An Ikea toilet brush ---yes, the one you don't want to spend much on because you know you'll end up throwing it away soon--- treated as an exhibition object. But not only that. Also the mobile kitchen cabinet for storing bags and other clutter, the mobile phone holder, the cutlery organizer, the kitchen utensil holder, or the coffee table where many put their feet. A room full of products from the Swedish chain, but, and there's the charm, chosen by Fernando and Sergio Amat, second and third generation of the defunct Vinçon.
Fernando Amat was embarrassed, even a little bored, that an exhibition would be dedicated to all the material the DHUB keeps about the store, which closed in 2015 after almost 75 years of history due to an economic crisis it couldn't overcome and a Paseo de Gràcia that had become too touristy. But he did find it interesting to create an exhibition with those Ikea products that he would have liked to include in his catalog. A vindication of the furniture multinational that he had already made more than a decade ago, when his colleagues generally criticized the brand that had revolutionized the sector and had ended up eating almost the entire cake. From this comes 100 Ikea objects we would have liked to have in Vinçon, which can be visited until February 2025.
It is a dialogue between both brands, different in magnitude and success, but similar in values such as the defense of design and the universality of their offer. "It's not about David against Goliath, but about David and Goliath," summarizes the exhibition's curator, Juli Capella, a passionate admirer of Fernando Amat's work, even though at first he and his mustache seemed too serious and scared him a little. "Vinçon was a store, but also a refuge, a shortcut, where you went when it rained, there were exhibitions... It was a school where I took my students and the embryo of the DHUB. The work Fernando did is now done by the administration," Capella defends. Not forgetting that it was a pioneer in having a restroom for customers and allowed dogs inside. "This exhibition is about people, about politics, about everyday life, about those material things that satisfy us and we can afford," its curator emphasizes.
That the thing is about games of mirrors is seen from the beginning. At the entrance, the neon light sign on the Vinçon facade is contrasted with the most famous doormat in Ikea's history, with that "Welcome to the Independent Republic of your home" that even became a motto for many. A chronology reviews the trajectory of both companies, with common points such as that they were created in the 40s by self-taught individuals concerned with inclusive design, with Fernando Amat being colorblind and the founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad, dyslexic, which meant that, to better remember each piece, products had names, always Scandinavian, and not numerical codes. This commitment that everyone could use their products meant that Vinçon, for example, had a section for left-handers, but also for older people and children, selling products that might not have made the numbers but were still wanted to be offered.
But there are also differences. The most obvious ones, the size, with Ikea's network of almost 500 stores spread all over the world and the two that Vinçon came to have, complementing the one in Barcelona with another in Madrid, an abysmal disproportion that is seen in the DHUB with a world map where there are many blue thumbtacks with the establishments of the Swedish chain and only two for the Catalan firm. In its best year, the Barcelona store did not even invoice 1% of the multinational's income in Spain, although both offered almost the same number of references, about 10,000, enough to completely furnish an apartment. In addition, if one thinks of Ikea, one of the first things that will come to mind will be its blue bag, which serves to shop, of course, but also to move or go do laundry. The company opted for a single, very resistant bag, while Vinçon launched two bags each season, with designs by names like América Sánchez.
Both brands share common points such as that they were created in the 40s by self-taught individuals concerned with inclusive design, with Fernando Amat being colorblind and the founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad, dyslexicOnce the analysis is done, the central part of the sample consists of the 100 objects chosen by Fernando Amat, after having traveled to the Ikea Museum in Älmhult, the town where the company's first store opened, as well as having made a couple of visits with his nephew Sergio to the Ikea in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat to touch and try the products that were going to be exhibited. Among those selected, there is a Spanish seal with the works of the Valencian designer Imma Bermúdez, responsible for the Ekran coat rack or the Enudden toilet brush. "They are not placed as in a store," says Capella, surrounded by chairs, tables, wardrobes, vases, nightstands, and stuffed animals, all hung on a white wall that turns the room into almost a temple of Swedish furniture with a lot of ASMR. Most importantly, the curator points out, all include the price, something unusual in an exhibition. "In a museum, you can't touch anything and you don't know how much things are worth, but money is important in design," he defends.
"We have put it in the most Ikea way, that is, the cheapest," adds the curator. "The selection represents Ikea very well. We wouldn't have done it better," remarks Ikea's head of global design, Johan Ejdem, who has come to see the exhibition firsthand, accompanied by a large group of company employees. Following the house's tradition, the hundred exhibited references do not cost more than 5,000 euros.