IVAR Studios is an immersive production studio in Stockholm. We have made films, VR and an exhibition about waste in the Himalayas with the local organisation Sagarmatha Next, VR about plastic on the Ganges and about lions in Zambia for National Geographic, and a WebXR experience about Arctic climate change built from researchers' data, with Inuvialuit community members.
Our work is used at events, in classrooms, in visitor centres and online. It has to work where your audience is: on a phone, in a browser, or in a headset at a donor event.
What can an immersive piece do for an NGO?
It puts people in the place. For a few minutes, a donor at an event, a student in a classroom or a policymaker at a briefing can stand below Everest or on thawing tundra in the Arctic. That is often what makes them care.
It also lasts. The Sagarmatha Next visitor centre has shown our film, VR and exhibition to more than 15,000 trekkers, and the experiences have helped recruit volunteers for its Carry me back programme, in which 6,000 visitors carried 10,000 kg of rubbish out of the Everest region in 2022 and 2023.
Which format fits our audience and budget?
Start from the audience, not the technology.
- A short 360° or documentary film reaches the most people. It plays on YouTube, at events and in a headset.
- An interactive web experience runs on any phone or laptop with nothing to download, and can live on your site for years.
- A headset experience gives the strongest sense of being there, but reaches fewer people at a time. It works best at events and in exhibitions.
- An exhibition or a visitor centre brings them together in one place.
- A half-day workshop is the cheapest way to start: your team tries the formats and gets a realistic sense of scope and budget.
How do you film real people and places?
With care, and with the people who know the place. We have worked with Sagarmatha Next in Nepal, the Zambia Carnivore Programme, a local producer on the Ganges, and Inuvialuit community members for Qikiqtaruk, and we credit our collaborators on our project pages.
We ask the people we film for their consent and tell them where the work will be shown, and the experts we work with check the facts, because we go to great lengths to tell only scientifically accurate stories. When we build AI into an experience, we follow our published position on AI and young learners.
How do you measure impact?
We agree at the start on what success looks like and how to measure it: views and completion online, visitors and sessions in a venue, teacher evaluations in classrooms, or volunteers recruited. Teachers at five Swedish upper-secondary schools evaluated the ICEVR classroom material and rated it 9.6 to 10 out of 10 on average.
Can you help us find funding?
Our projects are often funded by a mix of sources: foundation grants, campaign budgets, research grants and co-production. We can help you write the immersive part of an application: format, audience, deliverables and budget. Swedish organisations often apply to foundations such as Postkodstiftelsen; international ones to private foundations and EU programmes.
Do you work with organisations outside Sweden?
Most of our work is international. We have worked on projects in Nepal, India, Zambia, Indonesia, Iceland and the Arctic, and we work in English across time zones. Contracts are with IVAR Studios AB in Sweden.
Work for impact
Sagarmatha Next - Experience Center
Sagarmatha Next · 2023
Film, VR and an exhibition for a local organisation at 3,775 metres near Everest. More than 15,000 visitors, and volunteers recruited for the Carry me back clean-up.
Plastic on the Ganges
National Geographic · 2021
A three-part VR series for National Geographic's Planet or Plastic campaign, made with a local producer in India.
Qikiqtaruk: Arctic at Risk
National Geographic Society · In development
A WebXR experience of the thawing Canadian Arctic, by three National Geographic Explorers, Martin Edström among them, with Inuvialuit community members. The prototype was shown at Davos in 2024.
Gibson the Lion
National Geographic · 2016
The first 360° film from inside a wild lion pride, made with the Zambia Carnivore Programme for National Geographic. More than 75 million views.
Sagarmatha Next - Introduction Film
Sagarmatha Next · 2023
A documentary voiced by Conrad Anker about how Sherpas and local people tackle the waste below Everest. More than 10 festival awards.
Expedition Everest VR
National Geographic · 2021
Two 360° films following scientists on the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Expedition to Mount Everest. Webby Award, 2021.
How to start
Tell us what you want to achieve. These answers help:
- What should people understand, feel or do afterwards?
- Who is the audience: donors, students, policymakers, the public?
- Where will they see it: at events, online, in a visitor centre or in classrooms?
- What is the budget or the grant, and when does it need to be ready?
- Who on the ground should we work with?
Who to talk to
We reply within one working day.
Fredrik Edström
Producer and co-founder
New projects, quotes, budgets and partnerships
Martin Edström
Director and co-founder
Creative direction, 3D capture, press and talks
hello@ivar.studio · +46 (0) 733 13 05 69
IVAR Studios AB · Org. nr 559059-5392
Mäster Mikaels gata 2A, 116 20 Stockholm, Sweden