Launching at this year’s Milan Design Week, the zine focuses on the changing essence of home for young people, featuring work by Imruh Asha, Erika Kamano and Andrew Miksys
When it comes to furnishing your first home, there’s only one word that really springs to mind: IKEA. The Swedish pioneer of flat-pack furniture has revolutionised the way that people decorate their houses and apartments since it was founded in the 1940s, serving as a stylish, minimalist backdrop for growing record collections, messy dinner parties, and generally figuring out domestic life, for young people across the globe. Catalogue!!!, a new collaborative zine from Dazed and IKEA, pays tribute to this turning point and explores the meaning of home for young people today, as “the first environment you have freedom to design, the first spot that embodies your taste, the first space you can author as your own”.
Born out of a deep dive into the IKEA archive – as well as conversations between Jefferson Hack and Ingka Group (IKEA Retail) creative director Marcus Engman – Catalogue!!! shines a spotlight on different, radical types of living, from live-in tattoo parlours, to micro-apartments and communal housing schemes, with a specific lens on a younger generation making the transition into their first homes. Elsewhere, the focus is on individual creatives, such as food writer Riaz Phillips, who explores the relationship between food and home in a personal essay; designer Michelle Deng and writer Timothy D’Cruz, who give their own takes on our ever-evolving definition of home in a conversation spanning creativity and identity; and a group of young creatives, including NTS DJ Flo Dill and designer Dan Pacitti, who share their most cherished objects.
It doesn’t end there, though. Just like the twists and turns inside IKEA’s labyrinthine furniture showrooms, the zine treats readers to a number of other inspirational pages. This includes pull-out posters from Daisuke, Andrew Miksys, Angèle Châtenet, and Erika Kamano, plus Dazed fashion director Imruh Asha, whose otherworldly sculptures were directly derived from a trip to IKEA, where he was influenced to deconstruct and repurpose the store’s papery lamps, pillows, faux-fur carpets and coat hangers into a series of avant-garde looks.
Expanding on the exploration of home, Catalogue!!! additionally features an exclusive survey conducted by Dazed Studio, which asked a range of young people to open up about their living spaces, aspirations for their first homes, and what home meant to them. Building on previous research, this survey identified some significant cross-generational shifts, and – along with the global scope of the zine’s contributors – helps to gain a broader understanding of the meaning of home on an international scale.
By now, you’re probably wondering how you can get your hands on a copy of Catalogue!!! for yourself. The answer? It will be exclusively launched at this year’s Milan Design Week, during IKEA’s takeover of Padiglione Visconti, titled 1st, in April. There, it will be available for free among a range of specially-selected magazines, alongside a varied music programme that highlights local creative scenes, affordable food and drink, and a showcase of new and innovative IKEA products.
Young creators and collaborators – including students from the design school Istituto Marangoni in Milan – will also be on site at the event, teaming up with mentors and IKEA to answer the question: “How do you imagine your first home?” Visitors will be able to see them present their work on April 17, bringing the creative energy contained in Catalogue!!! to life. Japanese breakdancer Soraki, and Italian musical artists Chiamamifaro and Rea will also take to the stage to offer their interpretation on 1st, alongside local DJ crews, with nighttime seeing the venue transform into a space for music lovers all over Milan, not just the Design Week crowd.
IKEA’s 1st runs at Padiglione Visconti from April 15 to 21.