Bringing warmth to light with Sabine Marcelis and VARMBLIXT

Beauty has long been a source of fascination to Chiara Ripalti. Once a student of art and design in Italy, now a Product Design Developer for lighting at IKEA in Sweden, she’s spent much time reflecting on what and where beauty is – and the impact it can have on everyday life.

“Beauty is such a personal emotional experience. You find something that is a unique combination of colours, a balance of shapes, a harmony, and you just feel it inside yourself. It’s so important," says Chiara.

A few things that are beautiful to Chiara, off the top of her head: A simple vibrant green colour, like that of the green shirt that tops off and nicely contrasts her otherwise all-black outfit of the day. Or the shadows cast on a space from a window washed with light.

“Light is a functional thing, but to me, it’s also just beauty. And I believe that if you have something that makes you feel like this in your home, you will live better”, she says, noting that not least in lighting, much that is focused on making the most of its form is often only afforded by few. “To democratise beauty is something we should really think more about.”

It’s a perspective that Chiara brought to her work on VARMBLIXT, a range of lamps, serveware, rugs, and more designed by Sabine Marcelis for IKEA. To Chiara, the development of the collection involved putting ideas on the importance of form that she already deeply believed in at work, while also broadening her perspective on light at home.

“We’ve been so used to working in a very functional way with light and actually got stuck thinking that the wall lamp had to be in the corridor, the table lamp on the shelf. Sabine really stopped this way of thinking in the team," Chiara recounts.

“She helped us see how you could play more with the architecture and aesthetics of the home. So, we explored a functionality more connected with aesthetics.”

The contemporary approach is in line with lighting industry trends that have shifted from pure functionality to light that is almost like a piece of art, according to Chiara. Seen not least in installations curated by Sabine for the reveal of the first two VARMBLIXT lamps, the collection's rethinking of light beyond function also sets the tone for a movement in the overall lighting range at IKEA.

Simple to the eye, the designs of the two textured, matte, and largely opaque metal lamps in VARMBLIXT are rooted in an idea from Sabine to shape a line of light with a simple gesture. The circular lamp constitutes a complete line, top half curved slightly for light to wash onto the wall from there. To play with its design, its colour also has a particular purpose.

“The typical wall at home is often white, and I wanted the lamp to blend in, so that you notice the play of shadow and light a lot more," Sabine explains.

As for the linear lamp, pulled from the top to create a void for light to fill, Sabine’s particularly excited about seeing people making it their own.

“I’m super happy with the line lamps, the bent lines. They can play with different homes and architectures in an interesting way, and really activate certain spaces. I think that’s really the power of light."

The choice of metal as material for the exploration of light in lines was a matter not only of aesthetics and efficiency but also to hide the sophisticated mounting system created by the team at IKEA. After adjusting sizing to flatpack, the metal lamps proved relatively simple to get ready for production.

The statement lamps made of glass – a favoured material in the collection – on the other hand, were a bit more challenging in aspects like production and flat packing with the scales at hand.

The fragility of glass was among the challenges, and a special treatment to make it sturdy enough to not completely collapse upon breakage among the solutions. Another key development regards the eye-catching doughnut lamp, a recurring shape in Sabine’s work.

“It was challenging to refine the connection between the mounting system and the glass element in the doughnut lamp so that it could function equally well as a wall light and table light," Sabine shares.

“I’m used to working with glass in a flat sense, like layering sheet glass, but with VARMBLIXT a lot of items are blown glass and really three-dimensional. It was very cool to see how the suppliers worked towards getting it exactly how I imagined it."

Glass was always a given key material for VARMBLIXT, not least because of its transparent and reflective qualities.

“It’s the material that makes the most out of light. We couldn’t do this collection without glass”, says Chiara. “It lets the light pass through, really releasing the colour, texture, and emotion of the product. It was super needed because of the material and quality expressed."

To Sabine, these are the qualities of glass that capture and can inject a sense warmth into the home – through lighting as well as other objects that accompany it. “The lighting elements activate the space they’re in with their incorporated lighting, whereas external light influences the presence of other items."

She mentions the VARMBLIXT mirror as an example. “Hung in a certain position where the sun can hit it at different times of the day, it can create these dynamic moments in the house that completely transform the space.”

Another example is found in the drinking set. Drawn from a design Sabine had shelved for almost decade before finding a home for it in VARMBLIXT, it’s one of her favourite parts of the collection.

“It’s been left deliberately void of colour so that the colour of the beverages can activate them. It’s another invitation to bring colour into the home, and to keep switching it up.”

But beyond its material qualities, the drinking set represents a different type of warmth as well. “The glassware and bowls encourage the ritual of sharing a drink and food together, the vase houses flowers, and the rugs have an inviting tactile warmth. It’s about bringing warmth into the home not just through lighting, but also in a broader sense. Through material, through colour, and through elements that encourage warm interactions”, says Sabine.

The IKEA and Sabine Marcelis collaboration VARMBLIXT will be released across IKEA markets in February 2023.