IKEA & Marimekko Transport Balmy Saunas Into Homes With Cozy, Print-Heavy Range
Images via IKEA’s Instagram / IKEA
Self-care never looked so vibrant.
IKEA and Marimekko have joined forces to channel the Nordic sauna lifestyle and stamp it all over your home. Uniting IKEA’s expertise with life at home and Marimekko’s art of printmaking, the new BASTUA collection brings 26 items that embody the joy of self-care rituals and nature in the region. The limited-edition range includes furniture, textiles, and glassware, each piece well-considered to inspire peaceful moments in everyday life.
Notably, this is the first time Marimekko has exclusively designed a set of prints for a brand collaboration.
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Warmth is a sweet rarity during sharp Nordic winters. To tide through the cold, residents have integrated saunas into their culture. BASTUA, in fact, is the word for sauna in Småland, Sweden, the home region of IKEA.
“[The sauna is] a place to unwind and focus on wellbeing, both mental and physical,” describes Minna Kemell-Kutvonen, Design Director for Print & Home Design at the beloved Finnish textile company. In Finland, where she lives, there are 5.5 million people—and an estimated three million saunas.
Needless to say, residents welcome any semblance of summer they can get. And when this time of year comes around, they’ll be greeted by the vivid pop of rhubarb. The vegetable, and more specifically its stems, is a delicacy during this time, lending brightness to sweet treats and bakes in the summer.
“In this really Nordic theme, I wanted to have big bold things. To create a simple and calm feeling from the big surfaces and shapes that the leaves make,” explains Maija Louekari, print designer for Marimekko.
The rhubarb thrives in a new special print dreamed up for BASTUA, its large leaves contrasted with bright pink. “Nordic plants are usually quite small because we don’t have as much light all year around as other countries in Europe. Rhubarb has quite a unique taste and is very Nordic, but it has these huge leaves and I really like that,” details Louekari. “They’re almost a bit exotic.”
The crop is spread all over items like a shower curtain, serving tray, towel, and tote bag.
“Prints can tell the stories of sauna moments, and we love to celebrate the story of this big leaf this way in the collaboration with IKEA,” Kemell-Kutvonen chimes in.
Another pattern created for the series depicts the organic contours of freshly-cut wood. Sami Ruotsalainen, a specialist in ceramics and glassware at Marimekko who was tasked to work on a print for the first time, first sketched a log-like pattern and then decided to splice the illustration up by hand to recreate the feel of carved wood.
The wood pattern isn’t just good as a textile, it even inspired a mirror with carvings in its birch frame, as well as textured glassware.
“With everything we learned from Marimekko about sauna culture, we wanted the collection to give a sense of being close to nature the way traditional saunas are, even if you don’t have one,” says IKEA designer Mikael Axelsson. “So, we looked at different ways to bring that nature into the collection.”
As such, BASTUA includes objects you’d traditionally use at a sauna, like robes, towerls, and a sauna bucket—but it also entails items one might have before or after a self-care ritual. There’s a rhubarb-scented candle to recall that relaxed feeling after a sauna session, as well as a rice paper lantern that offers intimate lighting. There’s also a small wooden side table to hold your favorite spa-day items, perhaps.
“Home is such a special, important place for people. You want to feel safe and happy there,” says Louekari. “With this collection, I hope people can have a piece of the Nordic happiness in their home, even without the sauna.”
The limited-edition BASTUA series will reach IKEA stores around the world in March 2023.
[via IKEA]
