Between 17 and 23 April IKEA is taking over Padiglione Visconti in the heart of Milan’s design district, opening the building’s historic doors to welcome visitors for a week of design, talks, music, food, and curiosity
In less than one month IKEA will open the doors to its exhibition at Milan Design Week 2023. Assembling the Future Together will take place at Padiglione Visconti, Via Tortona 58, offering an experience that delves into the brand’s 80-year history and celebrates the change that IKEA has brought – and continues to bring – to people’s lives at home.
By day, Assembling the Future Together will host events and talks from IKEA designers, Atelier100 creatives, and IKEA Foundation partners, exploring how design can be transformative for people in all walks of life. A giant FRAKTA exhibition will brighten up the walls of the space, bringing a smile to visitors’ faces. By night, Padiglione Visconti will be transformed into a nightlife journey to the past, present and future, where renowned Swedish lighting designer Anders Heberling’s light show will be on full display. Between 18 and 20 April, from 20:00 to 24:00, an unmissable line-up of DJs and music selectors, will illuminate the dancefloor. Highlights include a night co-curated by legendary Milanese vinyl store Serendeepity, A Better Mistake techno rave, featuring 999999999 and Metaraph, and an Ultimo Tango Boogie with Fiona Zanetti and Simone de Kunovich, all brought together by Telekom Electronic Beats and IKEA.
Throughout the week, visitors will have to save room for Swedish flavours. The IKEA café, located on-site inside the exhibition space, will provide ample opportunity to try out lots of traditional products, including our renowned meatballs (of all kinds!) and a range of typically Scandinavian salmon dishes.
Assembling the Future Together: The Exhibition
Past: Inside the exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the brand’s history, through products that have contributed to the success of IKEA since the 1950s, leading to a rise in new trends and new approaches to life at home. Many of these iconic works of design history will come from the IKEA Museum in Älmhult, Sweden, and are no longer sold in stores. The experience will offer a trip down memory lane, demonstrating the brand’s ongoing mission to improve people’s life at home by creating products that respond to the needs of every era.
Present: The present will be experienced through the introduction of something entirely new: a fresh collection designed to celebrate the brand’s 80th anniversary and inspired by some of the products that make up its history, reimagined with a modern twist of new colours or materials. During Fuorisalone, IKEA will be debuting to the public the first items from this never-before-seen collection, which aims to demonstrate how our past continues to inspire and shape foundations for our future. A limited edition selection of this new collection, specially commissioned for Milan Design Week, will be on sale.
"At IKEA, our past has always been inspired by the possibilities of the future, and our future defined by our achievements in the past. We believe this was a great moment to revisit our design “treasure chest” – a wide selection of timeless icons and vintage favourites – and revive them with the bold outlook of the future. We are excited to show the result of this exploration to visitors at Milan."– Johan Ejdemo, Global Design Manager, IKEA of Sweden
Visitors to the venue will also get a first glimpse of the newly launched project IKEA Artist in Residence: Annie Leibovitz. Through a cinema experience, the public will get a behind-the scenes look at the first portraits taken by Leibovitz as part of her work with IKEA into the real lives of people in their homes, a collaboration inspired by the annual IKEA Life at Home Report.
Future: The beating heart of the IKEA exhibition will be the space dedicated to the future. Installations linked to the four elements (fire, water, earth, air) will offer visitors a highly engaging sensory experience that will encourage reflection on how the future of life at home must go hand-in-hand with respect for the place that we call home: our planet.
Assembling the Future Together promises to be a unique and inspiring event that celebrates the past, present, and future of IKEA. To be part of the Assembling the Future Together story, follow the #ikeadesignweek hashtag on social media.
ENDS
About Ingka Group
With IKEA retail operations in 31 markets, Ingka Group is the largest IKEA retailer and represents about 90% of IKEA retail sales. It is a strategic partner to develop and innovate the IKEA business and help define common IKEA strategies. Ingka Group owns and operates IKEA sales channels under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V. It has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres. Read more on ingka.com.
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