Man claims Ikea bowl set grapes on fire after being left in the sun

UPDATE: Ikea has issued a response in regard to the incident.

An Ikea spokesperson told AsiaOne: "Product safety is always a top priority at Ikea and Ikea products are always tested to comply with applicable standards and legislations.

"In risk assessment for the bowl Blanda it has been established that many different parameters would have to converge for the content of the bowl to overheat and whilst we understand that this incident may have been alarming, we would like to assure people that the risk of this happening is very low."

Heads up to homeowners who enjoy decorating their houses to look like something out of an Ikea catalogue - you might want to check if you own a particular item by the Swedish furniture giant.

A man in Sweden has claimed that an Ikea Blanda Blank bowl containing grapes started to burn up after he placed the shiny bowl outdoors on his balcony.

Richard Walter told Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet that he first noticed the Blanda Blank bowl emitting a certain smoky smell while he was eating grapes out of it during Sweden's weekend heatwave.

He thus took to Facebook to upload a video as proof that a situation like that had actually happened.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/richard.walter.792/videos/vb.100001596270983/1476448169085045/[/embed]

The short clip shows Walter using a pair of tweezers to pick up a shred of newspaper which he then held near the center of the metal bowl.

Smoke can be seen rising from the depths of the bowl as well as the small scrap of paper.

While it is not clear if the paper caught fire, it looked like it was slightly burnt.

Swedish news site The Local reported that Ikea Sweden is investigating the incident.

A search on Ikea Singapore's website shows that the Blanda bowl is sold here. AsiaOne has reached out to Ikea Singapore for comment.

ssandrea@sph.com.sg