Satisfy Your IKEA Lovin’ Heart at the New IKEA Museum
If you have enough Kallax bookcases and RAST dressers to make your living room look like something out of an IKEA showroom, you’ll be right at home in the IKEA museum opening this month. Housed inside the very first IKEA store in Älmhult, Sweden, the IKEA museum is celebrating its past, present and future with an entire space dedicated to everyone’s favorite pieces of furniture and home accessories. Yes, there are entire exhibits dedicated to the Billy Bookcase and other cult faves, but there are also decade-specific exhibits where you’ll be able to browse what an IKEA-lover’s bedroom might have looked like in the ’70s. And because it wouldn’t be IKEA without the meatballs, there’s not only a restaurant serving Swedish dishes, but an entire gallery devoted to the tasty dish.
The museum was so carefully curated that nothing was reproduced or reissued; there was even a submission call for certain pieces that IKEA didn’t have in storage so that the period exhibits would be historically accurate. But if the history of IKEA chairs doesn’t interest you, you can always just snap a selfie in a set that looks exactly like the cover of an IKEA catalog. While the museum is partly an attempt to turn Sweden into more of a tourist attraction, it’s also a great way for IKEA to increase its design credibility and dismiss the stereotype that it’s just the place for cheaply made furniture.
The shopping is the best part of any museum trip, so it’s no surprise that the IKEA museum boasts the coolest shop ever, with products that aren’t available anywhere else. But don’t worry, you won’t find any $20 coffee mugs. It’s all at IKEA prices, and there might even be some assembly required.
Does the thought of an IKEA museum make you want to book a trip to Sweden? Tweet us @BritandCo!
(h/t IKEA)
