We’re excited to share one of our most playful and community-focused projects to date: Skogen, a digital forest experience created for IKEA’s new Live Studio in their Oxford Street flagship store in London. Developed in close collaboration with the brilliant team at Skewed, this project invited us to blend art, interaction, and real-time technology into an installation that celebrates creativity and the joy of making.
As a studio with deep roots in visual storytelling and interactive design, we were brought into the project to help develop the overall look and feel of the forest environment, implement real-time systems using Unreal Engine, and design the technical pipeline that powers one of the installation’s most magical features — a "sketch and scan" system that transforms visitors' hand-drawn creatures into animated digital beings.
A Living, Breathing Forest in the Heart of LondonSkogen (Swedish for “forest”) sits at the core of IKEA’s Live Studio, a space within the new store that is intended to evolve alongside its visitors and offer creative and immersive experiences that go beyond traditional retail.
The experience begins with a hands-on station where children and adults alike can choose from a set of creature outlines, colour them in however they like, and then scan their finished artwork. Within seconds, their creation appears on a large screen inside a vibrant, digitally rendered forest, moving, blinking, and interacting with other creatures in real time.
Every detail, from the mossy forest floor to the dappled light through the trees, was designed to evoke the kind of playful, magical woodland many of us imagined as children. For us, this was a perfect opportunity to apply our skills in worldbuilding, narrative-environmental design, and character integration to a physical space with a deeply emotional and tactile user journey.
Every detail, from the mossy forest floor to the dappled light through the trees, was designed to evoke the kind of playful, magical woodland many of us imagined as children. For us, this was a perfect opportunity to apply our skills in worldbuilding, narrative-environmental design, and character integration to a physical space with a deeply emotional and tactile user journey.
This blend of simplicity on the surface with sophisticated backend tools is something we strive for in many of our projects. We aim to make the technology invisible and let the story and experience take centre stage.
A Project Built on Play and PartnershipWorking alongside Skewed and IKEA on Skogen was a true collaboration in the best sense of the word. Skewed’s design philosophy, rooted in play, openness, and belief in screen-based experiences that unlock rather than limit imagination, aligned closely with our own values. Together, we were able to build something that feels fresh, accessible, and meaningful, especially in a commercial context where experiential design can often feel superficial.
Our shared goal was to create a space where families could not only shop but also explore, make, and connect through creativity. Skogen delivers on that ambition by offering a dynamic canvas for expression that grows with the people who visit it.
Looking AheadSkogen marks a significant moment for us as a studio. It is a project where we were able to blend visual craft, technical depth, and user experience design into a single cohesive installation that lives out in the real world.We’re incredibly proud to have been part of this initiative and grateful to our collaborators at Skewed and IKEA for trusting us with such a special piece of the Oxford Street launch.
If you’re in London, we highly encourage you to visit the IKEA Live Studio and step into Skogen for yourself. Colour a creature. Scan it. Watch it come alive. Let your imagination grow.
Concept, Design & Installation EB Studio – Art, Real-Time Development, Technical Implementation IKEA – Live Studio Team London Filmed – Final Stretch Production Support
