IKEA’s 96-piece line Stockholm celebrates ‘forever furniture’ with high quality Swedish pine and woodland inspiration

Alhamn Sofa, priced at ₹1,09,890. Available in darkish turquoise, darkish brown and beige.
| Photo Credit: Special association

In a rustic of lengthy, darkish winters, ‘mys’ — Swedish for cosiness — has its followers and is one other rising international development after the Danish ‘hygge’. It additionally resonates with Swedish big IKEA’s heart-warming furnishings that stands for consolation, good design and affordability — in all, a phenomenon in a flatpack. This idea of ‘flat’ works nicely in a world that’s getting flatter, based on Karin Gustavsson, inventive chief of IKEA’s Stockholm assortment, which celebrates its fortieth anniversary. “We found that families were becoming very similar everywhere,” she says on a media webcast to elucidate why it really works for modern existence. Big homes should not reasonably priced, tremendous eating rooms are outmoded and youngsters don’t stay in for dinner, notes Gustavsson, including, “Someone has alcohol-free drinks, some have soda, some have wine.” Flexibility was key. Her design group of Ola Wihlborg, Nike Karlsson and Paulin Machado labored in shut collaboration. Their findings nudged their designs in direction of an off-the-cuff eating desk, wine glasses of a common dimension, plates designed for sharing parts and sectional sofas that might be moved in a small elevator and assembled.

“It’s not easy to design furniture as a flatpack,” says Gustavsson, one thing IKEA designers have mastered. The complete design course of (from conception to manufacturing), which usually takes three years, was scrunched in 2.5 for Stockholm. After the preliminary design part, testing and assembly tips takes a very long time. “Everything goes into climate chambers. The third phase is to build stock and ship it globally.”

Urban meets nature

Launched at Milan Design Week on April 7, the brand new assortment options 96 items for dwelling and eating and as equipment. The group’s stand-out imaginative and prescient for 2025 was to create solitary items that allow patrons curate their properties by mixing and matching. The Scandinavian love for a heat woodsy atmosphere is obvious within the distinguished use of pinewood and veneer. The designers got down to make assertion items with a push for renewable and recyclable supplies. With the Sundhamn couch, designers Wihlborg and Karlsson aimed to substitute foam with coir. The result’s a settee with a 25-year assure, a mix of cotton weave, pure latex and coconut fibre in a visual body of high-quality Swedish pine. Sofa covers are washable, in addition to replaceable.

“Stockholm is a city built on islands,” says Karlsson, referring to the 14 islands and 50 bridges throughout the Baltic Sea archipelago that make up the town. Here structure amidst waterways and forests is a testomony to how city and nature are carefully intertwined. “Our collection is also very much about that — a blend.”

Pendant lamps – 54 cm (21”)
Priced at ₹14,990.
| Photo Credit:
Special association

Meanwhile, Wihlborg recommends a ship journey via the archipelago. “You will see the water, the woods and the city!” he says. The bridging of Stockholm’s previous metropolis and new is a metaphor for a way older traditions meet contemporariness on this nature-themed assortment: a lamp with tree patterns emblazoned on the shade and a rattan cupboard involving Indonesian weavers. In addition to beiges and browns, daring colors like blue for the couch have been launched. A placing blue glass bowl by Machado is a tribute to the mouthblown glass custom of Sweden.

Alhamn couch, priced at ₹79,990.
| Photo Credit:
Special association

For the group, sustainability is about quality and long-lasting merchandise. In the Alhamn couch, their purpose was to design it to carry its form and consolation, even after prolonged use. “The goal is not to see the fittings,” says Wihlborg about their seamless designs with diminished joinery, clear strains and minimal supplies. Concealed fittings inserted at an angle enable for wider cabinets with out braces, giving a clear refined look. A patented wedge dowel lets a chair’s elements click on collectively, with out instruments or metallic fittings.

Complete ‘family’ vary

Jasmeet Sood, IKEA India’s Country Home Furnishing & Retail Design Manager, talks about promoting options, based mostly on insights into actual time wants and goals by way of IKEA’s yearly survey, “Life at home”. Sood found Indians wish to furnish properties with a household vary, reasonably than combine and match. Traditionally, IKEA furnishings tends to be white, whereas Indians favor vibrant colors. Here too, post-pandemic, persons are searching for multifunctional furnishings — a eating desk the place we will additionally socialise, excellent for small areas.

Stockholm eating chair and desk
| Photo Credit:
Special association

Stockholm eating chair with a strong beech backrest expertly bent by steam.
Priced at ₹19,990.
| Photo Credit:
Special association

Sood is satisfied that the blue couch is a winner, and throughout oceans, the IKEA design group feels the identical. Ultimately, it’s the minimalist Nordic aesthetic that’s probably the most interesting, Scandinavia’s present to the historic timeline of design, hovering above extreme ornamentation and luxe, like a breath of recent air. “Stockholm is a complete Scandinavian design statement,” Gustavsson says.

The author is a model strategist with a background in design from SAIC and NID.