These Ikea lampshades and rugs will ensure better air for north India

As part of this, Ikea recently launched the prototype collection ‘Forandring’ from India at the Democratic Design Days 2019 held in the brand’s birthplace Almhult, Sweden. “We wanted to look at the root causes of the smog in north India, and crop burning was one. And at Ikea we are always looking for renewable materials,” says Mia Olsson, Country Communication & Interior Manager, Ikea India.

Akanksha Deo, in-house designer for the brand in India, got the brief that for this collection honouring the material is extremely important. In this case, the material is the rice straws that would otherwise be burned by the farmers leading to the terrible air quality that northern India suffers. “It was important for me to understand the material and what you can do with it. We wanted to celebrate the material and enhance it, not hide it,” says Deo, who having grown up in New Delhi has first-hand seen the vast change in the city’s air quality. “You can’t see the stars in the sky anymore, and that’s scary.”