About us

About us

It started with a camera

And it usually ends in code.

In between, we do whatever the story demands - fieldwork, film, 3D scanning, interactive development. The most important subjects in the world deserve better stories. Not simplified. Not dumbed down. Better.

Climate science, biodiversity, cultural heritage, exploration - these subjects deserve to be more engaging, more immersive, more human. The next generation will inherit problems they didn't create. The least we can do is make sure they understand them - not through textbooks and lecture slides, but through experiences that put them on the glacier, inside the temple, face to face with the research. We work with scientists, institutions and organisations who share that belief, and we build whatever it takes to make the story land: film, VR, interactive 3D, WebXR, spatial environments, AI-driven narratives. The story always comes first. The format follows.

Fredrik Edström

Fredrik Edström

Producer & Co-founder

Fredrik is an award-winning producer and communications specialist who bridges the gap between technical craft and compelling storytelling. With deep cross-platform expertise spanning VR, AR, WebXR, film, fulldome and museum installations, he leads IVAR Studios' productions from concept through delivery - managing partnerships, timelines and teams while keeping the story at the centre. Fredrik has built and delivered immersive experiences for National Geographic, Disney, Netflix, museums and EU-funded research programmes, always with a focus on making complex formats accessible for the audiences that matter most.

fredrik@ivar.studio

Martin Edström

Martin Edström

Director & Co-founder

Martin is a National Geographic Explorer, photographer and director with more than 15 years of experience in immersive storytelling. A Fellow of The Explorers Club and award-winning photojournalist, his work has been published by National Geographic, The New York Times and The Guardian. He has worked in over 60 countries and led expeditions from Mount Everest to the world's largest cave in Vietnam - but he's just as likely to be found deep in the codebase, hands-on with the final build. Martin drives the creative vision at IVAR Studios: finding the human story inside complex science and building the narrative that makes people care.

martin@ivar.studio

The people behind the work

IVAR Studios is Martin and Fredrik at the core, but nothing we've made would exist without the talented people around us. We work with a growing network of developers, 3D artists, cinematographers, sound designers, composers, illustrators and local producers - expanding the team to fit each project's needs. We've been fortunate to collaborate with some extraordinary people over the years, and we believe in giving credit where it's due. Every project page on this site lists the full team behind the work, because immersive storytelling is never a one-person job. We also want to acknowledge the partners and organisations who have trusted us with their stories - from National Geographic and Disney to EU-funded research networks, museums and grassroots conservation initiatives. These long-term relationships are the foundation of everything we do, and we don't take them for granted.
Who We Work With
National GeographicMetaGoogleDellNikonUNDPDisneyImportant Looking PiratesKTH Royal Institute of Technology National GeographicMetaGoogleDellNikonUNDPDisneyImportant Looking PiratesKTH Royal Institute of Technology

Our journey

IVAR Studios was founded in 2016 by brothers Martin and Fredrik Edström, together with Alfred Runow. The name comes from their shared middle name, inherited from their grandfather Mauritz Edström - a celebrated Swedish film critic, reporter and author. The storytelling we do today looks nothing like his, but the impulse is the same. We started with 360-degree photography and virtual tours. That led into 360-video with National Geographic on Mount Everest, along the Ganges, inside wild lion prides in Zambia. As the tools evolved, so did we - into VR development, then photogrammetry and 3D scanning for both scientific research and Hollywood VFX pipelines. Today our work spans interactive XR narratives, spatial environments for Apple Vision Pro, museum installations, and AI-driven storytelling. The thread through all of it: take something important, go to where it's happening, and build an experience that does the subject justice. We're still just getting started.
IVAR Studios founders Martin and Fredrik Edström

Want to work with us?

Whether you're a researcher, institution, organisation or funder - we'd love to hear from you.

Get in touch +46 (0) 733 13 05 69