The exhibition Marimekko: Art of Printmaking – Beauty, Dream, Love opens at The Museum of Kyoto on 4 July 2026, launching a tour across Japan. The majority of the exhibition’s contents – approximately seventy objects and photographs – come from the collections of Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki.
Co-curated by museums in Japan and Marimekko, the exhibition focuses on Marimekko’s printmaking tradition and founder Armi Ratia’s ideas about colour, beauty and joy in everyday life. Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki has lent photographs, historical magazine articles, iconic textile prints and garments from different decades to the exhibition.
The exhibition takes visitors on a journey from Marimekko’s early years and first fashion shows to the vibrant world of the 1960s and 1970s and on to the present day. It offers insight into the creative work of the designers whose vision forms the foundation of the company’s identity. Highlights include printed textiles designed by Armi Ratia and Maija Isola, as well as garments and patterns by Annika Rimala, Pentti Rinta and Katsuji Wakisaka.
“The collections of Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki offer a unique perspective not only on Marimekko’s history, but also on the distinctive work and careers of individual designers. Many of the most important names in Finnish design worked for Marimekko at some point in their careers. It is wonderful to see Marimekko’s printmaking tradition presented in Japan, where interest in both Marimekko and Finnish design remains exceptionally strong,” says Harry Kivilinna, Curator at Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki.
The exhibition traces Marimekko’s transformation from a Finnish textile company into an internationally recognised design brand. Among the featured materials is the famous 1960 issue of Sports Illustrated, which included photographs of Jackie Kennedy wearing a Marimekko dress and helped bring international attention to the company. Marimekko products first became available in Japan in the early 1970s and have remained popular for decades.
In addition to collection materials from the museum, the exhibition features a work by the Japanese artist collective plaplax, which immerses visitors in the creative environment of Marimekko’s printing factory in Helsinki, as well as an installation created for the exhibition by designer Akira Minagawa.
The world’s most significant Marimekko collection
The Marimekko Collection at Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki spans the company’s history from the years of Printex, which preceded the founding of Marimekko, through its first fashion shows and up to the present day. The collection comprises approximately 4,000 garments, textiles and fabric samples, as well as around 10,000 photographs. It documents the work of Marimekko’s key designers across different decades, including Maija Isola, Vuokko Nurmesniemi, Annika Rimala, Fujiwo Ishimoto, Katsuji Wakisaka and Pentti Rinta.
Marimekko donated the collection to the Museum of Applied Arts (formerly Design Museum, now Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki) in 1986. Over the past four decades it has been continuously expanded through acquisitions and donations from the company. The collection has previously been featured in exhibitions in Australia (2017–2018), Japan (2016–2017), the Netherlands (2014) and the Nordic countries (2006).
Exhibition tour in Japan
The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto 4 July – 6 September 2026
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Tokyo
Hiroshima Museum of Art, Hiroshima
and more.
Museum Collections Featured in Japan
Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki’s collections are currently receiving significant visibility in Japan through two touring exhibitions. Also touring Japan is Kaj Franck – Timeless Finland Design, produced by Asahi Shimbun in collaboration with Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki. The exhibition opened in Oita in April and will next be presented at the Iwami Art Museum in Shimane Prefecture from 27 July 2026.
Read more about Kaj Franck’s retrospective
Read the Exhibition Press Release
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Ilona Hildén
Communication Specialist