Re:Imagine — IKEA

IKEA is more than furniture. It is a ritual: wandering the maze of showrooms, eating Swedish meatballs, building something with your own hands. It has always been about democratizing design, making style accessible and playful.

But what if IKEA stepped further into the future and reimagined itself as a global platform for immersive design living?

The AR Home Studio

Imagine walking through your apartment with your phone or glasses and seeing every corner overlaid with IKEA possibilities. Not a flat catalog, but a full design lab in your space. The app learns your tastes over time and begins to suggest not only furniture, but complete moods, light schemes, wall art, even sounds. IKEA becomes less a store and more an invisible designer living inside your home.

The Metaverse Showroom

IKEA showrooms are already famous for their maze-like immersion. In the metaverse, that concept could expand infinitely. Customers could walk through virtual apartments designed for every lifestyle, from a minimalist Tokyo studio to a vibrant São Paulo family home. Each space could be interactive, allowing you to open drawers, rearrange layouts, and even invite friends into your digital apartment to co-design.

Smart Assembly Companions

Flat packs are iconic, but also infamous. What if every IKEA product came with an AI-powered assembly guide? Picture pointing your camera at the pieces on the floor while a holographic overlay shows you, step by step, how to build it. Frustration becomes satisfaction. The joy of making stays intact, but the friction dissolves.

Community as Product

IKEA’s real power has always been cultural, the way it shapes how people live together. What if technology amplified that community? Imagine IKEA-hosted design circles where customers share their AR-decorated homes, swap design hacks, and even co-create limited-edition pieces voted on by the community. IKEA evolves from retailer to platform, from brand to movement.

Why This Matters

IKEA democratized design for the 20th century. The challenge now is to democratize future design for the 21st. AR, AI, and metaverse tools give IKEA the chance to remain the world’s most playful, accessible, and collaborative design company, not just by selling furniture, but by designing ways of living.

Re:Imagine IKEA as not just a store, but a living ecosystem of design, play, and community.