ALMHULT, SWEDEN — The SAGOSKATT collection is a range of limited-edition soft toys designed by kids for kids. It is the result of the annual IKEA Soft Toy Drawing Competition where children across the world come to the nearest IKEA store or enter online to submit a drawing of their dream soft toy. This year brought many challenges with store visits restrictions and made IKEA focus on the digital solution for the competition. But nothing could stop kids from going wild with their imagination and being creative: more than 66000 drawings were submitted globally. The five most original drawings from the competition were selected by the jury at IKEA of Sweden to be turned into real soft toys – the SAGOSKATT collection.
These are the five most creative and unique characters that were selected by the jury this year:
“Sandwich friends” designed by Audrey, 9 years old, Canada
“Cat” designed by Liepa, 8 years old, Lithuania
“Fried egg” designed by Zosia, 7 years old, Poland
“Mermaid dog” designed by Savva, 9 years old, Russia
“Bird” designed by Nick, 10 years old, USA.
The Soft Toy Drawing Competition does not only allow children to share their dreams and imagination, but it is also a way to contribute to every child’s right to play and develop. IKEA is donating 100 percent of SAGOSKATT turnover to support local initiatives that promote children’s right to play.
“I feel very lucky and grateful to be part of the team involved in the SAGOSKATT project. The whole concept of “for children by children to help children” is something that makes me extremely proud. The endless creativity in kids is amazing. Each year we are impressed by the amount of unique, cool and fun creations we receive. We wish we could make all of them! When selecting the winners, we consider a lot of important criteria, for instance, how unique, colourful and expressive the drawing is, if it can be transformed into a soft toy for mass production and if we can secure the safety requirements for the future toy”, says Jorge Omar Santoyo Henaine, Product Design Developer for Children’s IKEA, IKEA of Sweden.
