IKEA recreates 'Syrian war-ravaged home' in striking showroom display

The retailer built a show room - measuring 25 meter squared - from cinder block, as part of a fund raising campaign for the Norwegian Red Cross.

IKEA Slependen assembled the display bearing very little home comforts in attempt to base the design on the home of a Syrian woman named Rana and her family of nine, who live just outside Damascus in Syria.

IKEA's iconic price tags were placed inside the display, bearing stories of a typical Syrian family's struggles amid the civil war, such as the lack of food, medical supplies and clean water.

"Having visited Rana and learned how she and her family survive outside Damascus, we wanted to rebuild her home as truthfully as we could," POL art director Snorre Martinsen told AdFreak.

"It would have been easier to just put up wallpaper, but it wouldn't have felt the same. People who had fled war themselves have told us, 'This is how it feels.' 'I remember this.' "

The display went up for two weeks from October 17. It was seen by around 40,000 weekly visitors.

"We already had a lot of footage from within Syria, but no matter how emotional it was, nothing got close to the experience of visiting people in a war zone," Martinsen said.

"We realised we could give Norwegians that experience. Placing a Syrian home next to all the Scandinavian homes was obviously a brave move from the warehouse, but it made it clearer than any TV commercial how crucial it is to donate and help."

The campaign raised around 22 million euros for the Red Cross in Syria.