The living room is the heart of everyday life at home. A lot of different things happen here, so naturally it should be the most flexible, multifunctional room in the home.

So says IKEA in their new take on the living room - Make Room for Life.

And where better to unveil it than the 2017 Milan Furniture Fair?

There, in a 3500 m2 event and exhibition, the “IKEA Festival – Let’s Make Room For Life” invited visitors to an energetic mix of workshops, installations, interviews, music, live prototyping, food and happenings.

A glance at the IKEA PS 2017 collection – designed by 17 designers from around the world.

Musicians performing at the IKEA Festival at the Milan Furniture Fair 2017.

Collections and co-creation

New and ongoing collaborations, plus several new sofa collections created, were presented at the show. One of the sofas, or “living platform” as Tom Dixon and the 75 co-creating design students call it, is amazingly adaptable.

DELAKTIG chaise lounge with armrest.

Tapping students’ creativity

The competition ‘Democratic Design Challenge’ invited students to create space-saving products for the IKEA range. The participants pitched their ideas and small-scale prototypes to a jury during the exhibition, and the winners were announced shortly after - a bookcase with elastic rope instead of traditional shelves, and a modular wall-mounted storage system for small apartments, were announced winners. The creators were invited to make full-scale prototypes of their designs together with IKEA product developers.

The winners of the “Democratic Design Challenge”.

The IKEA Festival was a huge success, and based on concept, use of technology, storytelling, engagement and innovative formats, it was nominated as one of the best 40 exhibitions at the Milan Furniture Fair.

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