The world’s first Moomin wallpaper

A discovery we had only dreamed of

In the spring of 2025, we began renovating Sandudd’s new showroom. The space had previously served as a warehouse, so as part of the renovation we sorted through boxes and materials that had accumulated over decades. One morning, one of our employees asked our CEO, Anna-Maria Näreikkö, to come and take a look at something. She was handed a drawing depicting the inhabitants of Moominvalley. At the bottom of the sheet was the date 1 May 1959, along with the unmistakable signature of Tove Jansson.

We knew that Sandudd had produced Moomin wallpapers during the 1950s, but the history behind the original designs and the years they were created had gradually faded from memory. Discovering the sketch was an exciting and long-awaited surprise. It marked the beginning of a fascinating journey to uncover its origins and the story behind it.

From a warehouse shelf to National headlines

Finding the sketch was an emotional moment for all of us. Our CEO, Anna-Maria, who grew up with the Moomin animations of the 1990s and has long been an admirer of Tove Jansson’s work, described the moment by saying: “It was incredible to realise that Tove Jansson had actually held this very piece of paper. She drew on it. She coloured it herself.”

Although the sketch was discovered in March, we chose not to announce it immediately. We felt that Tove’s original artwork deserved to be revealed at the right moment. Instead, we waited until August, when Finland celebrates Tove Jansson and Finnish Art Day. The original sketch was carefully framed and unveiled to the public for the first time during the Moomins’ 80th anniversary celebration at Tampere Hall.

Around the same time, the discovery was featured by several national news outlets. Yles journalist Petra Ketonen visited our factory to interview us, and the entire team was thrilled when the story appeared on Finland’s Friday evening television news.

You can read the interview (in Finnish) here: “Rare Moomin Discovery at a Wallpaper Factory Brings CEO to Tears: ‘I Couldn’t Help Crying’”

Tove Jansson’s unique handprint

To verify the authenticity of the sketch, we contacted Moomin Characters. As the design did not appear in any of Sandudd’s current Moomin wallpaper collections, we also wanted to find out whether it had ever been produced as a wallpaper.

Sophia Jansson, Tove Jansson’s niece and Creative Director of Moomin Characters, confirmed that the artwork was indeed created by Tove. She also shared a wonderful piece of family history: the wallpaper had once decorated the walls of her childhood playhouse.

The original sketch was remarkably well preserved. It still featured Tove’s hand-coloured illustrations, erased and carefully repositioned characters, as well as the handwritten date 1 May 1959.

One particularly fascinating detail was the colour palette. At a time when wallpapers were typically produced in subtle, single-colour designs, this pattern had been planned using eight different colours. Printing such a wallpaper in the 1950s required exceptional craftsmanship and technical expertise.

The mystery of the Russian notes

After sharing news of the discovery, keen-eyed readers noticed something unusual. Along the bottom edge of the sketch were handwritten notes in Russian, written using the orthography of the Imperial Russian era.
One of the notes reads: “Tummy, the noses of the figures sitting in the gazebo should remain open.” Since Tove Jansson did not speak Russian, it was immediately clear that someone else had written the annotations.

The mystery attracted the interest of several experts, including Yle journalist Anna Mattila, history enthusiast Juha Castorman, and art historian Minna Tuulas-Inkinen. Their investigation eventually led back to Sandudd’s factory and to Paul Tscherbakoff, one of the factory’s roller engravers, whose handwriting is believed to match the notes.

At the time, roller engravers often added technical instructions directly onto design sketches before production. It is therefore likely that Tscherbakoff’s annotations were intended to guide the wallpaper manufacturing process.

You can read more about the investigation in Anna Mattila’s article, “Who Left the Russian Notes on Tove Jansson’s Wallpaper Sketch?”.

When was the wallpaper first produced?

Because of the date on the sketch, we initially believed that the world’s first Moomin wallpaper had been created in 1959. However, our research soon revealed that this particular design had already been sold at Stockmann department store in 1954 as part of a collaboration between Tove Jansson and Stockmann.

According to the book Treasures from Moomin Valley, Tove designed only one colourway of the wallpaper for Stockmann. Sandudd, however, produced several additional colour variations in 1954. These were not to Tove’s liking, and it remains unclear whether she ever sent the letter she had written expressing her dissatisfaction with the colour palette.

The same publication also reveals that a formal collaboration agreement between Tove Jansson and Sandudd was signed in 1958. We believe that this agreement, together with the original sketch discovered at our factory, relates to Sandudd’s 1959 Finnish Design collection, which brought together the work of leading Finnish artists. The collection featured several different colourways of the Moomin wallpaper.

A Historic wallpaper returns

When we shared the story of the rediscovered sketch, one wish quickly stood out above all others: people wanted to see the wallpaper return.

We are delighted to say that it will.

The design features beloved Moomin characters, including Moomintroll, Little My, Snufkin, Sniff and Snorkmaiden, wandering through an enchanting landscape that has been part of many Finnish childhoods. Countless children have fallen asleep beneath this wallpaper, finding new stories among its characters night after night.

Although decades have passed, the charm of this Moomin wallpaper has never faded. The Moomins remain an important part of Sandudd’s collections, and now this historic design is ready to begin a new chapter.

Modern printing technology allows a maximum of six colours, which meant faithfully recreating the original eight-colour design required some creative problem-solving. Development is already well underway, and the wallpaper will be available to purchase in early 2026.

Explore our other Moomin wallpaper designs.