Design of IKEA Fabrics

Recently I went to visit Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, which surprisingly, I had never been to before. It is located right in the centre, situated where the Infirmary Baths used to be.  It is dedicated to preserving and developing the craft of tapestry - as well as hosting a range of exhibitions. It is a really beautiful space, with a lovely cafe.   My friend and I went there to see the exhibition on the textile designs produced by artists for IKEA over the decades.  This exhibition runs until 17th January 2026.

It was good to see such a range of different fabric designs - and what struck both of us was just how large scale they were.  It was completely different to what we were expecting.  One of the most interesting aspects was to see the process behind the development of the designs.  This striped banana design (which to me looks very Warhol) was designed by Inez Svensson in response to hearing the phrase 'cool bananas' on the radio.  She designed it in 1986 - and when she passed away in 2005, she requested her coffin be draped in this fabric.

Some of the fabrics, like the striped banana design above, look similar to the original art work - but some looked very different.  The hand painted design version of the design below in green, cream and black looks so different in comparison to the turquoise, yellow and black fabric which was printed up.  I liked seeing how the fabric designs were rooted in hand made originals.

I thought I would finish on the designs below - both best sellers for IKEA.  One is a simple raindrop pattern - which is a reminder to how appealing a really simple design can be (and a good reminder to me who has a tendency to layer on complexity!).  The other is the phrase 'mmm' rendered over and over again in white on black.  Incredibly, this sold over 70,000 metres!