanese mingei ceramics, it becomes clear how two traditions, without direct contact, gravitated toward the same ideals of restraint, natural materials, and quiet quality. The differences are there – Swedish work is often more composed, Japanese work more accepting of chance – but the conversation between them is unmistakable.
Clay’s meeting of minds is Japandi’s primordial cell
Here, the exhibition feels unexpectedly timely. Japandi – the fusion of Japanese and Scandinavian design sensibilities – is often described as a young interior design trend, but Kåge and Hamada show that the dialogue between the two countries is a century old. What Japandi does on walls today, these two were already doing in clay in the 1920s and 30s: combining Nordic restraint with a Japanese appreciation of nature, and making room for the imperfect and handmade.
Japanese aesthetics have two concepts that explain why this meeting feels so liberating. One is wabi-sabi, the beauty of the imperfect and impermanent - the crack in the glaze, the irregular edge. The other is ma, the intentional emptiness, the pause that gives meaning to everything else. Kåge’s austere designs and Hamada’s uneven wheel-thrown forms embody both these ideas, and they’re exactly what japandi draws on when it leaves walls bare and chooses one well-placed image over many.
For anyone decorating, this means japandi isn’t a passing fad but rests on a deep, documented kinship between two design languages. When you choose japandi posters for your wall, you pick up the same threads Kåge and Hamada wove: muted earth tones, asymmetry, respect for the material, and a calm that stands the test of time. To embrace restraint even further, explore the minimalist posters where empty space is as important as the image - just like ma, the conscious pause in Japanese aesthetics.
Tip: Want to bring the spirit of the exhibition into your home? Choose a poster in earthenware tones - off-white, smoky gray, ochre, and a touch of celadon green - and hang it in a light oak frame. Leave more space around the artwork than you might initially think; the empty wall is part of the composition, not a waste.
From museum gallery to your wall: motifs, formats, and rooms
Translating ceramics’ expression into wall art means looking for the same qualities Kåge and Hamada sought: the honesty of natural materials, a muted color palette, and calm asymmetry. Botanical motifs in understated tones reflect the mingei tradition’s love of simplicity and the natural world, and our botanical posters bring the same earthy tranquility as an unglazed stoneware vessel. If you want to emphasize Swedish heritage, there’s a whole world to explore in our collection of Swedish art, where you can recognize the same rigorously sensual aesthetic that Kåge championed.
The living room: a calm focal point
In shared spaces, japandi’s spirit thrives on calm and balance. A 50x70 poster in muted earth tones above the sofa, ideally with an asymmetrical composition, gives the room a quiet focal point. Resist the temptation to fill the wall - a single carefully chosen image with plenty of space around it speaks more strongly than a crowded collection. It’s the same restraint that characterizes Kåge’s Farsta stoneware: few gestures, but each one thoughtfully considered.
The bedroom and hallway: serenity and materiality
In the bedroom and hallway, the feel of the materials comes into its own. A smaller motif in off-white and smoky gray, framed in unfinished oak or dark-stained wood, offers the same tactile calm as a hand-thrown vessel. Hang two posters in the same tones but different sizes side by side, and you’ll create the intentional imbalance that both Japanese and Nordic aesthetics embrace—an echo of how Hamada let his hand and the clay decide rather than a ruler.
The home office: focus without clutter
Many people underestimate how much the wall behind the desk affects their ability to work in peace. Japandi’s muted palette is especially useful here, giving the eye somewhere to rest without stealing focus. A single understated motif in ochre or celadon green, hung so it catches your eye when you look up from the screen, creates a calm pause rather than a distraction. It’s the same principle that guided Kåge and Hamada: the object—or in this case, the picture—should serve the person who lives with it, not demand attention for its own sake.
Whatever the room, patience is the common thread. Japandi rewards those who choose few but just-right pieces and give them room to breathe. A single poster in the right tones, surrounded by space and set in an honest wood frame, says more about understanding the style than a whole wall of prints. At its heart, the exhibition at the Nationalmuseum is a lesson in just this—that less, done with care, is almost always more.
It’s worth noting that the exhibition isn’t just for ceramics enthusiasts. It’s just as rewarding for anyone interested in interior design, as it shows where Scandinavian and Japanese influences actually came together. Walk through the galleries and then go home to your own wall, and suddenly you’ll see the connection in a new light: the muted glaze on a vessel and the subdued tones of a poster are two expressions of the same longing for calm and authenticity. Letting a museum visit guide your next choice of art for the wall is one of the loveliest ways to keep the cultural experience alive long after the exhibition has closed.
Frequently asked questions about Kåge, Hamada, and Japandi on the wall
The exhibition at Nationalmuseum is a rare reminder that what we call trends often have deep roots. Kåge and Hamada brought together the design sensibilities of two countries long before the word japandi existed, and their clay has the same calm we seek on our walls today. If you’d like to read more about the style’s origins and expression, we recommend our guide to the japandi style and our in-depth article on wabi-sabi and the beauty of imperfection. For those who want to understand the Japanese visual tradition behind the style, our article on Japanese woodblock printmaking is a great place to start. Sources: Nationalmuseum on the exhibition and Scandinavian Design on Kåge & Hamada.