Featured art by Bhernn Saenz. With images courtesy of IKEA Philippines.
MANILA, Philippines — Since its market release, IKEA’s STOCKHOLM collection has long brought warmth, simplicity, and Scandinavian soul into homes around the world, enabling the transformation of indoor spaces into places of comfort and meaning.
Marking 40 years of unmatched milestone, the beloved collection celebrates its anniversary with a return with its most expansive and expressive edition yet—bringing 93 thoughtfully designed pieces that evoke the beauty of natural materials, timeless design, and the quiet luxury of living well.
With this relaunch brings statement sofas made to last to handwoven wool rugs, chandeliers and mouth-blown glass vases, showcasing IKEA’s continuing commitment to a design philosophy that makes life better for the many. Named after Sweden’s capital city, the STOCKHOLM collection has grown alongside the changing needs of homes through eight distinct editions, each unique but sharing the same defining characteristic of modern Scandinavian design at affordable prices.
Ricardo Pinheiro, IKEA Philippines Country Retail Manager, talks about Democratic Design as the pervading concept on IKEA’s product ecosystem and cycle. Image courtesy of IKEA Philippines.
In its latest and largest iteration, the collection showcases a diverse range of furniture, textiles, lighting, and accessories across the home. Taking center stage are materials carefully chosen for their quality and on how they age and interact with one another, where solid woods are paired with tactile surfaces and natural fibers, linen, and leather to create unique expressions in sturdy wood furniture, handwoven wool rugs, mouth-blown glass, and handcrafted rattan pieces.
“The purpose of the STOCKHOLM collection has always been to prove that high quality doesn’t need to come at an intimidating cost,” writes Karin Gustavsson, Creative Leader for STOCKHOLM in a press statement. “We have worked to create a no-compromise kind of collection where every piece tells a story. Craftsmanship is at the heart of this project, where traditional techniques and hands-on methods have resulted in durable and beautiful design pieces that stand the test of time.”
To amplify this, in a press briefing held in OPUS Mall, IKEA Philippines Country Retail Manager Ricardo Pinheiro highlighted, “The new edition of STOCKHOLM was thoughtfully designed with the elements of quality, affordability, sustainability, form and function in mind to ensure the collection is accessible to many real homes. This is why it feels both global and deeply personal—warm, welcoming, and made to last—perfect for Filipino spaces, whether it’s a condo or a spacious family home.”
Three-seat IKEA Sofa centerpiece, mixed with vibrant colors and prints from the pillowcases and the woven rug. Image courtesy of IKEA Philippines
Three Swedish designers bannering different but complementary design languages make up the collection. With an inspiration is deeply rooted in the city of Stockholm, this reflects both the urban and natural landscape surrounding the city, where rich earth tones play against natural woods, and textiles to shine a light on scenes and colors from nature.
Two distinctly different sofas were first designed as centerpieces to guide the collection as a whole. Designer Ola Wihlborg’s wide modular sofa, offered in four colors including a deep turquoise velvet, was born from his frustration with sofas that constantly need the cushions fluffed. Wihlborg notes, “I wanted to create a high-quality sofa that maintains its shape and looks the same even after you stand up from sitting in it. Something that prioritizes comfort without needing extra pillows.”
The second sofa, designed by Nike Karlsson with a solid pine wood frame and white cushions, serves as an exploration into design without foam. Made from natural materials, the sofa uses woven fabric, natural latex, and coconut fibre, delivering a sofa with exceptional comfort and timeless appeal.
Rattan was a focal point of STOCKHOLM 2017, which made Karlsson’s iconic rattan cabinet became a sought-after favorite. In the new collection, Karlsson introduces a sliding-door cabinet featuring a surface woven from rattan fibers, tied, bent and shaped by hand. Rattan is also used in the backrest of one of the dining chairs, while the lounge chair is built around a robust rattan frame and topped with a deep cushion in a light Bouclé.
Dining room from the Stockholm Collection, decorated with wooden tables and chairs, and mouth-blown glass vases. Image courtesy of IKEA Philippines.
“You’d think with the name STOCKHOLM, the pieces would have a big city feeling, but we went outside the urban setting, to the nature and islands around it. This allowed us to lean into the Scandinavian materials, including working with a Swedish pine supplier to source the highest-quality pine. People often think of pine as a budget material, but when you go for the best and apply smart, efficient design techniques, its beauty is undeniable,” Karlsson shares.
The raw nature of the materials shines throughout the collection, where chairs, bookshelves, and dining tables showcase detailed craftsmanship and smart construction—achieving sleek, clean designs that remain strong and durable. The bentwood chairs are crafted using a traditional technique where the beech wood is soaked and carefully bent by hand to form soft, rounded arches in arms and back.
Of note, the forest is a central character in textile designer Paulin Machado’s pieces, including lampshades adorned in leaf and mushroom prints and color combinations pulled directly from the Scandinavian seasons. Handwoven by master weavers, her collection of 100% wool rugs brings nature inside, with woven birch tree patterns, available in shades of green as well as a gray scale, in black and white. Merino wool blankets and pillowcases in multi-colored patterns add pops of drama.
As she puts it, “Nature is the best designer — every color matches beautifully in the natural world and you can see how we have tried to capture the hues of Sweden’s seasonal shifts.”
For dining, the collection offers tableware in ceramic and porcelain, including glazed stone plates and bowls, and a series of glasses. A selection of large vases stands out as beautiful centerpieces, with two mouth-blown and one ceramic black amorph, so each one carries its own character.
Rattan as a focal point in pieces in the collection. Image courtesy of IKEA Philippines.
With this showcase only further echoes Democratic Design in IKEA’s approach for designing, developing and evaluating the company’s home furnishing products. It ensures that the products integrate good function, beautiful form and long-lasting quality, with consideration for social and environmental impact and a low price. Democratic Design brings the IKEA business idea to life and guides its designers to offer products that meet the home furnishing needs of the many people at prices they can afford. Democratic Design helps IKEA make things better, such as a better life at home and a better planet, by making better things.
It always starts with the low price in mind and aims for the lowest cost throughout. The interaction between the dimensions adds value and creates a low price with meaning.
Form: Beautiful products that people love.
Function: Meaningful solutions to everyday needs.
Quality: Products that last for long-term enjoyment.
Sustainability: With consideration for social and environmental impact.
Low price: Truly affordable for many people.
Pieces from the STOCKHOLM 2025 collection are now available at IKEA Philippines in Mall of Asia and online.
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