UPSIZE PH | IKEA Celebrates With Global Home Tours

Never before has the home been so important to many of us for the past year and a half. From living rooms to our own bedrooms, our homes have been places where we’ve worked, played and learned in the face of a global health crisis.

Ikea opens the door to better living by hosting a festival that can be experienced both online and in many IKEA stores around the world, featuring music artists, chefs, designers and creators. This is a new kind of festival, set in everyday homes, studios, and neighborhoods worldwide, turning living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms and backyards into virtual stages for performances and experiences. All in all, the Ikea Festival will take place in over 100 homes in more than 50 markets across the world and the experience is open to everyone and is free.

In the Philippines, IKEA has a pop-up at the SM Mall of Asia Atrium. After this, the pop-up goes to SM Megamall.

“The home has never been more important than before. And with virtual connection now taking on a more prominent role in everyone’s life at home, we can open the door to many more lives around the world – exploring each other’s individuality and creativity at home,” said IKEA Pasay City store manager Georg Platzer.

“We are excited to open the doors of IKEA Festival, our biggest global home tour yet, as we bring people together around life at home in a new way, online, from Sweden to the Philippines to the rest of the world.”

The festival is inspired by the IKEA vision to create a better everyday life for the many people.

"This is a new kind of experience IKEA wants to offer, celebrating, connecting and engaging around life at home. Home tours around the world will open doors to new experiences and new inspiration. We want to spark a conversation on the more sustainable and affordable life at home of tomorrow. And just as with any festival, you can expect a few surprises," said Erika Intiso, Managing Director of IKEA Marketing and Communication AB.

The festival takes place on ikea.com and in IKEA stores in different room settings reflecting what people say is most important to them in their homes today: being with family and friends, music and food, which is represented in the experiences in these rooms. But there are also rooms for discussions on current topics and IKEA news to offer visitors a broad choice of experiences.

Visitors will see artists perform intimate concerts from their homes and studios and join DJ relays. Interior design fans are invited through the doors in countries around the world to get home makeover inspiration and see how designers and current and former IKEA collaborators create their work in their own unique spaces. Visitors can also experience cook-offs, challenges and home visits where both healthy, planet-friendly and no-waste recipes are shared. There will be discussions around the kitchen table on the important topics of circularity, air, play and spaces. Gamers can jump into a home visit to see the new IKEA gaming range. And IKEA will open its doors with special activities in many stores and live streams, giving access to what is happening in IKEA right now, from the factory floor in Zbąszynek, Poland, to the prototype shop in Älmhult, Sweden. IKEA fans can travel back in time in a digital IKEA museum to explore the diverse history of the brand over the decades.

The Festival room sets include:

• My Home Turf. Home is anywhere that feels like…well, home. Join artists such as MØ, Kanis, Niki and Masego as they show their cities, neighborhoods, and communities – and treat you to a performance.

• Home Concerts. Turn up the volume and enjoy concerts – straight from the most personal, intimate stage around the world: people’s homes.

• Home Cooking. Open the door to delicious-smelling kitchens all over the world and be inspired by chefs cooking up old and new favorites. Chefs are among others Pasta Queen and Paul Svensson.

• DJ Relay. Don’t stop the music – you’re invited to a marathon set of club music, straight from the DJ’s own home. DJ´s playing is Kaytranada, Loraine James and ZULI, to name a few.

• Home Visits. Welcome to a global tour, as strangers and some well-known personalities like Ilse Crawford share what’s inside the most important place in the world: their home.

• IKEA Museum. Go back in time and explore everything that has made and shaped IKEA: the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly.

• IKEA News. Travel the world and meet our co-workers and collaborators right now – in-store, at the factory, at the office or in the studio, such as former collaboration partner Virgil Abloh.

• Home Makeovers. Ideas and guidance for creating better storage, a more cooking-friendly kitchen or simply accessorizing in a fun, vibrant way.

• Shopping with …Who would you like to go shopping with to get new ideas for your home? They’re here, ready for you to join them for a full day of shopping at the local IKEA store.

• Kitchen Talks. Join a conversation about the joys and frustrations that make up everyday life at home. IKEA co-workers meet with profiles like surfer Kassia Meador, astronaut Christer Fuglesang and adventurer Renata Chlumska.

To access the IKEA Festival and get the full program, you can visit the festival page ikea.com/festival now. No sign up is required, it´s for free, and guests don’t need to register their details.

To kick-off the global celebration of life at home in the Philippines, IKEA put up a billboard featuring more than 1,000 Filipino families along EDSA. It is a collage of the many life at home stories of Filipinos shared to IKEA last June. The collage can be seen along EDSA Magallanes.

IKEA Philippines recently allowed consumers to add items to their "shopping list" on its website.

IKEA Philippines in Pasay Cityis set to open in the fourth quarter but its e-commerce site will go live ahead of time.