Published 02 July 2019 • Inter IKEA newsroom
Growing plants and jobs with BOTANISK collection
IKEA has worked with social entrepreneurs across the world for nearly a decade now, creating over 15000 jobs where it’s most needed. In the latest collaboration, six social enterprises have worked together with IKEA to create BOTANISK, a handmade collection to encourage growing.
With the BOTANISK collection IKEA wants to address that you don’t need a garden or even a balcony to enjoy potting and planting. With easy means you can grow things in the home and create your own apartment jungle.
“We know that a lot of people dream of bringing in even more greenery. We want to make it more fun and easier to create your own apartment jungle. I’m super happy with the way we’ve been able to create beautiful, handmade products that have clear functions – meaning that they’ll serve more than one purpose in the home”, says Maria O’Brian, Creative Leader at IKEA of Sweden.
It’s been nearly a decade since IKEA first started working with social entrepreneurs, whose business ideas are based on creating work where it’s most needed and on empowering women – and the number of partners keeps growing. For BOTANISK, IKEA has collaborated with six different social enterprises, in India, Thailand, Jordan, and Romania[\[1\]](#ftn1).
“The whole collection is made with people in mind. From start to finish, the process has been all about the collaboration with the artisans, developing the items together”, says Maria O’Brian.
The collaboration merges traditional craft and modern design and the outcome is a collection of unique, handmade products such as plant pots, baskets, paper pot maker, plant pot cover, tool bag, and more, in natural materials like banana fibre, jute, and cotton. Just like the colours, the materials have been picked to reflect the botanical theme.
BOTANISK will launch in selected IKEA markets during March and June 2020.
[\[1\]](#ftnref1) The collection is created in collaboration with six social entrepreneurs – Rangsutra, Industree, and Ramesh Flowers in India, Doi Tung DP in Thailand, Jordan River Foundation in Jordan, and MBQ in Romania. They all have business ideas that are based on creating jobs in regions where they are most needed, and for people that need them most.