Shopgirl Jen: STOCKHOLM 2025: IKEA launches its biggest collection in Manila

Filipino design lovers have a new and exciting reason to visit IKEA as the store brings this personal and purposeful collection to the Philippines, a celebration of the great indoors where real life happens.

Some pieces don’t just fill a space—they tell a story. They become part of our great indoors, the spaces that we shape and shape us. They’re not just furniture, but silent witnesses to the extraordinary and everyday moments we build around them. They echo morning rituals, Sunday gatherings, reunions with friends and quiet nights with the family.

For 40 years, IKEA’s STOCKHOLM collection has done exactly that, bringing warmth, simplicity, and Scandinavian soul into homes around the world, and transforming our indoor spaces into places of comfort and meaning. As the beloved collection marks its milestone anniversary this year, it returns with its most expansive and expressive edition yet—93 thoughtfully designed pieces that celebrate the beauty of natural materials, timeless design, and the quiet luxury of living well.

From statement sofas made to last to handwoven wool rugs, chandeliers and mouth-blown glass vases, STOCKHOLM showcases IKEA’s commitment to a design philosophy that makes life better for the many.

An IKEA STOCKHOLM 2025 dining room decorated with wooden tables and chairs, and mouth-blown glass vases to bring an inviting vibe.

IKEA STOCKHOLM 2025 features pieces made with rattan, which resonates with many Filipino households.

A STOCKHOLM living room with a spacious 3-seat IKEA Sofa as the centerpiece, mixed with vibrant colors and prints from the pillowcases and the woven rug.

It’s no accident that the collection is named after Sweden’s capital city. For over 40 years, STOCKHOLM has grown alongside the changing needs of homes through eight distinct editions, each unique but sharing the same defining characteristic of modern Scandinavian design at affordable prices.

In its latest and largest iteration, the collection offers a diverse range of furniture, textiles, lighting, and accessories across the home. Taking center stage are materials that were carefully chosen for their quality and how they age and interact with one another. Solid woods are paired with tactile surfaces and natural fibers, linen, and leather to create unique expressions in sturdy wood furniture, handwoven wool rugs, mouth-blown glass, and handcrafted rattan pieces. The STOCKHOLM range also includes two glass chandeliers with a retro feel, accompanied with white gloves to wear during assembly.

“The purpose of the STOCKHOLM collection has always been to prove that high quality doesn't need to come at an intimidating cost,” says Karin Gustavsson, Creative Leader for STOCKHOLM. “We have worked to create a no-compromise kind of collection where every piece tells a story. Craftsmanship is at the heart of this project, where traditional techniques and hands-on methods have resulted in durable and beautiful design pieces that stand the test of time.”

IKEA Philippines Country Retail Manager Ricardo Pinheiro adds, “The new edition of STOCKHOLM was thoughtfully designed with the elements of quality, affordability, sustainability, form and function in mind to ensure the collection is accessible to many real homes. This is why it feels both global and deeply personal—warm, welcoming, and made to last—perfect for Filipino spaces, whether it’s a condo or a spacious family home.”

Ricardo Pinheiro, IKEA Philippines Country Retail Manager, talks about the role of Democratic Design in creating IKEA products for the many Filipinos.

Bringing IKEA STOCKHOLM 2025 collection to life with design insights and real stories. Panelists (L-R) Ricardo Pinheiro, IKEA Philippines Country Retail Manager; Madel Mercado, IKEA Philippines Sales Leader; and special guest Wil Dasovich shared memorable stories about IKEA and the new STOCKHOLM collection.

Highlights from STOCKHOLM 2025

Three Swedish designers with different but complementary design languages created a collection that is cohesive while ensuring that unique pieces shine on their own.

True to its namesake, the inspiration is deeply rooted in the city of Stockholm, reflecting both the urban and natural landscape surrounding the city. Rich earth tones play against natural woods, and textiles reflect scenes and colours from nature.

Two distinctly different sofas were first designed as centerpieces to guide the collection as a whole. Designer Ola Wihlborg’s wide modular sofa, offered in four colors including a deep turquoise velvet, was born from his frustration with sofas that constantly need the cushions fluffed.

Ola says, “I wanted to create a high-quality sofa that maintains its shape and looks the same even after you stand up from sitting in it. Something that prioritizes comfort without needing extra pillows.” After developing over 30 prototypes to find the perfect shape for everyday comfort, the result is a sleek, generous sofa with modules that can be used on their own as well as connected to create the desired length.

The second sofa, designed by Nike Karlsson with a solid pine wood frame and white cushions, serves as an exploration into design without foam. Made from natural materials, the sofa uses woven fabric, natural latex, and coconut fibre, delivering a sofa with exceptional comfort and timeless appeal.

Rattan was a focal point of STOCKHOLM 2017, and Nike’s iconic rattan cabinet became a sought-after favourite. In the new collection, Nike introduces a sliding-door cabinet featuring a surface woven from rattan fibers, tied, bent and shaped by hand. Rattan is also used in the backrest of one of the dining chairs, while the lounge chair is built around a robust rattan frame and topped with a deep cushion in a light Bouclé.

“You’d think with the name STOCKHOLM, the pieces would have a big city feeling, but we went outside the urban setting, to the nature and islands around it. This allowed us to lean into the Scandinavian materials, including working with a Swedish pine supplier to source the highest-quality pine. People often think of pine as a budget material, but when you go for the best and apply smart, efficient design techniques, its beauty is undeniable,” Nike says.

The raw nature of the materials shines throughout the collection, where chairs, bookshelves, and dining tables showcase detailed craftsmanship and smart construction — achieving sleek, clean designs that remain strong and durable. The bentwood chairs are crafted using a traditional technique where the beech wood is soaked and carefully bent by hand to form soft, rounded arches in arms and back.

The forest is a central character in textile designer Paulin Machado’s pieces, including lampshades that are adorned in leaf and mushroom prints and colour combinations pulled directly from the Scandinavian seasons. Handwoven by master weavers, her collection of 100% wool rugs brings nature inside, with woven birch tree patterns, available in shades of green as well as a gray scale, in black and white. Merino wool blankets and pillowcases in multi-coloured patterns add pops of drama.

As Paulin puts it, “Nature is the best designer — every color matches beautifully in the natural world and you can see how we have tried to capture the hues of Sweden’s seasonal shifts.”

For dining, the collection offers tableware in ceramic and porcelain, including glazed stone plates and bowls, and a series of glasses. A selection of large vases stands out as beautiful centerpieces, with two mouth-blown and one ceramic black amorph, so each one carries its own character.

STOCKHOLM is all about living well where it matters most—the great indoor spaces that shape our lives. It’s a great representation of IKEA’s Democratic Design principle, which is at the core of every product and collection.

What is IKEA’s Democratic Design Principle?

Democratic Design is IKEA’s approach for designing, developing and evaluating the company’s home furnishing products. It ensures that the products integrate good function, beautiful form and long-lasting quality, with consideration for social and environmental impact and a low price. Democratic Design brings the IKEA business idea to life and guides its designers to offer products that meet the home furnishing needs of the many people at prices they can afford. Democratic Design helps IKEA make things better, such as a better life at home and a better planet, by making better things.

It always starts with the low price in mind and aims for the lowest cost throughout. The interaction between the dimensions adds value and creates a low price with meaning.

Form: Beautiful products that people love.

Function: Meaningful solutions to everyday needs.

Quality: Products that last for long-term enjoyment.

Sustainability: With consideration for social and environmental impact.

Low price: Truly affordable for many people.