Archive · Press release

Stockholm: Factory

Press release, 29 October 2009, issued in Swedish under the headline "Drinkar på löpande band i nya ABSOLUT ICEBAR" — drinks on a conveyor belt in the new Absolut Icebar.

What it announced

The Stockholm bar was changing shape again. Ice designers and ice sculptors had turned it into a rough industrial environment — self-illuminating ice drinks, frosted cogwheels, icy pipes — and the factory-inspired concept would premiere on 2 November 2009.

The detail worth keeping

• The interior was replaced twice a year with new, crystal-clear ice from the Torne River at Jukkasjärvi. A team of ice designers and sculptors from Icehotel carved the artworks, furniture and drinking glasses by hand from enormous blocks.
• 6,000 tonnes of ice were held every year in a large cold store in Jukkasjärvi.
• Guests in the Factory room could watch surveillance footage from that "ice factory" in Jukkasjärvi — a look behind the scenes at where their glass came from.
• The inspiration came from the factory environments in Jukkasjärvi and in Åhus, in Skåne, where Absolut is produced.
• The music was specially mixed for the theme: progressive electro over industrial sound and mechanical rhythms.
• The release dates the first, original ice bar in Jukkasjärvi to 1993 — the only place on the whole site that says 1993 rather than 1994 — and the opening of the world's first permanent ice bar at the Nordic Sea Hotel in Stockholm to 2002, at five degrees below zero year-round.

Quoted in the release

Astrid Lundquist, head of communication for Absolut Icebar, called the theme consistent with the bar's innovative streak, saying the new ice design increased guest interactivity and gave a complete experience for all the senses. Tobias Ekman, chief executive of Nordic Hotels, said the design was an experience out of the ordinary, and that visitors from Stockholm and from elsewhere would be surprised by the Factory theme alike.