IKEA & H&M Join Forces For New Atelier 100 Program Inspiring The Youth [Interview]

An exciting new collaboration between industry giants IKEA and H&M is creating a contemporary ‘hyper-local’ search for London creatives with Atelier100. Following the application deadline that is midnight of April 24th , a new Atelier100 concept shop will be opened in Hammersmith in May, selling products made by local London creatives tailored to Londoners. This will evoke items that display the vibrant arrays of aesthetics of the London community, creating a new burst of innovative stock that is worth exploring. Atelier100 are offering an incredible opportunity for emerging creatives as those successful will be given up to £10,000 in funding accompanied by mentorship from experts within the industry to guide them and their businesses. Applicants will be judged by Marcus Engman, the Chief Creative Officer at Ingka Group (IKEA) and Camilla Henriksson, the Global Brand Innovation Manager of H&M, who will also be mentors.

Marcus Engman

NW : You have been instrumental in developing the IKEA brand in terms of design, what opportunities did you see at the beginning of your time at IKEA?

Marcus : I think that IKEA is still a hidden gem for some people, there’s so many good things, it sounds like I’m a preacher or something saying this but, it's good to the core for most things as there are alot of people who want to make change, and I think that’s what I would like to bring to the table, it's actually about change making and that’s what I've focused on all my life within IKEA, it's always been about making change. I started out as a store designer then I began working as head of design with lots of collaborations that was also about change making, and now it's like retail, inventing together with people like Camilla.

NW : The research at IKEA is extensive, even to the point of home visits - why is that so important to the brand?

Marcus: I think that you need to have some first hand experience of peoples needs, dreams and aspirations, if you work as a designer, if you work in interior as a designer aswell, it's something else to actually talk and feel and maybe live together with people. I’ve gone into the extremes of time to time, I was doing a bathroom, then I lived together with a family for 4 days actually just to get to know how they used the bathroom throughout the times of the day which might feel a little but extreme. All big companies have gone into the same kind of institutions for maybe getting their research and getting their knowledge they will get the same kind of facts so you wont find the things which will make a difference through first hand experiences so thats why we put so much effort into the work and I think it's also about making all of your employees actually side with the people that they are selling to, so that they understand their situations so everyone working in stores have to also go home to people, it's not just designers because they should know how you know the situation is for real, its being real, that’s how it is.

NW: Your work with the late Virgil Abloh was an amazing moment in the design world, What part of the job is most enjoyable?

Marcus : its actually things like this today, meeting up with the designers here and creators, I totally enjoy meeting new people all the time and I think that was the same thing with Virgil, Virgil was like a really great creative in so many aspects, and also like a mind that could see how things connected in the world, so just to get to learn his ways of thinking was super inspiring.

NW: He was Instrumental in the design world, Alot of young designers looked up to him alot

Marcus: Yeah, he also opened up the design world for a lot of people who didn’t even think it was possible and I think that’s the main type of change that he made actually, I wouldn’t say that I’m super fond about all of his designs, but I was more fond of his way of thinking and what he did rather than the designing.

NW: Are there initial ideas to potentially expand this to other cities in the UK and Europe?

Marcus: Of course you think about that but really, first things first, now we’ve just opened this place up, we’ve had a meeting with the creatives, so I think that we need to refine it all little bit so that its good enough to actually get out there but that’s always the intent to make success of everything that we do both in H&M and IKEA so we want to scale it of course, but it's also like I think that everyone is talking about how are we going to scale it, I think its kind of hard because its not going to be the same thing its going to be the same thing it's going to be a completely different beast if we did that in Tokyo or in Paris, because the scene is different and that needs to be reflected.

NW: The cultures are always going to be different wherever you go

Marcus: But this is also interesting, as today its not so much about how you put your brand out there, it's more how you create relationships with the brands and that has to differ and it makes it harder for the big brands.

NW: How would you describe this project to people who don’t know what it's about?

Marcus : It is great! I would describe it as a, as we say, it's an atelier, a workshop, a studio for actually making makers and manufactures and creatives come together and do things that they couldn’t do on their own, that’s what I would say but its because its all about that, its this healthy friction that happens when you put people together that don’t really know each other but help each other, thats what its all about.

Camilla Henrikkson

NW: How do the brands stay on top of the constant changes that are happening within the media?

Camilla: In general I think there are different way of doing this but I think this is one of them, to be able to actually start a project which you could maybe from the outside believe that this is a huge project with two really high global brands but also to challenge ourselves within that project to really just be able to collaborate, and that makes it, I can really find myself thinking about creative challenges that maybe I have within my work not related to Atelier 100 but being part of this project is also helping that creative process so I think it's important to alway stay curious and to always have that mind set that you’re still going to learn something everyday. You have to keep learning and I think that entire mindset were you know that everyone else has something to give and to contribute is very important.

NW: Why did you decide to come together with H&M/IKEA?

Camilla: We have worked together, not particularly Marcus and me but the two companies have done a few things together before as they were exploring sustainable production, finding new materials and exploring those kinds of things we actually have never done anything consumer facing before so it was more out of having a few conversations and meetings and we just felt that wow we actually have, if we start thinking in the other direction, instead of thinking like we are each others competitors, or companies to compete with, that we have mutual challenges, I really felt it was quite cool and we didn’t have much time to discuss but in the early stage we felt like wow with the two companies, sponsoring each other could be so impactful and we could actually be part of making a change instead of thinking that someone else should change so I think thats a really good starting point.

NW: Have you noticed changes in the industries you run in since you started working in them?

Camilla: Yes actually I have noticed a lot of changes, and I think that as I’ve been working for so many years with H&M so I could also see a change when we were growing very quickly and we were expanding quickly around the whole world which is also creating new possibilities and also new challenges, so I think it's ever evolving and interesting and I think now, especially with the two years of the pandemic just to see how the retail landscape is changing and it had never changed that quickly and so dramatically. I think in a way that’s very exciting and that means a new and better time will always be coming and so it allows us to always be curious and to see what the future could bring in that with all the changes, I think it's always been like that as an industry. I think you have to really enjoy that, and enjoy the change and how its apart of everything and how you can co exist with the changes and I think that most changes can feel every hard in the beginning but in the end can be something so stunning and something that will turn out even better.

NW: What are you hoping to see from the emerging creatives

Camilla: I mean I hope that I will be surprised, I hope that there will be new ideas, new creatives that can actually have a chance to succeed and to be bale to be apart of this programme, I mean if we can be apart of some of these journeys and to maybe help them on their way I think that would be amazing, a lot of surprises Im really hoping for that and to see new things that I advent seen before.

NW: What impact do you hope this project has on emerging creatives, what do you hope it does for them and to them?

Camilla: First of all I mean we started on a smaller scale so first of all I hope that these creatives that are apart of the programme really succeed and maybe if not hopefully it could be or expand into different technologies and also that we can show more companies the way that more of these initiates could be born from this but more specifically definitely hoping that the creatives that are apart of the programme really feel that this is helping them in their career and in their search for actually getting the dreams for the future.

NW: You spoke about your work in sustainability, how is sustainability going to be implemented within the project?

Camilla: I hope in several ways actually, I mean we could also see that many of the creatives that wanted to join the programme already had that super sustainable mindset from the start and its so much in so many of the creatives minds right now to be resourceful and to look into materials that could be used and maybe repurpose, I think that is a super strong foundation and purely having that goal within Atelier 100, to do everything within 100km of London we really keep it close for the creatives and for the producers and the customers and in not making things unnecessarily far away it makes it even more exciting, especially just to see how these creatives processes around how we can think is super exciting.

Entering would be a significant opportunity to gain exposure on any form of products and ideas aimed at nurturing the future of design through sustainability with all materials manufactured within 100km of Trafalgar Square.

Atelier100 aims to weave a web of inspiration, creating connections for any forms of creativity and design within the local London community.

For more information on the project, please visit www.atelier100.com/