WONDER

The WONDER exhibition showcases a string of Designmuseum Danmark's most fantastic and quirky objects. The exhibition focuses on how an item becomes an object, either in a private collection or in a museum.

Through five exhibition halls, the public is invited, among other things, into a private collector's home, takes a trip past the museum's storage, where objects and furniture on the shelves await exhibition, and is presented with some of the collection's enigmatic objects in a gigantic, seventeen-meter-long display case.

In WONDER, two collections of Japanese sword ornaments are presented, which were originally part of a samurai warrior's equipment. Since the founding of arts and crafts museums across Europe in the second half of the 19th century, the acquisition of Japanese handicrafts and utilitarian objects was highly sought after. This was also the case here.

The museum's first director, Pietro Krohn, collected a fine collection of especially sword guards, the so-called tsubas, until his death in 1905. Over time, this collection faded more and more into the background and was relegated to storage. Simultaneously, the Danish doctor Hugo Halberstadt, as a private individual, built up a completely unique collection of more than 1700 sword ornaments. Halberstadt donated his collection to the museum in 1940. This collection is one of the finest in the world, if not the finest collection – and since the generous donation, it has been permanently exhibited at the museum.

For the first time ever, the two tsuba collections are now presented side-by-side, offering an opportunity to study the exquisite Japanese craftsmanship up close.

Interested in knowing more? Book a guided tour of WONDER. Read more here