Designing the Multiverse: IKEA by Wes Anderson
What if Sweden’s flat-pack furniture empire was directed by the king of cinematic symmetry?
Welcome back to Designing the Multiverse, where we reimagine brands from an alternate reality—one where aesthetic rules are bent, universes collide, and design choices are delightfully unhinged. Each edition is a creative thought experiment that asks: What if another designer—or director, artist, or cultural lens—had shaped the visual identity of a brand we all know?
This week, we wander through an alternate IKEA showroom, one filtered through the pastel symmetry and melancholic whimsy of Wes Anderson’s cinematic world.
The Concept
What happens when you take IKEA—Scandinavia’s champion of functional minimalism—and invite Wes Anderson to direct its brand identity?
You get meticulously labelled flat-pack boxes stacked in color-coded towers. Instruction manuals printed in Futura, bound like screenplays. Assembly diagrams that include plot twists and character development. Furniture named not in Swedish, but after Anderson-esque protagonists like Max, Margot, and Gustave.
Visually, this IKEA leans into 1970s wallpaper tones—ochres, mint greens, burnt orange, and vintage mauves. Every showroom is a perfect isometric diorama, bathed in soft diffused light and framed with brutal but charming symmetry. It’s a catalogue of curated nostalgia, laced with melancholy and charm.
And let’s talk storytelling: instead of meatballs, this IKEA sells bittersweet backstories with each sofa. “This chair is where Eli wrote his last novel.” “This credenza once belonged to a falconer with a secret.” The brand becomes not just a place to furnish your space, but a portal to curate your life as an auteur.
What This Teaches Us
This playful remix reminds us that brand systems are ultimately storytelling systems. IKEA’s real-world brand thrives on clean efficiency and affordability. But apply a different creative filter—say, the obsessive visual poetry of Wes Anderson—and suddenly even a flat-pack coffee table can become a scene partner in a deeply personal narrative.
As brand builders, this exercise invites us to see identity as flexible. We can stretch and reframe design elements while preserving the brand's DNA—revealing its expressive potential in new and unexpected ways.
Reframing the Familiar
This kind of imaginative remixing isn’t just for fun (though it is fun). It’s a reminder that great branding is really about great storytelling—how we frame, filter, and invite people into a world. At Orbit Studios, we use that same design thinking to help brands find their unique tone, visual voice, and creative edge—whether that’s through a full BrandSprint, a long-term DesignInfinity partnership, or simply injecting fresh perspective into what you already have.