IKEA Shows Off New Home Fashions

Retro black-and-white op art designs upstaged Scandinavian functionality at IKEA Etobicoke during the media launch of the IKEA 2008 catalogue. The abstract visuals appeared on the couches, pillows, and carpets that decorated the store’s second-floor foyer. IKEA tapped Neil Asselin of Explorations of Innerspace to supply design services for the annual event, which this year attracted more than 100 journalists.

The fashion show portion of the evening took place in the adjacent cafeteria. Here, Asselin created a predominantly white space, dotted with side tables, votive candles, and cascading floral arrangements. Fashion show accessories adorned a largely white bar, with oversized, hanging wicker lampshades in the foreground, white vases of palm leaves in the background, and IKEA stools in black and chrome in front.The event tagline “Beautiful IKEA 2008” appeared in a number of places throughout the venue, notably as part of tabletop floral invitations reminiscent of Henri Matisse cutouts of the late 1940s. Jay Manuel, stylist and host of Canada’s Next Top Model acted as the master of ceremonies, introducing new IKEA products such as lampshades and headboards that were paraded down the runway by fresh-faced models dressed in white who hammed it up for the cameras.

Urban Event Caterers contributed hors d’oeuvres such as baby shrimp on potato pancakes, beef tenderloin wrapped in bacon, venison canapés, and salmon Wellington. The food was served on IKEA serving platters and incorporated ingredients from the IKEA kitchen.
As part of the annual media event, IKEA closed its doors to its regular customers and allowed guests to go shopping with the lure of a 15 percent discount on all purchases. This time out, the retailer also gave a large-scale canvas map of the world to each guest as a parting gift.