A Fleeting Glimpse? ‘Sweden’s Shop Window in Sydney’ - the Sweden at David Jones’ Exposition of 1954

Abstract

ABSTRACT On Wednesday 16 June 1954, a vast exposition of Swedish applied arts, manufacture, lifestyle, and industry opened at Sydney‘s largest department store, David Jones‘ Limited. Presenting Swedish design, food, fashion, merchandise, industry, cars, aeroplanes, machinery, and culture to Australian consumers Sweden at David Jones‘ transformed David Jones‘ three Sydney stores into temporary sites of cultural exchange. It ran concurrent with the North American travelling exhibition Design in Scandinavia and just weeks ahead of the Scandinavian dominated 10th Milan Triennial. What began life as a trade fair to sell more Swedish goods in Australia, transformed into a major exposition that rivalled international events. Inspired by Marshall Plan ‘Buy European’ retail fairs, Sweden at David Jones‘ was intended as a one-off event. Instead, it became a blueprint for David Jones‘ annual calendar of international expos that developed a new type of interlinked commercial and cultural diplomacy. This paper positions Sweden at David Jones’ as a missing chapter in Australian design history during an era of increased interest in Swedish design and the extensive cultural diplomacy efforts of Sweden in the twentieth century. It reflects on chance and serendipity in archival research while considering the exposition‘s physical temporality and its enduring legacy.