IKEA has opened its doors to better living by throwing a festival that featured music artists, chefs, designers, and creators during a time when living at home has never been so important. This new kind of festival turned everyday homes, studios, and neighborhoods worldwide, turning living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and backyards into virtual stages for performances and experiences. All in all, the IKEA Festival took place in over 100 homes in more than 50 markets across the world, and the experience is for free, open to everyone.
“This is a new kind of experience IKEA wants to offer, celebrating, connecting and engaging around life at home. Home tours around the world will open doors to new experiences and new inspiration. We want to spark a conversation on the more sustainable and affordable life at home of tomorrow. And just as with any festival, you can expect a few surprises,” according to Erika Intiso, Managing Director of IKEA Marketing and Communication AB adding that the festival is inspired by the company’s vision to create a better everyday life for many people.
The online festival took place on ikea.com and in IKEA stores in different room settings reflecting what people say is most important to them in their homes today: being with family and friends, music, and food, which is represented in the experiences in these rooms. There were also rooms for discussions on current topics and IKEA news to offer visitors a broad choice of experiences.
Visitors saw artists perform at intimate concerts from their homes and studios and join DJ relays. Interior design fans were invited through the doors in countries around the world to get home makeover inspiration and see how designers and current and former IKEA collaborators create their work in their own unique spaces. Visitors also experienced cook-offs, challenges, and home visits where both healthy, planet-friendly, and no-waste recipes are shared. There were discussions around the kitchen table on the important topics of circularity, air, play, and spaces. Gamers jumped into a home visit to see the new IKEA gaming range.
IKEA also opened its doors with special activities in many stores and live streams, giving access to what is happening in IKEA right now, from the factory floor in Zbąszynek, Poland, to the prototype shop in Älmhult, Sweden. IKEA fans traveled back in time in a digital IKEA museum to explore the diverse history of the brand over the decades.
“The home has never been more important than before. And with virtual connection now taking on a more prominent role in everyone’s life at home, we can open the door to many more lives around the world – exploring each other’s individuality and creativity at home. We are excited to open the doors of IKEA Festival, our biggest global home tour yet, as we bring people together around life at home in a new way, online, from Sweden to the Philippines to the rest of the world,” says IKEA Pasay City store manager Georg Platzer.
Kicking off the global celebration of life at home in the Philippines was a billboard featuring more than 1,000 Filipino families along EDSA. It is a collage of the many lives at home stories of Filipinos shared with IKEA last June. The collage can be seen along EDSA Magallanes.