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.
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 Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"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.
-
Miami Freedom Tower’s MAGA library squeezeTHE EXPLAINER Plans to place Donald Trump’s presidential library next to an iconic symbol of Florida’s Cuban immigrant community has South Florida divided
-
Trump wants to revive coal. Will it work?Talking Points Wind, solar and natural gas are ascendant
-
Is the first AI ‘actor’ the beginning of Hollywood’s existential crisis?Today's Big Question 'Tilly Norwood' sparks a backlash
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN 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 campUnder the radar Aid cuts mean authorities face ‘uphill struggle’ to maintain security
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
Rubio says US brokered end to Syria conflictSpeed Read Syria's defense ministry was targeted in Israeli attacks on the capital
-
Syria's returning refugeesThe Explainer Thousands of Syrian refugees are going back to their homeland but conditions there remain extremely challenging
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
