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Customers can view the unique lighting installations created by Aalto's spatial design students, which utilise IKEA's energy-efficient LED lamps, at IKEA's department stores in Espoo and Vantaa.

'Our students felt that the IKEA Valaistuminen (enlightenment) project was an excellent partnership, as sustainable development and energy thinking represent Aalto University's prevailing values,' Aalto University's Professor of Spatial Design Pentti Kareoja outlined.

Sustainable development is also one of the cornerstones of IKEA's activities. IKEA is a partner and a sponsor at this autumn's Climate Change Conference in Paris in November and December. In line with this environmental theme, IKEA decided to invite Finnish institutions of education specialised in design, handcrafts and art located in the same areas as IKEA department stores to create works that sparked thoughts on the climate.

'We wanted to work together with Finland's upcoming top designers and, at the same time, to encourage people to think about the impact their daily activities have on the environment. One such activity is changing lamps in one's home to energy efficient LED lamps,' says IKEA Finland's Country Communications Manager Kirsi Gotthardt.

'We have been very impressed with the remarkable standard of the installations the partnering students created and with how creatively the project's themes have been highlighted through them.

'The design of these light installations has been inspirational and challenging. We hope that the works in the Espoo and Vantaa department stores evoke feelings and interest.  The students' belief in a brighter future despite ongoing world crises shines through. Empathy is a resource that young designers can utilise, and it is wonderfully apparent in these projects,' Aalto's Professor of Spatial Design Pentti Kareoja describes.

The Vantaa department store's LUX light installation celebrates the beauty and importance of consumer durables and light in everyday life. At the same time, it encourages people to make choices in their everyday lives that support sustainable development. The installation also aims to evoke thoughts on solidarity - sustainable development is not only ecological or economical but also social.

'In the end, basic needs such as light and nutrition are the same for all of us. We must come around the same table, as we can only create a brighter future for all of us by working together,' students of interior design at Aalto University Mari Lindberg and Linda Vanni elaborate.
 

Cooperation with educational institutions in six IKEA locations

•             Espoo and Vantaa: Aalto University, spatial design students

•             Tampere: Tampere Vocational College TREDU, handcrafts and arts students

•             Raisio: Arts Academy, Turku University of Applied Sciences, students of fine arts

•             Jyväskylä: Jyväskylä Educational Consortium, carpentry students

•             Kuopio: Savonia University of Applied Sciences, design students

IKEA Vantaa
Installation: LUX

Team
Linda Vanni, Malachi Cook ja Mari Lindberg
Interior design
Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture

IKEA Espoo
Installation: Perspective
photos by Pasi Salminen

Team
Thomas Tyrrell Adolph (Creative Sustainability), Manuel Francisco Fonseca (Product and
Spatial Design), Hélène Lacombe (Product and Spatial Design)
Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture