Sihtasutus Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum

What Sihtasutus Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum does

Sihtasutus Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum (ETDM) is an Estonian non-profit foundation that operates the country's national museum of applied art and design, housed in a reconstructed late-17th-century former grain storehouse at Lai 17 in Tallinn's Old Town. The foundation traces its applied-art collection back to 1919, was formally constituted within the State Art Museum in 1957, and opened as a dedicated museum in 1980; it added design collecting in 2000 and today holds approximately 17,000-18,000 objects spanning textile, ceramics, porcelain, leather, glass, jewelry, metalwork, design and archival materials from the early 20th century to the present.

ETDM's core offering is a layered exhibition program built around two permanent galleries — 'Sissejuhatus Eesti disaini' (3rd floor, opened 2020) and 'Kogutud teosed' (2nd floor, opened 2017) — augmented by a rotating schedule of temporary exhibitions such as 'Kogu maailm on Bauhaus' (with the Goethe Institute) and 'Marit Ilison: ELU/TUBA' in 2026. Underlying technology is conventional museum digital infrastructure: the MuiS national museum database, an online ticket-sales system, the e-shop at pood.etdm.ee, and a photo bank at foto.etdm.ee for digitized collection media; there is no public API, AI capability, or proprietary platform disclosed.

The business model is a hybrid public-funding and earned-revenue model typical of a national museum. Earned revenue comes from ticket sales (9 EUR full / 5 EUR discounted / 18 EUR family / 4 EUR lecture), guided group excursions (50 EUR per group, up to 25 people), educational workshops and museum lessons, the on-site shop and online e-shop selling Estonian design items, books and magazines, and participation in the Museumikaart network (a 75 EUR annual digital joint ticket covering 100+ Estonian museums). Customer segments are horizontally distributed across individual visitors, families, kindergarten and school groups, adult learners, and design professionals, with no single anchor account. The museum is governed by a supervisory council chaired by Maria-Kristiina Soomre, with Kai Lobjakas serving as management board member (director), and a small staff of fewer than ten supported by a development and finance manager, head curator, exhibitions lead, curator, education coordinator, marketing and communications lead, exhibition technician, photographer, and cashier.

Name

Sihtasutus Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum

Legal name

Sihtasutus Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum

Website

https://etdm.ee

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sihtasutus Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum is an Estonian non-profit foundation operating the national museum of applied art and design at Lai 17 in Tallinn's Old Town, serving individual visitors, families, schools, and design enthusiasts through permanent and temporary exhibitions, educational programs, a museum shop, and an e-shop.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Applied Art and Design Museum

NAICS

Museums (712110)

akta.pro primary industry

Art Museums (THAJADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA), Cultural Heritage Institutions (Archives, Historic Houses, Monuments Foundations) (THAJADAI)

Keywords

• Applied art museum
• Design exhibitions
• Cultural collections
• Educational programs
• Estonian design

Headquarters

HQ city

Tallinn

HQ country

Estonia

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Ticket sales: The museum generates revenue through ticket sales including full-price, discounted, and combined family tickets, as well as museum card passes.
2. Museum shop: The museum operates a museum shop selling Estonian design products, books, and magazines during museum opening hours.
3. Group excursions and educational programs: Revenue from guided tours for groups (up to 25 people), workshops, and educational programs for schools and other groups.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Sihtasutus Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum is a nonprofit foundation that operates a museum dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting Estonian applied art and design from the early 20th century to the present. Its core offerings include permanent and temporary exhibitions, educational programs for children and adults, an e-shop and museum shop selling Estonian design products, and guided group excursions. The museum holds approximately 17,000-18,000 objects and operates from a reconstructed 17th-century grain storehouse in Tallinn's Old Town.

Product overview

Sihtasutus Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum (ETDM) is a foundation operating a physical museum in Tallinn's Old Town, focused on collecting, preserving, and exhibiting Estonian applied art and design from the 20th century to the present. Its core offerings center on rotating and permanent exhibitions — including the permanent exhibitions 'Sissejuhatus Eesti disaini' (3rd floor) and 'Kogutud teosed' (2nd floor), plus a project area for changing thematic displays — alongside temporary exhibitions such as 'Marit Ilison. ELU/TUBA', 'Kogu maailm on Bauhaus', 'õhuLoss', and 'Kujutluse tume taevas'. The museum also operates an e-shop (pood.etdm.ee) and a comprehensive education program with workshops and museum lessons for all ages. ETDM maintains a collection of approximately 17,000–18,000 objects, accessible through the MuiS database and a dedicated fotopank (photo bank) of digitized materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Goethe InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026The Bauhaus exhibition 'Kogu maailm on Bauhaus' is organized in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, introducing the legendary art school's work to Estonian audiences for the first time.
• Vienna Design WeekminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025Works from the ETDM collections reached Vienna Design Week, showcasing Estonian applied art internationally.
• Estonian Architecture MuseumminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2025Joint exhibition with the Estonian Architecture Museum on Olympic construction, part of their collaborative projects.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Tallinn City Museum: Local Tallinn heritage museum. Overlaps with ETDM in Tallinn visitor traffic, school programming, and Old Town location economics, though its scope is Tallinn civic history rather than applied art.
• Designmuseum Helsinki: Finnish design museum with a comparable applied-arts and industrial-design collection, serving the Nordic market. Relevant as a regional benchmark and potential Baltic-Nordic collaboration peer.

Direct peers

• Estonian Architecture Museum: Tallinn-based design-focused museum that has collaborated with ETDM on joint exhibitions (Olympic construction). Directly comparable in scale, target audience, and applied-arts orientation.
• Design Museum (London): London-based museum dedicated to contemporary design and architecture. Closely aligned mission of presenting design as a cultural discipline, with permanent and temporary exhibitions, educational programming, and a design retail shop.
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum: New York-based Smithsonian design museum with a comparable focus on collecting and exhibiting historical and contemporary design, plus educational programs and a shop. Strong analog for ETDM's applied art + design scope.
• Kumu Art Museum: Estonia's flagship art museum in Tallinn, part of the Art Museum of Estonia. Operates overlapping curatorial, educational, and exhibition functions and competes for the same Tallinn visitor base and Estonian cultural funding.

Broad incumbents

• Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A): Global leader in applied arts and design collections. While much larger, its decorative arts and design galleries represent the scaled version of ETDM's mandate and a benchmark for collection-driven design authority.
• Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris): Paris-based museum of decorative arts with collections spanning textiles, ceramics, jewellery, and design — directly aligned with ETDM's applied art categories. Comparable in collection breadth and educational programming.
• Estonian National Museum: Largest museum in Estonia, focused on Estonian cultural history and ethnography. Overlaps with ETDM in cultural heritage mission, government funding pool, and national-representation role, but operates at significantly larger scale in Tartu.

Emerging players

• Design Museum Gent: Belgian design museum focused on Belgian and international design history. Comparable in niche design-museum positioning, exhibition-driven programming, and collection scope, providing a small-to-mid scale peer reference.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCcv0b8zAfWgCbHT11BHgPNg
• Facebookfacebook.com/disainimuuseum
• Instagraminstagram.com/disainimuuseum
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/estoniandesignmuseum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sihtasutus Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disainimuuseum