ALEXCIOUS

Design Relationships between Northern Europe and Japan

Simple beauty without extra decoration, design that communicates with nature... such features of Nordic design have much in common with the “Japanese modern” and Zen style designs. Japanese modern design embodies traditional Japanese aesthetics and values. It emphasizes functionality and utility, which are attributes also found in Nordic design. A strength shared by Nordic and Japanese designs is that there are superior craftsmen who bring the designs to life. For example, in Denmark, which is known for fine furniture, there are many good furniture craftsmen who have the skills to make products from the designer's images. Traditional crafts made by Japanese craftsmen have been highly regarded all over the world. Kitani is a Japanese furniture maker which makes furniture under license from great Nordic designers like Finn Juhl. Perhaps we can say that such a relationship could be built because each country thinks highly of the values, designs and skills of the other.
In fact, the Nordic countries and Japan have had interaction in the area of design for a long time. Soetsu Yanagi and Shoji Hamada, central figures in the Japanese Mingei (folk crafts) Movement, visited Sweden for the first time in 1929. Soetsu later established the Nihon Mingeikan (Japan Folk Crafts Museum) which was heavily influenced by Skansen, the world's first open air museum in Sweden. While in Sweden, Soetsu became determined to pass on beautiful craftworks and daily tools created by unknown craftsmen to the next generation. On the other hand, Wilhelm Kage and Stig Lindberg, designers of the famous porcelain manufacturer Gustavsberg in Sweden, and Kaj Franck who worked for Arabia in Finland, came to Japan in the 1950s and brought the spirit of Nordic design to Japan while bringing back Japanese crafts to their home countries. In 1957, an exhibition called "Shapes of Japan" was held at the NK Department Store in Stockholm, Sweden, while the "Sweden" exhibition was held at the Matsuzakaya Department Store in Tokyo, Japan. Kaj Franck visited various regions in Japan and saw various craftworks. He was surprised to see that Japanese and Finnish crafts "have so much in common" and was impressed that the concept of square plates mentioned above had already been born in Japan several hundred years ahead of Finland.