Ikea Canada’s social media manager deserves a raise! The Canadian arm of the Swedish / Dutch company has recreated the flags of 12 World Cup nations, by photographing cleverly arranged household items.
Perhaps the simplest example is England’s St George’s Cross, represented by what would appear to be a five-by-five white Kallax shelving arrangement, with red storage boxes used to form the cross.
Scotland and Germany’s arrangements are similarly simple, with folded blue sheets on a white rug, used to represent the former, and a stack of folded black, red and gold towels used to form the latter.
The flags of Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil and Morocco are particularly interesting, since they all have emblems, which are trickier to replicate. However, the team has come up with a few clever workarounds.
For example, Argentina’s Sun of May is represented by an octopus plushie between a pair of light blue sofas. Portugal’s coat of arms is represented by a candle holder, while Spain’s is recreated using two candles and a tub of beads. Morocco’s star is formed using bamboo, and Brazil’s starry sky is a blue bowl with a thin, white candle.
Of course, the Canadian team has also recreated Canada’s famous maple leaf via a cleverly folded napkin. And while the concepts are fantastic, the photographer/s deserve to be celebrated, too. The series is a masterclass in flat-lay and still-life photography. Images are undistorted, well-lit and perfectly square.
Also, did you know that Ikea – the master of flat-pack furniture – also released a flat-pack camera once upon a time? Launched in 2012, the Ikea Knäppa was "The World’s First Cardboard Digital Camera"! You can still snag one on eBay if you don't mind paying $340 for a cardboard camera…
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