“Swedish Textiles” at Setagaya Art Museum Until November 15; About 200 Works, Including Nordic Printed Fabrics

“Swedish Textiles: Nordic Design Alive in Daily Life and Nature” is on view in the 1st-floor galleries of the Setagaya Art Museum (Setagaya-ku, Tokyo) until Sunday, November 15. The exhibition introduces Sweden’s approachable textile design from three perspectives: motifs, designers and its relationship with daily life. About 200 works and related materials are displayed, centered on vintage textiles from the collection of Sara Axtelius, a private collector living in Sweden.

Why Swedish fabrics now?

The museum’s flyer introduces Sweden as the largest of the Nordic countries, surrounded by forests and lakes. Because summers are short and winters long, fabrics that brighten interiors have long brought warmth and joy to daily life.

According to the museum’s press materials, Swedish textiles began with traditional handicrafts in various regions and developed into a textile industry centered on weaving. In the mid-20th century, technological innovation brought printed textile design into full bloom, attracting international attention. The materials also note that it was Sweden that led international recognition of “Nordic Modern” in the first half of the 20th century.

The flyer positions the graphic textiles covered by the exhibition, mainly from the mid-20th century onward, as having rarely been introduced in Japan. Axtelius has been collecting fabrics for more than 30 years since her teens, and museums and archives in Sweden also cooperated with the exhibition. It is also part of the “Japan–Sweden Year of Cultural and Scientific Exchange 2026.”

What can visitors see? From the prologue through three chapters to the epilogue

• Prologue “Amid a Changing Atmosphere”: Introduces women active in the first half of the 20th century, on the eve of the textile industry’s development: Elsa Gullberg (1886–1984), Estrid Ericson (1894–1981), Lisbet Jobs (1909–1962) and Gocken Jobs (1901–1961)

• Chapter 1 “Stories Woven by Motifs”: Explores the graphic appeal of the textiles through eight themes: “Flowers,” “Fruit,” “Animals,” “Geometry,” “Japan,” “Daily Life,” “Stories” and “Summer Vacation”

• Chapter 2 “People Who Spin Design”: Introduces works by six designers along with related materials: Göta Trägårdh (1904–1984), Astrid Sampe (1909–2002), Viola Gråsten (1910–1994), Inez Svensson (1932–2005), Sven Fristedt (1940–2025) and Chiki Mattsson (1947–)

• Chapter 3 “Textiles in Daily Life”: Takes up interiors and fashion, with contemporaneous furniture and ceramics from the collection of the town of Higashikawa, Hokkaido, and colorful clothing collected by a Swedish private collector

• Epilogue “Passing On to the Future”: Introduces efforts to preserve and spread textile culture and moves toward the future, including items by Kotone Utsunomiya commercialized in 2018 by Svenskt Tenn, a long-established interior brand founded in 1924

Main works shown by the museum include Lisbet Jobs’s “Duvor (Doves)” (1945, Swedish House Co., Ltd.). Sven Fristedt’s “Zebra” (1967) and “Pelita” (1968) are both from the collection of the Ununge family.

From Sara Axtelius’s collection, Chiki Mattsson’s “Nippon (Japan)” (1967) and Vanja Janaieff’s “Svan (Swan)” (1968) are listed, along with Göta Trägårdh’s “Riviera” (1970) and Ulla Ehson Bodin’s “Sommarlov (Summer Vacation)” (1978).

At the exit of the galleries, works drawn by children at the summer pre-workshop “Let’s Draw Together: Summer Vacation (Sommarlov) in the Kinuta Forest” are also shown.

Tickets and prices

Admission is 1,400 yen for adults, 1,200 yen for those aged 65 and over, 800 yen for university and high school students and 500 yen for junior high and elementary school students, and free for preschool children. For groups of 20 or more, the prices are 1,200 yen, 1,000 yen, 600 yen and 300 yen respectively; contact the museum by phone in advance. People with disabilities pay 500 yen (free for elementary, junior high, high school, university and vocational school students with disabilities), and one caregiver per person with a disability is admitted free. Discounts for high school students and older, those aged 65 and over and holders of various certificates require proof.

Online tickets can be bought by credit card or d-Barai. Those who find it difficult to buy online or who use discounts such as the Setagaya Arts Card should buy same-day tickets at the museum counter. The museum notes that there may be waiting times when it is crowded.

The catalog (published September 19, 2026) costs 3,500 yen and is available at the museum shop. Every Saturday during the run, there is a 100-yen workshop, “Textiles That Color Daily Life,” from 13:00 to 15:00 in the basement studio, for 100 yen per session with no reservation required (until November 14).

Opening hours and access

Opening hours are 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30), and the museum is closed on Mondays. The address is 1-2 Kinuta Park, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo.

It is a 17-minute walk from the North Exit of Yoga Station on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line, or take the “Museum Bus” and get off at “Bijutsukan” for a 3-minute walk. From the South Exit of Seijogakuen-mae Station on the Odakyu Line, take a bus bound for Shibuya Station, get off at “Kinutamachi” and walk 10 minutes. From Chitose-Funabashi Station, take a bus bound for Den-en-chofu Station, get off at “Bijutsukan Iriguchi” and walk 5 minutes. There is a free parking lot for 60 cars for visitors only.

What comes next at the Setagaya Art Museum: The Tetsuro Komai exhibition and closure for renovation

In the museum’s 1st-floor galleries, “Etcher Tetsuro Komai: Like Constellations Spreading in the Palm of a Hand” runs from Saturday, November 28 to Sunday, January 31, 2027. It will be followed by “Selections from the Setagaya Art Museum Collection: Planet of Life – Us in the Setabi Forest” (February 13 – March 31, 2027).

The museum will close from April 2027 to January 2030 (planned) for major renovation work. This exhibition is one of the special exhibitions held at the museum before the closure.

Editor’s perspective

In Tokyo this autumn and winter, exhibitions dealing with Nordic and Baltic design and handcrafts follow one after another. “Marimekko: The Power of Patterns” is on view at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum until December 20. The same museum will also open “Spinning Love, Carving Prayers: Lithuanian Handcrafts” on January 16, 2027. A memorial exhibition for Swedish ceramicist Lisa Larson opens at Marui Imai in Sapporo on December 4 (our article on the Lisa Larson memorial exhibition).

Whereas the Marimekko exhibition traces the history of a single Finnish design house, this exhibition centers on vintage fabrics gathered by one collector. It presents Swedish fabrics through the ten designers named in the prologue and Chapter 2 and the eight motifs of Chapter 1. Little time remains, as it closes on November 15, but it offers clues for comparing Nordic fabrics from the perspectives of both their makers and daily life.

Overview

Name: Swedish Textiles: Nordic Design Alive in Daily Life and Nature
Dates: Saturday, September 19 – Sunday, November 15, 2026
Hours: 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30)
Closed: Mondays
Venue: 1st-floor galleries, Setagaya Art Museum
Address: 1-2 Kinuta Park, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Admission: Adults 1,400 yen, 65 and over 1,200 yen, university and high school students 800 yen, junior high and elementary school students 500 yen, preschool children free (group rates for 20 or more)
Organizer: Setagaya Art Museum (Setagaya Arts Foundation)
Support: Embassy of Sweden, Setagaya City, Setagaya City Board of Education
Special cooperation: Sara Axtelius, Borås Cotton (Y. Berger & Co. AB)
Planning cooperation: Curators Inc.
Inquiries: 03-3415-6011
Official website: https://www.setagayaartmuseum.or.jp/exhibition/special/detail.php?id=sp00230
*Information as of October 20, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Exterior of the Setagaya Art Museum (photo: Aw1805, CC BY-SA 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Setagaya Art Museum (updated October 8, 2026) and information on its official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team