En / 中文
Location: Sino-Finland Cooperation and Exchange Center, Nanjing
Exhibition: 8 August – 19 October 2026
Between 1953 and 1959, Finland’s first Ambassador to China collected a remarkable number of Chinese works of art and antiques during his service in Beijing. After his departure, the collection was preserved at the Embassy of Finland in China and remained largely unseen by the public. In August 2026, this remarkable collection leaves the Embassy for the first time to be presented to the public at the Sino-Finland Cooperation and Exchange Center in Nanjing.
LW Arkkitehdit together with designer Yizhou Zhao were honoured to contribute to the spatial and exhibition design of the exhibition. The design takes inspiration from the form of the traditional Finnish cabin and the landscapes of Finland. Three principal spatial concepts — the Midnight Sun Cabin, Polar Night Cabin and Ambassador’s Reception Room — reinterpret the distinctive natural and cultural characteristics of Finland while creating a dialogue between Finnish design and traditional Chinese art.
Through light, materiality, colour and references to the Nordic landscape, the three spaces create distinct atmospheric experiences. From the brightness of the Finnish summer under the midnight sun, to the quiet darkness of the polar night, and finally to the Ambassador’s Reception Room as a space evoking diplomatic history, the exhibition allows visitors to experience the collection while gaining a sense of the Finnish natural environment, design culture and the cultural background that shaped the Ambassador’s aesthetic sensibility.
The exhibition brings together more than 200 Chinese works of art and antiques from the Ambassador’s collection, including ceramics, enamelware, jade, furniture and textiles. It also features media installations, light sculptures and visual-material works by Finnish artists Teemu Määttänen and Anni Arffman.
By bringing together Finnish design, Nordic nature, traditional Chinese art and contemporary artistic practice, the exhibition explores the role of art and design in cultural diplomacy and creates a space where two cultures can meet and coexist across time and distance.
The exhibition is hosted by the Embassy of Finland in Beijing, the People’s Government of Qinhuai District, Nanjing, and the Nanjing South New Town Development and Construction Management Committee, and curated and produced by Beidian International Culture & Sports Development (Nanjing) Co., Ltd.
Through the spatial design, we sought to create an open dialogue between Finland and China, nature and culture, and history and contemporary life, allowing a collection rooted in diplomatic history to encounter the public through a new spatial experience.
LW Architects 