IKEA
Room For Everyone
Concepting • Art Direction • Design.
insight
Dignity is essential for human development, and for societies to thrive, yet, it is often taken for granted.
OPPORTUNITY
What if we do something to give the homeless their dignity back?
CONTEXT
The last time a global survey was attempted – by the United Nations in 2005 – an estimated 100 million people were homeless worldwide.
There are 100 million homeless people around the world.
IKEA decided to help the homeless get their dignity back by giving them shelter & clothing in their stores, and taking them off the streets.
With 313 IKEA stores in 38 countries. A solution was obvious.
How? We repurposed 10% of our real estate to create Room for Everyone, a shelter space. We are giving our customers 3D printed keys that they can give to a homeless person. These keys give them access to our shelters. We are also giving our customers the opportunity to pay for new items with their old IKEA furniture through our Room for Everyone app, and we are repurposing these to provide furniture in our shelters. In addition, we have installed recycling spots in our stores that create clothing out of plastic, so nothing gets wasted. This solution provides the homeless well-needed clothes.
A big problem needs big solutions, and fortunately, we don’t believe in providing small solutions.
At IKEA, there’s Room for Everyone.
