Ikea Skips to the Loo in Milan

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan has a sweet-sounding name, but it is just an incredibly massive furniture fair that is held each April in one of the world’s design capitals.

This year’s trade show featured a nice surprise from the folks at IKEA, who were in Milan to talk up their sustainable designs: a pleasant place to go to the bathroom. However, the company did themselves a big favor on the marketing front with the public bathroom created for the event.

The Swedish brand, as the I Believe in Advertising blog reports, disguised the doorway to the room to be one of the places that any discerning human being is completely turned off by: a portable toilet. But once the person opened the door and entered, they walked into one of the more lavish and spacious public bathrooms you’re going to find, a spa-like retreat outfitted with IKEA products, of course. It wasn’t Narnia, but you can bet that the bathroom visitors were (ahem) plenty relieved.