An exhibition about cultural exchange and a shared drive to unite beauty and function.

A meeting of minds between a Swedish and a Japanese master potter, through their shared love of form, clay and glaze. Both were socially engaged – Wilhelm Kåge as the designer of “More Beautiful Everyday Things” for Gustavsberg, and Shōji Hamada as co-founder of the Japanese Mingei (folk-art) movement, who created wonderfully handcrafted pieces that every home could use and enjoy.

The exhibition tells the story of a shared drive to unite beauty and function, and of a 20th-century cultural exchange between Sweden and Japan.

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Japan Folk Crafts Museum.

Wilhelm Kåge’s journey to Japan 1956.

Wilhelm Kåge, Dish "Farsta", 1960. Stoneware. Nationalmuseum.

Shōji Hamada, Dish, 1956. Stoneware. Japan Folk Crafts Museum.