IKEA executives and employees on the sidelines of IKEA 2019 Catalogue launch, yesterday at Doha Festival City. Pic: Baher Amin/The Peninsula
DOHA: The Swedish home-furnishing retail giant IKEA yesterday launched the 2019 catalogue in its 75th year, by celebrating the many different needs that people have in their lives at home and inviting them to feel alive again. As one of the most widely distributed prints in the world, produced in 35 accessible languages, the catalogue is now available in Qatar.
This year, seven homes have been created as the base for the IKEA catalogue. They each tell stories of different lives, and the catalogue invites the world to an “open house” in these homes which are filled with inspiration for everyday life.
“This edition of the catalogue acquires more value and significance as we are also celebrating IKEA’s 75th year since the young entrepreneur”
“Ingvar Kamprad, at the age of 17 years, founded the business in the year 1943— a business that became his life-long commitment to better everyday life of the millions of people around the world,” said Alexey Sitkin, Store Manager at IKEA Qatar.
Alexey added: “IKEA after having gone through different phases of growth and expansion, in the current phase, given the fast changing global environment, the time has come for the next IKEA era. The company is being driven with a vision to built one IKEA with one common direction for the pursuit of a common goal.”
Through research presented in the IKEA “Life at Home” report about people’s needs and dreams for their homes around the world, having “too much stuff” is the single biggest cause of stress in the home. Globally, 27 percent of people think that society puts pressure on them to live minimally. 49 percent of people say that the main cause of their domestic arguments is due to clutter, and in many homes, there is a battle of clutter versus minimalism.
“At IKEA we are obsessed with life at home and each year we conduct in-depth research to further understand what matters to us all so that we can address real life needs in our catalogue to make people’s homes better.” said Vinod Jayan, Managing Director at IKEA UAE, Qatar, Oman and Egypt.
Vinod added: “We want you to unshackle yourself from what you think is expected of you and rather make room for yourself at home, so you can truly feel alive again. Your home is a place to spend quality time and enjoy what matters to you the most. Whether you have a busy home with people of all ages under one roof, trying to create a calming space in a stressful city, or looking to live more sustainably – the new catalogue spread gives easy to follow steps to apply to your home.”
As it celebrates 75 years of IKEA’s legacy, the new catalogue also includes a diverse range of furnishings and fittings for the home which reflect its Swedish heritage and other cultural influences from around the globe. True to its ethos, the 2019 edition is also full of features and content that not only offers design inspiration, but promotes the idea living sustainably and provides practical solutions in which to do so.
