Colin and Justin: Home Swede home
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eighth iteration of the iconic IKEA brand delivers modern Scandi look
When Swedish retailer IKEA moniker a collection in honour of their homeland’s capital city, it’s likely the resulting merchandise will be somewhat special.
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Stockholm, after all, is a global centre of style, culture, media and politics – and home of the Nobel Prize – so innovation, economic worth and perceived quality must surely infuse the collection’s DNA.
The eighth iteration of the iconic IKEA brand delivers modern Scandi integrity via a hundred or so thoughtfully imagined pieces.
“The magic of this collection lies in each piece’s ability to beautifully complement every other, as though collected over time,” reports EJ Middelhoven, head of communication and design, IKEA Canada. “It’s important that Canadians know they’re getting quality and a price tag within reach.”
The compendium fuses furniture, textiles, lighting and accessories, all of which could comfortably feature across multiple zones. Materials are carefully selected for their quality and ability to endure, as well as how well they’ll mesh.
Solid woods, for instance, pair with touchy feely fabric surfaces and pure wool, whilst linen and genuine leather combine to create unique expressions in handwoven wool rugs and ancillary products. The collection also includes two vintage style glass chandeliers, smartly boxed with white gloves to protect fragile parts during assembly. Detail, huh?
Two distinctly different sofas were envisioned to underpin the collection. Designer Ola Wihlborg’s wide modular chesterfield (available in four colourways including turquoise velvet) was born from his frustration with upholstery that constantly needs to be fluffed and punched back into shape.
After developing countless prototypes, the resultant lounger is sleek and generous, with modular form that can be scaled to suit your project.
The second sofa, designed by Nike Karlsson, features a solid pine frame and white pillows, and serves as an exploration into seating design without foam. Made from natural materials, it employs woven fabric, linen and coconut fibre to deliver exceptional comfort and timeless appeal.
Karlsson also created a sliding-door cabinet, its surface woven from rattan fibres tied, bent and shaped by hand. Rattan also features in the backrest of one of the collection’s dining chairs, and in a lounge chair built around a robust rattan frame, topped with a light boucle cushion.
With consumers, perhaps more than ever before, looking for standout, pedigree home items, it’s important the retail sector offers excitement through understated detail, and with quality materials.
Across the Stockholm range, the real and uncomplicated nature of its component parts shines. Chairs, bookshelves and dining tables reveal detailed craftsmanship and smart construction, with aesthetics that, as far as we see it, look set to transcend the vagaries of style.
The collection’s bentwood chairs are crafted using a traditional technique where beech lumber is soaked and carefully bent by hand to form soft, rounded arches in arms and back. It’s at once sinuous and comfortable, yielding and tactile.
A key trend, as we see it, across the design landscape, continues to be ‘cottage core’, with cabin and farm style now considered feasible in the city.
True to this dictum, the forest is a central character in textile designer Paulin Machado’s Stockholm offering that includes lampshades adorned in leaf and mushroom prints, and colour combos pulled directly from rolling Scandinavian seasons.
Handwoven, her 100% wool rugs bring nature indoors, with woven birch tree motifs, available in shades of green, grey scale and classic monochrome. Furthermore, Merino wool blankets and pillowcases – in multi-coloured patterns – add welcome pops of unbridled drama.
It’s always a good sign when, having previewed a new collection, we arrive home as happy shoppers: on this occasion clutching a pair of Stockholm brass stemmed travertine-based table lamps.
We can officially report that our home bar has taken on a whole new vibe thanks to the recent purchases, which, at just $79 each, mean we can afford to double pour our cocktails without breaking the bank. And hey (or ‘hej’ as they say in Swedish), cheers to sensible price points, say we!
STOCKHOLM 2025 is available in-store and online at IKEA.ca.
Watch for Colin and Justin on City-tv’s Breakfast Television and Colin and Justin’s Sub- Zero Reno on Paramount Plus TV. Find the Colin and Justin Home Collection in stores across Canada.
Visitwww.colinandjustin.tv
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