Existence Maximum – big ideas for small spaces

Orange background with an illustration showing city line with high rise buildings and trees.
Published 8 December 2022

15 December sees the opening of a new exhibition at IKEA Museum, based around the fact that more and more people are living in smaller spaces. Already today, the majority of the world’s population is living in cities and by 2030, 40% of all homes are expected* to be smaller than 60 m2. The need for smart solutions is huge when living spaces are minimal.

But being innovative in small spaces is not exactly new to IKEA. Even back in 1995, ‘Small Space Living’ was launched during the Älmhult Fair, which involved several interior designers from seven different countries. The 1997 catalogue launched the idea of ‘Create Space’, which was about how we can use the home’s spaces in a smarter way, often based around storage.

Existence Maximum brings new perspectives to the theme of ‘big ideas for small spaces’. The exhibition includes 14 rooms with inspirational solutions for widely differing purposes – and the rooms also change character depending on the purpose. From the small home office that pops up in the hallway to the intimate dinner enjoyed in the boiler room, we show a variety of solutions, from dream to necessity.

“One important aspect of our job is to look into the future, where we no longer think of the home as large or small, but instead focus on how much life it accommodates. You might say that the exhibition tries to show new ways of making everyday life better. We want to take the visitor on a journey, where together we explore how we can live bigger with less!”
– Anna Sandberg Falk, Curator, IKEA Museum

Join us at IKEA Museum in Älmhult, and see squared become cubed. The exhibition runs until 3 September 2023, and includes several unique prototypes of multipurpose furniture by IKEA.

For interviews and further questions, please contact:

Range & Supply Press Office
Mobile: +46 (0)732 32 13 00
Email: pressoffice.rangesupply@inter.ikea.com 
Web: iics-ikeamuseum-dev2.azurewebsites.net

 

*IKEA “Cultural Signs” research, 2018

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© Inter IKEA Systems B.V. 2022
© Inter IKEA Systems B.V. 2022
© Inter IKEA Systems B.V. 2022
© Inter IKEA Systems B.V. 2022