ikeaaustralia Archives - Phoenix and the Ocean

It was truly such an honour to be recently invited to an intimate session with Iina Vuorivirta, an incredible IKEA of Sweden designer. IKEA was the reason I first fell in love with home interiors. Scandinavian decor is my favourite style of home and I have always preferred the minimalist approach to design.

According to IKEA, the home is more than just four walls. It is about atmosphere. The meaning of home is the same, no matter where you are in the world. IKEA take their product development and design very seriously to ensure to meet the five key elements of titular design. These are:

Form.

Function.

Quality.

Low price.

Sustainability.

Swedish IKEA designer, Iina has a background in craft. She has extensive experience with glass and ceramics. I love how she explained that in the process of design at IKEA, she visits the countries where the products are manufactured and plays with the possibilities of sustainability and the brand becoming more circular. No production line is perfect, but in the process of creating her IKEA vase she decided to melt down the waste material from other glass products and create a unique Vase that varies in colour with every batch.

Iina has recently designed the new SYMFONISK, the highly anticipated collaboration between IKEA and Sonos. She began the journey three years ago. Both IKEA and Sonos know that home is all about atmosphere. Music makes a home and is important. That is something that Sonos takes very seriously as they create the best sound in the world. The light and music of the new SYMFONISK come together to give you the full experience. The concept is like a modern fireplace – you have the sound but you also have the light to enjoy. The sound quality is exactly what you can expect from Sonos.

I loved learning about how IKEA is discovering ways to be more sustainable. Iina specifically focuses on how to make her designs for IKEA better for the environment. Her favourite mediums are glass, cork and bamboo. She finds that when glass is combined with cork, magic is created. “The tactility of the two materials is amazing.” Cork trees need to be harvested every six years and when the bark is removed, they can be harvested again. The trees continue to deliver and thus are a win-win when it comes to using this material. She also loves using bamboo in her creating. The bamboo forrest of Vietnam grow over 1m per day. Iina explains how incredible it is that IKEA offers opportunity for workers in Vietnam and can share that handmade tradition with the rest of the world.

Finally, Iina shared favourite product that she has designed to this day, which is the best dish brush in the whole world. She shared how she loves humble, everyday life objects and found this product an incredible challenge due to the scale of it and its’ closeness to you. She explained that, “designing an object that you use with your hand is very different to designing a larger piece of furniture”. She’s spent 18 months creating this new product, RINNIG, that is made with 100% recycled materials and is all recyclable. The brush is meant to be the only dish brush you’ll ever need and will last upwards of 2 years. It has a magical suction at the base to stick to any tile or sink and a scraper edge to remove tough debris.

I have always enjoyed walking through the curated spaces in IKEA and browsing their clever range of products but now have an even greater appreciation for the brand.