IKEA Italy Drops Swedish Spellbook for Role-Players at Milan Games Week

For the first time, IKEA Italy has joined the Milan Games Week & Cartoomics with a project born to explore new realms and engage with an unexpected audience—while keeping its timeless promise: to inspire people and help them build a place that feels like home.

It all began from a single observation: many role-players browse old IKEA catalogues (or the website, since the catalogues are no longer printed) and, by opening a random page, stumble upon a name that sounds perfect for a fantasy world. The Swedish language surely plays its part, echoing with heroic deeds, cryptic runes, and arcane spells. No one will ever admit it openly, but entire worlds out there have been shaped by an unpronounceable bookshelf or a lamp with a humble dieresis on its Ö. Here’s how NISSAFORS became a cunning goblin, BJÖRKSTA a valley shrouded in eternal fog, DUKTIG the blade no one dares to wield for fear of mispronouncing it.

To celebrate this curious habit—and the many players who embrace it—IKEA has created the official version: ‘DRÖNJÖNS & DRAGAN – The Swedish Manual of Names That Sound Good’, a collection of pages inspired by the past decade of IKEA catalogues, strictly in Swedish, so that every name can christen a hero and every product description can be uttered like a spell at the right moment.

A true treasure for role-players, made even more precious by a cover illustration from Gipi—one of the most renowned comic artists.

Throughout the weekend, the IKEA stand—set up like a perfectly cozy fantasy-world living room—was brought to life by a game master inviting visitors to role-play a character generated with the manual, giving them the chance to win a copy.

Adding even more energy to the space was the presence of three special guests from the gaming world: Cydonia, Sabaku, and Ciccio Lancia, who encouraged visitors to unleash their imagination and discover how a lamp, a chair, or a bookshelf can become part of an extraordinary universe.

“With this project we want to celebrate the imagination and fun that belong to role-playing games,” said Alessandra Giombini, marketing communication manager at IKEA Italy. “The way players use the catalogue surprised us—curious and amusing as it is—but it’s also yet another confirmation of the importance of IKEA’s catalogue as a source of inspiration, be it when furnishing a home, or when building fantasy worlds. Gaming, like home furnishing, is a place where people meet, dream, and create bonds. At Milan Games Week we bring our idea of hospitality into a new realm, showing that imagination is the first space you can make your own—and how our Swedish brand has always resonated with the idea of fantasy and inspiration, for everyone and for every age.”

With this initiative, IKEA Italy renews its commitment to create experiences that put people—and their desire to share, imagine, and reinvent—at the centre. Because even in fantasy worlds, just like within our own four walls, feeling part of something is still the most important thing.