IKEA Celebrates 80th Anniversary With First-Ever Open House Event

For the past 80 years, IKEA has undeniably stood as an iconic brand in the realm of home furniture and design. Since its inception in 1943, the Swedish company has revolutionized the way people perceive and access home furnishings by way of its distinctive blend of functionality, affordability, and stylish minimalism. This month, in celebration of its 80th anniversary, IKEA has teamed up with local design firm Mason Studio for an inaugural Open House Event featuring immersive experiences, a larger-than-life installation, a $1,000 IKEA gift card giveaway and more.

The installation – which has been in the works since earlier this year – spotlights one of IKEA’s most iconic and coveted storage products, the KALLAX shelving series. In an homage to the legacy product, Mason Studio has reimagined it on a dramatic scale that blends the lines between storage and contemporary design while featuring the IKEA brand’s iconic blue and yellow colours. Revealed at IKEA’s Open House Event on October 12, the installation will be on view to the public from October 13th – 15th from 10 am – 4 pm daily.

“IKEA is such a collaborative company, and, as a brand, we aim to select our partners from within the community and find a partner that aligns with our values,” says Alicia Carroll, who leads Event & Experiences at IKEA Canada. “Not only do Mason Studio and IKEA have very similar values, but the firm has tons of experience producing large-scale installations; it’s what they do.” 

Beyond the Mason-led installation, IKEA’s Open House Event will also be presenting visitors with an experience that nods to the past, present and future of IKEA. This includes a Complete Sleep activation, the release of IKEA’s nostalgic Nytillverkad collection, and IKEA’s tech-driven IKEA Kreativ room, which highlights the brand’s new augmented reality home design app. “We’re especially excited to have visitors experiment with IKEA Kreativ,” says Carroll. “It’s very high tech because it actually understands spatial dimensioning, so, you can take a photo of your space and actually drop in furniture to curate what you’d like it to look like. The app removes all of the items in your existing space from the photo to really streamline that design process.” 

With an embrace of community and technology, as IKEA commemorates its 80-year journey, it begins an exciting new chapter in its brand identity. We can’t help but look forward to visiting IKEA’s Open House Event ourselves to witness and celebrate the brand’s exciting evolution. IKEA.CA