Following a successful season at the IKEA Museum in Älmhult, Sweden, the textile exhibition Magical Patterns will debut at Dovecot Studios as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh Art Festival.
Showcasing the breadth and depth of IKEA’s textile department across 60 years, the show will demonstrate the furniture giant’s commitment to innovation and experiment while helping to put Swedish design on the map.
Since the 1960s, IKEA has been a nursery for experimental artists and designers and the exhibition highlights how many artists and designers have been involved with IKEA’s iconic pattern work over the years.
With 180 designs on display, the exhibition highlights how many artists and designers have been involved with IKEA’s iconic pattern work over the years – from heritage Swedish designers such as Inez Svensson, Göta Trädgårdh and Sven Fristedt, through to modern design icons including Zandra Rhodes and Marimekko.
In 1962 IKEA hired Danish textile artist Bitten Højmark, followed by Inger Nilsson in 1965 and the pair introduced new and bold patterns, in an age when textiles mostly came in shades of grey. This was the beginning of what has been called the golden age by textile fans – a period at IKEA marked by strong women driving developments forward.
Magical Patterns will reveal the creative process behind successful design, providing the tools to help inspire visitors incorporate textile, colour and print in their homes.
Anna Sandberg Falk, Curator at IKEA Museum says “We’re thrilled to share this exhibition with more people by bringing it to Edinburgh’s esteemed Dovecot Studios. Magical Patterns is a joyful and nostalgic journey emphasising the strong IKEA identity, which the textiles department contributed to.
They were a bold team that truly dared to be different, and in retrospect, we can see that those risks were worth it, as several patterns have become incredibly popular. The stripy banana pattern RANDIG BANAN, for example, was initially hidden away under a table at the stores’ textile departments when it launched in the late 80s, but then it became a big hit in the 21st Century and continues to inspire designers today.”
With unprecedented access to IKEA’s archives, the exhibition highlights the work of 10-gruppen – a collective of ten Swedish designers, founded in 1971. The collective went against the small-flowered textile design norms of the early Seventies in favour of bright colours and bold patterns, which has continued to influence designers since, defining textiles at IKEA.
IKEA Museum’s Magical Patterns exhibition delves into how the iconic Swedish furniture retailer has supported experimental designers over six decades, including 10-gruppen, the groundbreaking Swedish design collective founded in 1971.
Director of Dovecot Studios Celia Joicey, says “We are delighted to showcase Magical Patterns, the IKEA Museum’s first-ever touring exhibition at Dovecot. Our appreciation of art, design and textile makes this a natural collaboration, perfectly aligned with Dovecot’s tradition of creating contemporary tapestries. This exhibition highlights the important role pattern and textile play in shaping the spaces we live in.”
Runs from 18th July 2025 through to 17th January 2026
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 