Ikea store features replica of Syrian home
Company recreates 270sq-ft apartment belonging to family in Damascus to highlight plight of refugees





Ikea's flagship store in Norway has displayed a replica of a Syrian home as a gesture of solidarity with those displaced by the conflict.
Customers at the Swedish homeware giant will be familiar with its idiosyncratic layout, in which shoppers are guided by arrows around a series of showrooms featuring Ikea furniture and fittings.
However, alongside the gleaming displays of model kitchens and bedrooms, visitors to the Ikea store in Slependen, Norway, were greeted with a jarring contrast last month – a bleak recreation of the temporary homes where many Syrians caught up in the civil war are forced to take shelter.
"The mock-apartment features hard, cinder block walls, scant furnishings and few usable appliances," all of which are labelled with Ikea-style price tags, Design Boom reports. However, rather than the cost of the item, the tags contain snippets of refugees' accounts of life in Syria.
The installation, developed by Ikea in partnership with the Red Cross, is a replica of a real home, belonging to a woman called Rana who lives in a 270sq-ft apartment outside Damascus with her four children.
"We wanted the apartment to be as close to reality as we could because this is real," Maja Folgero, who works for creative agency POL, which was behind the mock-up, told CNN. "People live like this."
"At the one place where you think of and plan the future, the apartment served as a physical reminder of how lucky we are."
The installation was intended to promote Norway's annual charity telethon TV-Aksjonen, which this year raised more than 220 million kroner (£22m) for the Red Cross.
-
The allegations of Christian genocide in Nigeria
The Explainer West African nation has denied claims from US senator and broadcaster
-
The best sherries to try this autumn
The Week Recommends The warming tipple from sunny Spain is an underrated cold-weather staple
-
London’s best breakfasts and brunches
The Week Recommends However you like your eggs in the morning, these memorable restaurants have you covered
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime minister
In the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of Taiwan
In the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdown
IN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
Inside Syria’s al-Hol camp
Under the radar Aid cuts mean authorities face ‘uphill struggle’ to maintain security
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American cities
Under the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctions
The Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
Rubio says US brokered end to Syria conflict
Speed Read Syria's defense ministry was targeted in Israeli attacks on the capital
-
Syria's returning refugees
The Explainer Thousands of Syrian refugees are going back to their homeland but conditions there remain extremely challenging