A fantasy bedroom in technicolor by Ikea

Until the end of September, the bedroom area inside the Ikea store in San Giuliano Milanese turns into Elena Salmistraro's Wunderkammer, a unique mix between the powerful imagination of the Italian artist and designer and the Swedish giant's contemporary functionalism. The inspiration for the setting is a young, creative and eccentric globetrotter with a passion for art and travel, who brings her vibrant and fantasy world to the frenetic Milan.

Elena Salmistraro, Milanese doc, born in 1983, is one of the most original names of the new generation of Italian designers. After graduating in Fashion Design and studying Industrial Design at the Politecnico in Milan, he has turned the monsters she sketched as a child to express her fears into real ironic, joyful and colorful artworks. She began her career experimenting with ceramics, then asserting herself for her particular universe, vibrant and with a well-defined personality, populated by colorful and fairy-tale zoomorphic creatures that seem to come from exotic and distant places.

The perfect examples are Primates, monkey-shaped vases inspired by a mash-up of African Cercopithecini and Sicilian Teste di Moro. Elena is a versatile designer, who has collaborated with brands like Alessi, Bosa, Seletti, Timberland, Bitossi Home and now she is ready to unveil her new project with Ikea.

The technicolor dream room made for Ikea recreates the artistic imagination of Salmistraro using some of the most popular items of the Scandinavian group. So on the big central wall, there is the face of a funny good monster, an African totem with STOCKHOLM round mirrors as eyes, SVENSHULT shelves as a nose, EKHET wall containers as cheeks and the BESTA cabinet as a smile. The set includes a spacious bed from the DELAKTIG series, designed by Tom Dixon; BINGSTA, a comfortable armchair with high backrest; HONEFOSS, a frame covered with fifty hexagonal mirrors; the classic PAX wardrobe in dark wood with, in place of the doors, ANNALOUISA yellow ochre curtain. On the ceiling, a cloud of spherical lamps traces the boundary of a magical room, where everything seems possible and the next adventure is about to begin.