IKEA: Inside the experimental patterns created by Swedish furniture retailer's 'bold team'

The fabrics are all from IKEA’s design archive

They are some of the best known textile patterns of modern times and adorn the homes of thousands of people across the country.

Now fabrics created over the past six decades by iconic Swedish furniture retailer IKEA are to go on display at a Scottish gallery in the first exhibition of its kind in the UK.

Curated by IKEA Museum, Magical Patterns, which is to open at Edinburgh’s Dovecot Gallery in the summer, unveils 180 original fabrics from the retailer’s archives.

The Randig Banan pattern was created in 1986 by Inez Svensson, one of the designers in the designer collective known as 10-gruppen. It did not sell well at first, but was later reissued in 2013. | IKEA

The exhibition delves into how the iconic Swedish furniture retailer has supported experimental designers, from the revolutionary design team, “10-gruppen collective” in the 1970s, to collaborations with design icons including Zandra Rhodes and Marimekko.

The exhibition will debut at Dovecot Studios on July 18 as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh Art Festival, and will run through to January next year, following a successful season at the IKEA Museum in Älmhult, Sweden.

The exhibition is the first of its kind in the UK. | IKEA

Since the 1960s, IKEA has forged relationships with experimental artists and designers. In a bid to meet increased demand for textile design, IKEA hired Danish textile artist Bitten Højmark in 1962, and Inger Nilsson in 1965. The pair introduced new technology, including the first Swedish version of the Natural Colour System (NCS), and bold patterns, in an age when textiles mostly came in shades of grey.

Developed by physicist Tryggve Johansson at Sweden’s National Defence Research Institute, the NCS uses a scientific approach to describe and communicate colours accurately, ensuring colours can be effectively produced on different materials and products.

The patterns will be on show at the Dovecot Gallery in Edinburgh. | IKEA

Ms Nilsson viewed the NCS as an invaluable aid in her work with colours and shades and wanted to see it being used everywhere at IKEA, travelling round the stores’ textile departments to explain how to present fabrics to consumers in a more attractive, inspiring way.

The patterns created across a period of 60 years reflect the zeitgeist of their time and the breadth and depth of IKEA’s textile department, such as the design “Randig Banan” by Inez Svensson.

Originally created in 1985, the stripy banana pattern was hidden away before becoming a big hit when it was reissued in 2013, as part of a temporary collection.

Anna Sandberg Falk, curator at IKEA Museum, said: “We’re thrilled to share this exhibition with more people by bringing it to Edinburgh’s esteemed Dovecot Studios. Magical Patterns is a joyful and nostalgic journey emphasising the strong IKEA identity, which the textiles department contributed to.

The fabrics are familiar to many people across Scotland, who have them in their homes. | IKEA

“They were a bold team that truly dared to be different and, in retrospect, we can see that those risks were worth it, as several patterns have become incredibly popular. The stripy banana pattern ‘Randig Banan’, for example, was initially hidden away under a table at the stores’ textile departments when it launched in the late ‘80s. But then it became a big hit in the 21st century and continues to inspire designers today.”

Celia Joicey, director of Dovecot Studios, said: “We are delighted to showcase Magical Patterns, the IKEA Museum’s first-ever touring exhibition at Dovecot. Our appreciation of art, design and textile makes this a natural collaboration, perfectly aligned with Dovecot’s tradition of creating contemporary tapestries. This exhibition highlights the important role pattern and textile play in shaping the spaces we live in.”