For young people living in a city, square footage in a home can be hard to come by. Studios with storage space are gold dust, house shares may be a necessity, and moves may be frequent. After spending time with young adults living in central London, Ikea has developed a new furniture and accessories collection inspired by the realities of renting, moving home, and student life.

Adpatable and portable, Ikea’s ‘Kompishäng’ collection

Among the participating twentysomethings, they discovered consistent challenges: limited storage space, and worn-out moving boxes used in place of furniture. What they also saw was a small number of easily movable objects that had been carried from one property to the next.

The ‘Kompishäng’ collection features 12 designs, including a folding table/desk, stools that stack to become shelving or a display unit, a pick-up-able bookshelf-bookend combo, a hanging wardrobe organiser that can be carried like a bag, back-of-door storage, and even a collapsible jute plant pot.

The collection is designed to be durable and functional, with pieces crafted from materials such as solid pine, powder-coated steel, and canvas.

'It's designed to accompany life's transitions – equally at home in a first apartment, a family house, or even a retirement space,' says designer David Wahl, whose round side table is lightweight and folds flat.

To help ease the stress of transporting furniture across the city, there is also a bag on wheels, which can equally serve as a shopping bag or a picnic basket. 'We wanted to create furniture that could be moved with your body alone, without needing a car,' comments Ikea designer Wiebke Braasch.

‘Even if you move often, you don’t want your home to feel temporary,' says Dora Ding, Ikea product developer. 'We saw how carefully people chose the things they carried with them from place to place, and that insight shaped the collection. We wanted the collection to be portable but still have a permanent look: people should feel settled and considered.’

Shop the collection

At Wallpaper*, we’re constantly searching for the objects, homeware, accessories, fashion and tech that push boundaries. The Design Drop is where we gather the month's best finds – a running wish list for the design-obsessed.

This month's selection runs from craft with provenance – a hand-weathered bronze light from Original BTC and geometric jewellery from Shihara – to joyful accessibility in the form of Ikea's ‘PS 2026’ furniture collection and new Ilse Crawford lamps. Elsewhere: a Bottega Veneta fragrance, Polaroid's third-generation camera, and the chicest childrenswear of the season.

Read on to discover everything you didn't know you needed this month.

It has been 11 years since Ilse Crawford launched her first collaboration with Ikea, marking a new chapter in the Swedish retailer's relationship with independent designers. Called 'Sinnerlig', the collection of cork and natural-fibre homeware translated Crawford's human-centred design approach into products available at Ikea's scale, and scooped her a 2016 Wallpaper* Design Award in the process. While some pieces from that first collection remain in production – including the popular bamboo pendant lamp – many sold out quickly, becoming collectors' items that now command several times their original price on resale sites.

Now, Crawford revisits the partnership with ‘Halgatt’, a pair of table lamps made from ceramic, linen and brass. Rendered in the earth-toned materials Crawford describes as 'classic', the designs embody the visual warmth and tactility that have long been hallmarks of her work.

One comprises a white stoneware block with a matching linen shade – square and architectural, tone-on-tone. The other pairs a dark cylindrical ceramic base with a beige linen shade. Both feature neat brass dimmer switches on their side. It’s the sort of understated design that you can imagine fitting into any interior, which, as Crawford explains, was her intention.

‘When I design lamps, I want them to bring warmth and life to a room,’ the designer reflects. ‘The challenge is to capture a classic's qualities – the right proportions, choice of materials and shade, and a timelessness that makes the lamp always feel relevant. My inspiration for “Halgatt” comes from how we live our lives. The lamps have a versatility that supports the decor rather than dominating it – and are just as suitable in the living room as in a dining room, a bedroom or a work area.’

Crawford, who began her career as the founding editor of Elle Decoration before establishing Studioilse in London, has built an international reputation for designs that prioritise human experience. From furniture collections and homeware to hospitality projects including Cathay Pacific's acclaimed airport lounges, her work is guided by a belief that good design should support everyday life through care, comfort, trust, soul, dignity, generosity and resourcefulness.

Writing in Wallpaper's February 2025 issue, Crawford reflected on these values: 'We believe that design is a tool for building new and better models for life and living. In the studio, we think about how we can “elevate the elemental”, by which we mean prioritising the tactility of the things we touch daily, optimising natural light and celebrating natural materials to support humane experiences.'

The Ikea x Ilse Crawford ‘Halgatt’ collection is available online and in UK stores, with the beige/brown ceramic lamp retailing at £35 and the white ceramic lamp retailing at £25.

Ikea just launched its latest PS collection, and it's full of playful surprises. An initiative started in the 1990s, PS is Ikea's way to engage with experimental design within the domestic realm. 'We decided to take a long hard look at ourselves. Sure, we made furniture, but was it design?' Reads a note introducing the concept. 'The world around us had started making interpretations of Scandinavian design, but with ridiculously high prices. Wasn’t it time to make Scandinavian design accessible to a lot more people than just those with really fat wallets? This was our opportunity.'

What followed were three decades of experimenting with the possibilities of affordable furniture within the home, with concepts including 'The Democratic Home', 'Inspired by History, Designed for Today' and the latest iteration, 'Playful Functionality'.

Ikea furniture is here to play

'Central to Ikea PS is the idea that simplicity doesn't have to be boring, but that it can reveal design in its purest and most engaging form,' says Maria O'Brian, creative leader at Ikea. 'My hope is that through interaction and surprise, this simplicity gives way to discovery, with objects that have multiple functions and unexpected details that make people happy.'

Happiness seems a thread running through the collection, with pieces designed for interaction and smiles. From a rocking bench to an inflatable armchair, masks for your wall and adjustable furniture, there is a lot to like in this colourful and carefully conceived series.

'Too much design is treated as precious and untouchable,' says Ikea designer Mikael Axelsson, the mind behind the cleverly conceived inflatable chair. 'I wanted to create the opposite response, with something that engages your interest and curiosity. When furniture invites play like that, it becomes something you use and live with fully, that brings joy into the everyday.'

Here are some of our favourite pieces from Ikea's new collection.

Ikea Play: Wallpaper* favourites to buy now

At Wallpaper*, we champion the design-led, forward-thinking and impeccably executed. We’re always on the lookout for compelling creations – from objects and accessories to jewellery, fashion and tech – and aim to bring you pieces that subvert, surprise and delight.

In The Design Drop, we highlight the most striking objects to land that month. Think of it as a wish list for the design-discerning: browse, admire – and, if tempted, acquire.

Read on to discover April's standout pieces from our favourite brands and studios.

The Ikea reflection for this year’s Milan Design Week is titled ‘Food For Thought’ and unfolds through a playful sequence of spaces dedicated to the interaction between living and eating, at Spazio Maiocchi. The exhibition also features the world premiere of three products from the new ‘Ikea PS 2026’ collection, an exclusive preview of the long-running ‘PS’ series’ wider tenth edition. In addition, two new 'statement floor lamps' by Milan-based Raffaella Mangiarotti round out the highlights.

The journey begins with a culinary theme in the saluhall, the traditional Swedish market into which the courtyard has been transformed. Here, among hot dogs, porchetta, and cheeses, a stand offers a curious preview of the ‘meatball lollipop’ (seeing is believing), set to launch from May 2026 as part of a collaboration between Ikea and Chupa Chups.

Visitors then enter the main space, where the vibrant ‘Ikea PS 2026’ pieces are introduced (the full collection will be unveiled in mid-May): there’s an inflatable chair, a poetic bench, and a three-directional floor lamp.

‘Ikea PS 2026’ preview

The designers were given a precise brief (the objects had to be both practical and playful), and the first piece is a clever hybrid between a wooden bench and a rocking chair, designed by Marta Krupińska.

It is followed by ‘a multifunctional lamp’ by Alexander Pott, capable of functioning as an uplighter, spotlight and reading lamp in one. Inspired by the geometry of a cylinder, Pott cut steel at 45-degree angles to create joints that allow both head and base to rotate, offering multiple lighting options with just a few simple twists: ‘I made three prototypes from wooden broomsticks, cutting them into many different pieces,’ he explains. ‘I realised that a big part of the design is in the joinery and the angles. Together with Ikea, we recognised that if you make the joint adjustable and rotatable, you can actually go from one object to three functionalities.’

For the designer, creating an intuitive piece was essential: ‘I gave a lamp to my five-year-old son; he understood immediately that it was movable and after 20 seconds, he rotated it into another function.’ The lamp comes in three colourways: a bright yellow, a cobalt blue (‘a very DNA colour for Ikea’), and a classic warm burgundy.

Finally, inspired by Ikea’s mid-1990s air furniture, Mikael Axelsson approaches the concept through upholstery: ‘The core idea that I had was to have a metal frame and then kind of blow up a balloon within the metal frame,’ Axelsson says. Separate air chambers between seat and backrest ensure comfort while allowing for compact, portable packaging, while the bold green upholstery underscores its playful character.

Food meets design

The exhibition continues with five rooms that form the experiential core of the theme, each pairing a designer with a chef to explore how food and design shape everyday life, with inventive twists. London-based Oliver Lyttelton’s design joins forces with the Asian flavours of Tina Choi in a space inspired by a treehouse. India meets Italy through the traditional objects and textiles of interior designer Mehek Malhotra and the culinary approach of chef Maurizio Tentella. Playfulness and child-friendly design define the room by Lydia Chan, paired with the cuisine of Alessandra Lauria, where stools become lamps and walls turn into writable surfaces.

‘Room Self-Service’ celebrates the pleasure of eating in bed, conceived by Charlotte Taylor together with chef Ben Lippett. Lastly, Mexican duo Maye Ruiz and Rosio Sanchez present ‘Party at Your Place’: ‘For the living room, we wanted a tension and contrast between the private and the public. We went to a convent, because a lot of Mexican cuisine was created by nuns in convents during 16th century,’ says Ruiz, pointing to what she describes as the celestial blue of the walls, niches and ceramics. ‘We wanted to honour these women and also work on a concept of a girls' dinner.’

Throughout the week, a working kitchen hosts daily tastings resulting from the designer-chef collaborations, while the experience concludes with a visit to the ‘Billy café’, framed by the classic bookcase.

Ikea ‘Food for Thought’, Spazio Maiocchi, Via Achille Maiocchi 7, Milan

Ikea and Raffaella Mangiarotti unveil two new floor lamps as the latest addition to their collaboration. The Swedish furniture brand first partnered with the Milanese industrial designer in January 2025 on the ‘Bäcknate’ lamp collection. Now, Mangiarotti delivers two statement lighting designs, ‘Mossplym’ and ‘Trådnate’.

Discover Raffaella Mangiarotti’s new lamps for Ikea

The designs stand alone and are quite distinct, yet what remains consistent is a high-quality look partnered with accessible pricing. Mangiarotti designed both lamps as sculptural pieces, to command attention rather than to blend in.

‘The new lamps combine an uplight and a reading light – a dual function that often results in two elements that feel artificially joined,’ says Mangiarotti. ‘It was important for me to bring something beautiful into a residential space, combining two functions rooted in Nordic design principles without compromising aesthetics.’

Both lamps are designed to create an ambient glow while also having the focus of a task light. The ‘Mossplym’ is made from solid oak, blow-moulded glass and Italian white Carrara marble. It offers a light or dark oak stem, which sits on a marble base. The glass shade is softly rounded, imitating the form of a flower blossom. This is completed with a smaller, adjustable lower shade for users to direct light where needed.

‘Trådnate’ is more angular, with an architectural form. This is inspired by Mangiarotti's industrial designs, influenced by the geometry of nature. It has two parallel structural supports, each holding an opaque shade, casting light in opposing directions.

While Ikea's designs are rooted in Scandinavian simplicity, these two new additions mark the brand's lighting shift towards a more international, shared contemporary design language.

Mangiarotti’s partnership with Ikea is a long-term collaboration, with additional lighting pieces in development. Her debut collection, which comprised a table and floor lamp with an orchid-like form made from folded paper, was nominated for the Compasso d'Oro, Italy's oldest and most prestigious design award.

Says the Milan-based designer, ‘I've always had a passion for lighting, and it's a dream to be able to combine different functions and typologies of light – with the kind of global reach only accessible to Ikea.’

‘Trådnate’, £50, coming soon; ‘Mossplym’, £70, available now from the Ikea website or in store.

Nominated for nine Academy Awards, Sentimental Value is Norwegian film director Joachim Trier's story of family trauma and grief. Stellan Skarsgård plays Gustav Borg, the estranged father to two daughters, and much of the story unfolds around the family home, a red and black Dragestil (or ‘Dragon Style’) architectural marvel in Oslo that is being emptied following the death of the girls’ mother (the meaning of the title Sentimental Value comes from a scene when the pair are deciding what to keep, confronted with a table full of colourful vases).

Wallpaper* caught up with set designer Jørgen Stangebye Larsen, who talked us through the house's many lives within the film, as its design evolves over several decades.

‘Sentimental Value’ film set: inside the Borg family home

The film opens with the story of 11-year-old Nora Borg, who was assigned to imagine herself as an object for a school essay. As the camera hones in on details of her family home's exterior, a wonderfully, realistically lived-in structure featuring chipped paint, cobwebs, and nature taking over, a narrator reads: 'She knew at once she'd be their house. She described how its belly shook as she and her sister ran downstairs and out the back door. That it saw them take shortcuts through the fence and onto the road, where the house no longer could see them. She wondered if the house liked to be empty and light, or full and heavy. If the floors liked to be trodden on, if the walls were ticklish, if it ever felt pain. And she thought that yes, it probably liked to be full.'

Scenes of ordinary family life – children playing, arguments echoing across the house's floors – play in the background, and we get a glimpse of the 1990s interior’s eclectic composition. Some unmistakable icons come in clear focus, from an ‘Arco’ lamp by Achille Castiglioni for Flos towering over the living room, to a Bruno Mathsson chair, a base for the girls' pretend play.

Throughout the film, glimpses of the family's history are told through the house: Gustav's mother playing in the house in the 1930s, and the family's lives unfolding through the 1940s, 1950s and onwards to the present day, when its interiors are bare, as the house is empty.

The set design is rich with details, which include art, tech that evolves with the times, children's drawings and toys; the camera lingers on interiors to let viewers pause on the spaces, and these scenes are interspersed with shots of light and shadow as the sun enters through the wide windows (Gustav, a film director, is said to have been inspired by the light in his family home growing up).

'The house is outspoken,' says Stangebye Larsen, who worked closely with Trier on how the house would develop with the story.

‘Sentimental Value’: designing a home through history

1930s

Stangebye Larsen and Trier agreed that the house had to feel authentic (it was Trier's first time working on a period film), and that they didn't want to romanticise the time period the action was set in. 'I wanted to find out how this very house looked in Norway and why,' says the designer.

Looking through historical archives led him to discover a plethora of pattern, from the wallpapers to the pillows on the upholstered furniture. 'We spent a lot of time getting to know that period, and for each time, we created a mood that was also period-correct,' observes Stangebye Larsen. 'I was surprised by how visually elaborate it was.'

1950s

A decidedly lighter visual theme carries the house into the 1950s, as young Gustav is seen playing around the airy rooms. The idea of light is evident in these scenes, and it is easy to imagine the effect such interplays of reflections and shadows might have had on a young imaginative mind.

The set becomes visually brighter, with a colour palette veering towards neutrals, with yellow upholstery and pale wood signalling the new family's life in the house.

1960s-1980s

For a period between the 1960s and 1980s, Gustav's aunt occupies the house and the visual vibe shifts: colour and pattern become bolder and the aesthetic more eclectic. Art, a key element throughout the set design's evolution, becomes more prominent and includes prints by Norwegian painter Johannes Rian behind the sofa in the living room, while above the TV is a Gunnar S Gundersen composition.

1990s

In the 1990s, the house reaches its most exciting era, with mixes of furniture, art and objects that feel contemporary yet rooted in its history. 'Gustav moves in with his family, and it's not very natural that they would immediately change the house completely, but I thought they would use the house in a very different way,' explains Stangebye Larsen. A shift in layout is accompanied by a combination of new furniture and objects from the past – a red glass vase that recurs throughout the film, an upholstered lounge chair whose pattern recalls earlier iterations of the interiors.

Now, the house feels like a lived-in interpretation of a modern Scandinavian interior infused with global influences: Alvar Aalto furniture and objects, Marimekko flower-print kitchen towels, a Kartell ‘Bookworm’ bookshelf by Ron Arad, plates from the ‘Blue Fluted Mega’ series from Royal Copenhagen drying on the dish rack, a Poul Henningsen lamp above the dining table.

'I haven't really been aiming for having statement pieces, but I find that kind of furniture so well crafted [with] a lot of interesting shapes, [and] beautiful materials; they add so much to a room,' says Stangebye Larsen.

The interior is crafted like a real Norwegian home, with pieces that Stangebye Larsen himself remembers from his childhood home. The library, office of Gustav's wife, a psychotherapist, features the modular ‘BBB’ shelf system, originally designed in the 1950s by Edvin Helseth for Norway's Eidsvoll Rivefabrikk. 'My mom is a psychologist, we had those shelves in my home,' Stangebye Larsen explains, noting how a lot of his personal history inevitably ends up in the film sets he designs. 'You try to create something real and something you can believe in.'

To keep things very real, several Ikea pieces also make an appearance within the spaces, most notably a ‘Klippan’ sofa, a classic from the Swedish company, here upholstered in brown leather in the family's living room, and the modular ‘Niklas’ shelving units right behind, which Stangebye Larsen also remembers from his childhood bedroom.

Art is once again crucial in this time period, with one piece in particular recurring across shots. It is Samoa Remy's Oscillation between the very far and the very close, a black and white composition that hangs on the therapist's office wall and features a pattern of black and white dots and lines communicating throughout the large-scale tapestry.

Stangebye Larsen did extensive research into psychotherapists' offices and a statement art piece seemed to be de rigueur, so he curated the shelves behind the desk with small sculptures, as well as adding the artwork on the wall as a visual anchor. Working with set decorator Catrine Gormsen to gather the art collection for the house, he landed on Remy's piece: 'I connected to it because it was very simple, and I think it was something with all the dots and all the lines that felt like a collection of people through time, like this family.'

It is impossible not to connect with the interiors, and feel sadness for the home’s fate after the passing of its last Borg resident. Reflecting on this moment, Stangebye Larsen sees the property 'like an archive of all the memories and all the emotions that are stored in the material of the house. And you feel the presence of the past.

'I also lived in [the house] where my mom grew up, and I remember feeling that presence very strongly. And it was a comfort knowing that my grandparents had been there: when I was kind of lonely or feeling sad for some reason, I felt a little bit like they had also probably been here, been sad. Here it's the same, perhaps the story of the house is still there, inside the walls.'

Watch Sentimental Value via Mubi.com

‘Varmblixt’, Sabine Marcelis’ cult, donut-shaped lamp for Ikea, returns in a new guise. Available from April 2026, the newly reimagined ‘Varmblixt’ features a smart update that includes colour-shifting and dimmable light.

The now-iconic lamp was first launched in 2022, as a way to explore 'the idea of how lighting functions within the home', Marcelis said at the time. Part of a wider collection that included lighting designs as well as glassware, the original ‘Varmblixt’ features orange glass and the option to be used as a table or wall lamp (this version will remain part of Ikea's catalogue once the new lamp is rolled out).

‘Varmblixt’ goes smart: discover Sabine Marcelis’ reimagined lamp for Ikea

The new lamp features a matte glass finish with light changing in colour to create different atmospheres within a domestic interior. Using Ikea's Bilresa remote, users will be able to control the light's chromatic palette, with a range of 12 hues curated by Marcelis.

Colour is at the core of the designer's oeuvre, and this project showcases her penchant for delicious pastels as the light seamlessly moves from a cool white to glowing amber, warm red, soft pink, cool lavender and turquoise.

'We spent a lot of time fine-tuning the transitions between the curated colours,' says Marcelis. 'What makes this lamp unique is that switching between colours is not a sudden change, but a very smooth journey through all the hues to get to the next colour. The light slowly moves through colour to, in turn, transform the colour of a space.'

A high-tech interpretation of the design, the new ‘Varmblixt’ also connects to the Ikea Home Smart app through the Dirigera Hub, allowing full control of the light's shade and intensity.

'The focus this time was on what more we could explore within the iconic form of the donut lamp,' says Marcelis. 'Colour variation is one part of it, but at its core, “Varmblixt” has always been about how you experience light. In the original donut lamp, external light played on the glossy surface and bounced beautifully off it. With this version, the matt finish lets the light glow softly from within. It’s a very natural, technical evolution of how light can be experienced.'

'“Varmblixt” [...] has always been about the emotional aspects of light and Sabine's way of shaping atmosphere,' adds Chiara Ripalti, Ikea's lighting product developer. 'With these new versions, we expand that idea with updates that let people explore emotion more freely.'

As Ikea continues its mission towards a technological home (having recently introduced 21 products compatible with universal smart home standard Matter), it also announced a new, tech-based collaboration with Marcelis to be unveiled in 2027. Watch this space.

For much of the last century, speakers were shaped by engineers rather than designers – built primarily for performance, not presence. Over the past decade, Ikea has quietly worked to shift that perception, from the launch of ‘Eneby’ Bluetooth speaker range in 2018 to its Sonos collaboration, ‘Symfonisk’, the following year (integrating wireless speakers into home furnishings such as lamps and shelves) and then ‘Vappeby’ outdoor lamp-speaker with Spotify Tap in 2022. Its latest collaboration, launching today (25 November 2025), with Swedish designer Tekla Evelina Severin, better known as Teklan, pushes that ambition further, treating sound as something to be seen as well as heard.

Teklan and Ikea combine colour, light and sound

Spanning speakers, lamp-speakers and decorative lighting that flaunt Teklan’s trademark use of bold patterns and colour combinations, the collection explores how sound, light and colour can work together to shape atmosphere in the home.

‘Colour is so much about memories and experience and association and I try to bring that comfort into design,’ Teklan explains. ‘I work a lot with this softening, warming kind of atmosphere…and now I'm bringing this softness and colour into technology.’

At the centre of the collection is ‘Solskydd’, a family of Bluetooth speakers designed by long-time Ikea collaborator Ola Wihlborg. Available in three sizes and designed to hang, stand or be wall-mounted, the speakers have a distinctly retro-futurist feel, wrapped in Teklan’s bold colourways and graphic surface designs – patterns that draw on architectural references, created to add depth and rhythm to the surface and to shift subtly as you move around the room.

Wihlborg has spent more than 20 years designing for Ikea, but this is his first foray into technology products. ‘I think many speakers are developed based on how to get the best sound possible, and then you wrap a shape around that,’ he says. ‘We started from the other end.’ While Wihlborg focused on form, a dedicated engineering team refined the acoustics. ‘Many homes are usually dominated by squares, like bookshelves, windows, and artwork. So, for me, this was a chance to bring in a softer, architectural element to break up those straight lines.’

Alongside the speakers are the ‘Kulglass’ lamp-speakers, combining light and sound in a single sculptural object topped with a swirl-shaped glass shade inspired by soft-serve ice cream. The colour palette, Teklan explains, comes from memories and nostalgia – everything from cherry blossom to ice cream and art deco. One mint-green tone was matched to a childhood recollection. ‘I immediately remembered this mint block soap in my grandparents’ home,’ she says. ‘I actually went there… and tried to match exactly that.’

Also included is Teklan’s spin on Ikea’s classic ‘Fado’ lamp, updated with a pink confetti pattern. The hand-finished shades are decorated with crushed-glass dots using traditional glassmaking techniques, meaning each piece is slightly different. ‘You dip the glass, and then you roll it in these glass pebbles… and then you blow it and you spin it,’ Teklan explains. ‘None of them are exactly the same.’

The new collection builds on the first Teklan x Ikea collaboration, which launched earlier in 2025 and included two new colourways for the ‘Vappeby’ portable speaker and a series of 14 braided charging cables in 'retro' colours inspired by climbing ropes.

Sara Ottosson, product developer at Ikea of Sweden, says the designer had been ‘on our mind for some time’, having followed her work before approaching her. ‘We were trying to do electronics and make it more like home furnishing. Teklan has that extra everything, making products not only functional, but very emotional.’ As Ottosson puts it, the collection proves that ‘we don’t need to adapt the home to the electronics. We actually make electronics to adapt to the home you want’.

For Teklan, the project carries a personal resonance. ‘If five-year-old little Tekla would have known… Ikea was definitely my first meeting with interior design,’ she says. ‘It’s quite wild, quite surreal.’

The Ikea x Teklan collection launches globally in December 2025, with availability varying by market, ikea.com

Ikea’s Allen key has become an unlikely source of inspiration. The humble tool, while an Ikea furniture-assembling necessity, is rarely centre stage. Now, the Swedish furniture giant brings it to the forefront with its new ‘Ödleblad’ pendant lampshade, a flatpack design with a sculptural edge.

‘Ödleblad’ is the new Ikea lampshade inspired by Allen keys

Ikea designer David Wahl took on the challenge of designing the piece. Wahl is known for his expressive shapes, and makes sure efficiency is a priority of his designs. This isn’t limited to choosing the right material for the project; he also hones in on form and construction, to minimise waste right from the start.

The biggest obstacle Wahl faced was to design a flatpack lampshade that stays clear of excess material and also seamlessly connects without fittings. He settled on a birch veneer to make the interlocking pieces, which are shaped like an Allen key.

‘The Allen key is usually something hidden away in a drawer, but it’s one of the most quietly influential objects in our history,’ says David Wahl, designer at Ikea. ‘With “Ödleblad”, I wanted to let it step forward into the light as a sculptural centrepiece. It’s my homage to a tool that has shaped how people bring Ikea into their homes.’

Wahl continues, ‘The Allen key shape is brilliant, because with its specific form, we get precision-cut parts with minimal waste. The entire sphere is held together by its own geometry. There’s no need for extra fittings, which is a smarter way to use materials and a really satisfying way to build something.’

Although an Allen key is very simple in its design, the new lighting piece is far from it. It's composed of 60 identical parts, with interlocking pieces, all shaped like the tool. It is only natural, for Ikea, that the luminaire comes flatpacked. However, if the thought of clicking together 60 pieces seems rather testing, know that “Ödleblad” comes in five modules, each made up of 12 pre-assembled parts. These subsequently slot together to form the complete 60-part sphere.

When the lamp is turned on, the shade offers a soft and subdued glow. It's a playful tribute to the helpful, yet frustrating, little tool, and funnily enough, no Allen key is required for assembly.

ikea.com

Five giant fibreglass meatballs sat at the centre of a press conference in Seoul’s Hannam-dong today, where journalists gathered for the launch of Ikea’s latest designer collaboration. They rest on a huge elliptical plate – an outsized version of a new design by young Swedish designer Gustaf Westman, part of a 12-piece collection teased over the summer. The regular-sized porcelain tray, Westman notes, neatly fits 11 meatballs – his (and Ikea’s) favourite Swedish dish.

Alongside the tray, the debut includes a chunky teacup with a saucer designed to hold a generous portion of biscuits; a donut-like portable lantern with a rotating mechanism that allows it to be angled; a glass vase in a springy spiral frame that bounces at the lightest touch; and an LED candelabra, among other tactile tabletop pieces, such as curvy porcelain plates and candlesticks.

Shiny, cartoonish and brightly coloured in shades of red, green, bubblegum-pink and baby blue, the collection channels Westman’s playful design language – a style that has earned him a devoted following since he launched his Stockholm studio five years ago (fans can try for a stay at his apartment, recently listed on home-swapping app Kindred, or dip into his guide to Stockholm). This collaboration with Ikea now makes his work accessible to a much bigger global audience for the first time.

‘There's obviously a lot of pre requirements when you work with Ikea, and there's a lot of things you can't do but a lot of things you can do as well, and you just have to learn about that at the beginning of the process,’ Westman says. ‘For example, there’s one person whose job it is to tell you, like, “If we take away 3mm from this plate, you can fit 100 more in a pallet.”’

The collaboration began three years ago as a conversation between Westman and Ikea creative leader Maria O’Brian, and was initially imagined as a Christmas collection. But, as the designer recalls, this didn’t sit quite right: ‘It felt a bit scary for me because I didn't feel like Christmas was the best fit for my aesthetic,’ he says.

Instead, he proposed a more inclusive collection designed for celebrations across countries and cultures. It's also the reason why the launch is taking place in Seoul (it’s Ikea’s first product launch in Asia), a location rich with traditions and celebrations, and a bright, experimental design landscape where Westman’s work feels perfectly at home.

Since he exploded onto the scene five years ago, Westman’s sense of whimsy and irreverence has drawn comparisons to Ettore Sottsass and Jean Royère, designers who embraced colour, play and a touch of the surreal. But Westman insists his own influences come just as much from growing up in 1990s and 2000s Sweden.

‘One of the things that we really fell for and why we wanted to work with Gustaf was that he really creates humorous objects,’ says O’Brian, noting the creative synergy that Ikea believes will resonate across generations and geographies. ‘We don't expect everyone to bring everything home, although there will be some die-hard fans who buy everything – we tried to make a collection where you can find your own favourites.’

So why are people so drawn to Westman’s playful designs? ‘I don't know, honestly,’ he shrugs. ‘But I feel like this whole sphere – the design world and the architecture world – has been taking itself very seriously for a long time. Of course, there’s space for that, but my way of designing is to have fun. I don't take myself too seriously, because I am not doing anything serious. There are people who do serious stuff, and that's for them, but I don't think that's what I'm gonna bring to the world.’

In an industry that often leans towards rigour and restraint, Westman seems intent on serving up joy – one oversized teacup, wobbly vase and fibreglass meatball at a time.

People go to Ikea for two reasons: its functional, affordable home goods and its Swedish meatballs. This week, the flatpack furniture juggernaut has united both with a special new plate devoted to – you guessed it – meatballs.

The porcelain serving plate offers a sneak peek into Ikea’s upcoming collaboration with Swedish designer Gustaf Westman, whose playful designs (he's also designed a hot dog tray) have attracted a swarm of loyal fans.

‘I love designing objects for a specific function,' says Westman. 'The design is simple, lining up the meatballs so each one is visible, like they’re sitting on little thrones. And while it was created with meatballs in mind, it works just as well for many other dishes.'

Since their launch in 1985, meatballs have become an integral part of the Ikea experience. In fact, according to the company, it sells some 1 billion of the round morsels annually. Traditional Swedish meatballs, or köttbullar, are a Scandinavian staple, often served alongside mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam.

While Westman's plate is an ode to the meatball, it can, of course, accommodate spherical snacks of your choice, from olives to grapes to sweets.

The best part of the product lies in the humorous instruction manual, making sure meatballs are consumed correctly and in the step-by-step Ikea way.

The plate is the first piece to be revealed from Westman's upcoming capsule, which will also include tableware and home objects – a cinnamon bun-inspired chair, perhaps?

Gustaf Wetsman x Ikea collection is available 9 September ikea.com

Ikea is more than a furniture store – it’s a global symbol of bold, functional and democratic design. Few brands have achieved what it has: the creation of an aesthetic language so coherent that it resonates across 63 countries of operation. That’s not just influence – it’s cultural authorship.

At the heart of this identity lies the brand’s textiles, which are almost as iconic as its flat-pack furniture. Playful and eclectic, Ikea’s patterns helped rewrite expectations of what homes could look like.

A new exhibition at Edinburgh’s Dovecot Gallery – ‘Ikea: Magical Patterns’, which opens today (18 July) and runs until 17 January 2026 – asks: how did the brand make prints, colour and visual boldness central to everyday interiors? Showcasing 180 textile designs, it celebrates those who have helped define Ikea’s visual DNA. We explored the show ahead of its opening.

The birth of a design language

In the 1940s and 50s, avant-garde textiles were usually confined to elite homes. Mass-market fabrics were muted and predictable – and often floral. Ikea, founded in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad (‘Ikea’ is an acronym formed from his name and address), was initially no different. ‘You go through the early catalogues, and everything was beige or grey,’ observes Anna Sandberg Falk, an exhibition curator at the Ikea Museum in Älmhult, Sweden. ‘Then there was this really strong idea at the beginning of the 1960s to add something – and colour was that thing.’

In the early 1960s, Kamprad made a pivotal move: not a textiles expert himself, he hired young, mostly female designers from art schools and industrial backgrounds to revamp the department. Designers such as Benita Haymach and Ann-Charlotte Andersson were given almost total creative freedom. ‘They worked with these bold – and, at the time, quite provocative and unexpected – patterns and colours, inspired by contemporary art, everyday life and youth culture. And that turned into a really strong Ikea thing – an identity we still carry today,’ notes Sandberg Falk.

Icons of innovation

One of the most influential figures of this period was textile artist Inez Svensson. From 1971, she led a shift toward geometric patterns that felt modern and punchy – designs like ‘Strix’ and ‘Strax’, noteworthy for their horizontal stripes at a time when most machines only printed vertically, and which landed on the cover of the 1972 Ikea catalogue.

Svensson also co-founded the design collective 10-Gruppen (‘Group of Ten’), which was formed with a mind to challenge the dominance of dainty florals in textiles. Its 1978 collection for Ikea introduced bold, youthful patterns and, in 1980, Svensson initiated a long-term collaboration between the group and the brand. 10-Gruppen’s work was revived in 2017 at Ikea, underscoring its lasting relevance.

Another key designer was Sven Fristedt, who joined in 1967 and introduced a range of organic, psychedelic and Nordic folk-inspired motifs (‘Myrten’, ‘Tarantella’, ‘Sommargyllen’ and ‘Alfi’) which further pushed the boundaries of what ‘tasteful’ design could look like – it could be quirky – even a bit odd. ‘They’re not weird, that’s not the right word,’ says Sandberg Falk. ‘But they’re fun in a way. There’s something curious about them.’

The golden era and beyond

The 1970s were the golden age of Ikea textiles, setting the blueprint for the brand’s future. Svensson continued to contribute graphic works into the 1980s and 90s, such as ‘Randig Banan’ (1985), the striped banana print, which returned in 2013 to much fanfare. Children’s prints by designers like Anna-Lena Emdén, including ‘Sigge Snagg’ and ‘Konrad/Pensel’, introduced humour and narrative to home goods, showing that homes could be lighthearted and imaginative – not just restrained and ‘grown-up’.

The millennium yielded patterns such as Anna Sörensson’s ‘Stockholm’ (2006), which remains popular today, and Ikea's 80th anniversary Nytillverkad collection (2023), which included ‘Svedjenäva’ (based on ‘Alfi’) and ‘Nickfibbla’ (based on ‘Strix’ and ‘Strax’).

The creative freedom that Ikea extends to its designers remains unchanged: freelance designer Ida Pettersson Preutz recalls her first brief for the brand, which was to create a pattern based on food. Inspired by ‘Randig Banan’, which she had loved as a child, she sketched broccoli (now the ‘Anniken’ print): ‘At first, the feedback was, “We like it, but we want more.” So I added a rough pencil-drawn background – and that was it. They said, “Now we’ve got it.”’ Another pattern was repeatedly rejected by clients until she showed it to Tom Hedqvist, another Ikea designer and co-founder of 10-Gruppen. ‘He pointed to the sketch that everyone else had said no to, and said, “that one”,’ Pettersson Preutz recalls.

The Ikea effect

Ikea’s approach to pattern design wasn’t just about aesthetics – it was rooted in its philosophy of accessibility, championed from the outset by the famously frugal Kamprad. ‘The starting point at Ikea is always a price that’s affordable for people,’ says Sandberg Falk. ‘Form, function and style are built around that constraint. In this model, textiles are key – they’re often the easiest way to bring design into the home without spending a fortune.’

In this way, textiles ‘[gave] ordinary people access to bold taste’, the curator continues. Ikea's patterns didn’t – and don’t – demand design literacy; they encourage creativity and play. Fabrics sold by the metre and a mix-and-match ethos (the 2024 ‘Tyg’ line, for example, features pre‑cut cotton fabrics, designed to inspire DIY and upcycling projects with no sewing skills required) empower people to be co-creators of their homes. ‘That’s one of our missions – we want to open up the design world for the many.’

'Ikea: Magical Patterns' will run until 17 January 2026 at Dovecot Gallery in Edinburgh

Even the unobservant won't have missed the bright blue Ikea Frakta bag which has taken over Oxford Street for the past year. Now, the day has finally arrived that Ikea is set to open its doors to the public (1 May) , giving Londoners and beyond, access to the beloved Swedish furniture brand right in the heart of the city.

A first look inside the new Ikea Oxford Street

The new store is located in 214 Oxford Street; a three-floor, Grade II listed building that was for years, home to the UK's largest TopShop. The new Ikea is curated with city living in mind, featuring a large range of smaller furniture and home accessories which can easily be taken home on the tube. The store will showcase 6000 items, with 3500 available to be taken home right away. For larger furniture, order it to be delivered to your door.

The Swedish furniture giant has also asked real Londoners to be involved in their 'Curated Edits' programme, with participants creating collections of their favourite Ikea items, their stories displayed on digital screens throughout the store. Do you know a flatpack gem when you see it? The participants in the 'Curated Edits' programme will be re-selected multiple times a year.

Inside, Ikea stays in tune with its global design codes, with large showrooms, and staged spaces. However, in the Oxford Street outpost 'rooms' are inspired by local and urban living situations, working with Londoners to create realistic living spaces. These include bedrooms and multifunctional living rooms to working from home set-ups. Browse collections from the new Stockholm collection to vintage staples such as the Nytillverkad collection.

An Ikea trip wouldn’t be complete without a taste of the brand's iconic meatballs. The Oxford store has its own 130-seater ‘Swedish Deli’ with dishes including hot dogs and 12 piece meatballs. The new Ikea also welcomes in a live studio with broadcasting capabilities which will host array of interactive experiences and events. An immersive art space allows visitors to draw an object and watch it come to life on a digital screen – a great way to keep the store's tiniest visitors entertained.

‘Tomorrow, we will celebrate our new home on Oxford Street, a milestone in our journey to becoming more accessible,’ shared Peter Jelkeby, CEO and chief sustainability officer Ikea UK. ‘It will be an Ikea many know and love, with some new features exclusive to this iconic city centre store. Created in collaboration with real voices and with Londoners in mind, opening our doors is a landmark moment following a meticulous renovation and we are truly excited to share it.’

The new Ikea is located at 214 Oxford Street, and opens on 1 May 2025

The Wallpaper* team are on the ground at Milan Design Week 2025 this week and one of the first orders of business is a tour of Ikea's latest Stockholm collection new items that stay true to the brand's ethos of making homeware that's accessible to all ( and is now available to buy).

Browse the new Ikea Stockholm collection

The latest edition marks 40 years of the Stockholm collection and is the largest yet, including nearly 100 pieces from mouth-blown glassware, handwoven wool rugs and chandeliers designed by three Ikea designers, Ola Wihlborg, Nike Karlsson, and Paulin Machado. This eighth Stockholm collection leans into luxury, without compromising on affordability.

Accessibility is at the epicentre of the collection, and something that designer Paulin Machado explained was a key concern when we met her in Milan. ‘I hope people see the quality, and that they get amazed by the price. Of course, I hope they find their favourite, or something that calls out to them. When the first Stockholm collection launched it was for a more mature audience. Now, we wanted to create something which is accessible to all. We want to create quality pieces for young people who can invest in something which they will have for a long time, it will age gracefully and be durable.’

The collection offers an array of pieces, from the curved two-seat sofa in varying shades of brown and velvets, to intricate rugs, wooden trays, glass cabinets, vases, and an elegant pendant lamp.

Materiality takes centre stage of the collection, which designer Machado treasures when sketching out her designs. She drew inspiration from her experience working within textiles and weaving, telling Wallpaper*; ‘I love working with rugs. I am a weaver myself and of course when I get that brief to make a rug, I put my whole heart into it. We used ‘rollakan’ an old Swedish rug making technique, it is a way of doing flat weave, and by using this it helps to transfer a design in an intricate manner.

Designing the new collection didn't come without challenges. ‘It was my first time working with glass and it was really tricky!' explained Machado. 'With textiles I have a background in it and can easily transfer my ideas into production. Whereas glass is such a fluid process which can’t be steered. You have to go with the flow, as you may think it will take a certain shape, but then turns into something else.

‘I really sketched it out exactly how I wanted the glassware to be. I worked closely with our master glassmaker and he would tell me, “Paulin, this will break you cannot do this!” I really had to have a clear sense of dimension and shape. However, being an Ikea designer does come with a lot of challenges and is faced with a lot of “nos”. But personally when I get faced with a lot of nos I get inspired to keep on working the design until I get a “yes”. And that is how you learn and how you evolve.’

For all the designers, nature was at the epicentre of the design process. ‘Nature is the best designer – every colour matches beautifully in the natural world. It was something that I was drawn to on a personal level,’ shared Machado. ‘I used to live in New Delhi and was struck with how disconnected I felt to nature by living in that urban environment.’

‘I kept a nature diary in my phone all the time and had a large sketchbook, which I collected images of the different seasons. The glass was inspired by mushrooms, and the bowl was inspired by an upturned rock in the river. I love moss and the way it looks like a miniature world, and birch was a huge inspiration as well.’

With a world that seems to become more disconnected with nature and more tuned into the digital world, Machado shared how she feels this will impact the design landscape of the future, ‘I think it is not cool when AI does all the fun stuff. Of course, it is a great tool and it can do tasks which are tedious and boring, but I would be sad to see if we lost a sense of humanity within the creative process. We learn from our mistakes, and ideas from this evolve, which is something AI can’t capture. The design process takes time, and if the notion of “AI can fix it” continues, we have to fight back and say “We don’t want AI to fix it”, and leave the fun, creative, joyful things for us to discover.”

The Ikea Stockholm collection is now available worldwide. Shop the full collection ikea.com

Ikea has released its sixth and final drop from the brand’s Nytillverkad collection – reimagined hero pieces from the archive, reissued as part of Ikea's 80th anniversary celebrations. The relaunch of the notable designs – available in the UK on 1 February 2025 – offers a fresh take on vintage designs that can be shared with a new generation.

The final instalment of the collection includes beloved pieces such as Niels Gammelgaard's 1985 ‘Guide’ shelf, later renamed ‘Enetri’ and now reissued as 'Byakorre’. Gammelgaard reflected on making the unit saying, ‘I discovered that the machines making the laminated boards needed refilling with new material regularly. This meant I could make the shelves reversible, without any extra cost.’ This shelf, which features steel wire sides and colourful edges, reflected the urban styling of the time, and swiftly became one of Ikea’s most notable and collectable designs – originals have gone for £800 or more on the resale market.

The furniture in the Nytillverkad collection stays true to its original 1980s framework, offering simple yet functional design. However, it is reimagined in new colours and materials. Other designs in the sixth drop of reissues include Gammelgaard’s 'Järpen' chair, now 'Skålboda', Gillis Lundgren's ‘Cox’ easy chair, now 'Mofalla', and Erik Wørts' 1963 oakwood 'Novette' bench, now known as 'Guttane'.

From previous drops, other classics are already available online, among them the ‘Klippan’ sofa, which has jumped out of a 1984 Ikea catalogue, while the 'Poäng' armchair features a new low-back design; both items were designed and updated by Japanese designer Noboru Nakamura.

The latest Nytillverkad pieces to arrive are a bold and confident nod to the past, popping with colour.

The sixth and final instalment of Ikea's Nytillverkad collection is available to purchase in the UK from 1 February 2025. www.ikea.com

Reflect on a year of trailblazing design with a look back at the top ten design stories of 2024 – as chosen by you, the readers. Wallpaper* magazine's most-read design stories of the year point to exciting firsts, like David Lynch’s debut installation at Salone del Mobile, and Patricia Urquiola and Kvadrat’s upholstery textile made from 100 per cent ocean-bound plastic. There are also collaborative triumphs, such as Rimowa and La Marzocco’s new espresso machine; and the celebration of a design classic, the Rubik's Cube.

Top 10 design stories of 2024

Patricia Urquiola and Kvadrat's sustainable upholstery

Named Best Recycled Material at the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2024, Patricia Urquiola’s Sport textile for Kvadrat was a collaboration with Swiss company #tide and is the world’s first upholstery textile made of 100 per cent ocean-bound plastic.

The post-consumer plastic used is collected within 10km of the coastline of Thailand, as part of #tide’s commitment to prevent the materials from reaching the oceans.

The resulting sportswear-inspired fabric features subtle tactile patterns enriching the surface and a colour palette defined by vibrant shades of purple, green and blue, as well as a series of neutrals.

Writer: Rosa Bertoli

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Design Dynasties: the powerhouse families of Italian furnishing

Wallpaper* met with eight Italian families who, generation after generation, have set the standards of furniture design across the globe. These 'Design Dynasties' generously shared the personal stories and experiences behind their success with our writer Laura May Todd. They spoke of their longest-serving pieces and the dynamics that have emerged from being both a family and a business. Through her photographs, Bea de Giacomo captures glimpses of their familial settings and their most cherished designs.

Writer Laura May Todd

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A new era for Iittala

‘Imperfect’, ‘disruptive’ and ‘unpredictable’ are not words often associated with Finnish design, least of all with Iittala, one of its founding fathers. But new creative director Janni Vepsäläinen is not afraid to use all three and apply them to the 143-year-old company. Iittala now hails a new era, led by Vepsäläinen, and marked by a new logo and collections that pay homage to Aino and Alvar Aalto's heritage.

During Stockholm Furniture Fair 2024, Vepsäläinen unveiled her first collection, within a former nuclear reactor in the city. It wasn't your average debut; London-based composer and artist Damsel Elysium performed a piece using glass ‘instruments’, ranging from 2m-long horns to bells and bottles, all hand-blown in the Iittala factory near Helsinki.

Writer: Emma O'Kelly

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Ikea and Raw Color's vibrant crafts

‘Tesammans’ means 'together' or 'in company' in English. It is also the name of the latest collaboration between Ikea and Raw Color, a studio based in Eindhoven and founded by Christoph Brach and Daniera ter Haar. The collection is full of playful designs, vibrant textures and an eye-catching colour palette.

Ikea’s creative brief to the pair was direct yet liberating – reveal the potential of the spectrum. ‘Raw Color possesses a distinctive grasp of colour’s potency, its emotional impact, and its role in shaping our living environments,’ Maria O'Brian, creative Leader at Ikea of Sweden told us. ‘We aim for this collection to spark creativity and empower individuals to craft vibrant and cheerful living spaces in their daily routines.’

Writer: Yoko Choy

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David Lynch presents 'A Thinking Room' at Salone del Mobile

Visitors to Salone del Mobile 2024 were offered a new cinematic experience. The revered director David Lynch – known for cult films like Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire and Wild at Heart – designed an exhibition entitled 'Interiors by David Lynch. A Thinking Room' on the grounds of the Rho Fiera. The exhibition marked a new kind of venture for the Oscar-winning auteur, but according to its curator, Antonio Monda, former artistic director of the Rome Film Festival, it came not totally out of the blue.

'A few years earlier I presented Lynch the lifetime achievement award at the Rome Film Festival, and when I visited him in Los Angeles I found him polishing a desk. I asked him, what are you doing? And he told me he designs furniture now,' recounts Monda. 'So when the Salone del Mobile invited me to commission a filmmaker for this special event, I knew he was the real deal.'

Writer Laura May Todd

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Rimowa and La Marzocco’s compact espresso machine

Rimowa, globally known for its premium luggage, united with La Marzocco, an expert in espresso machinery, to present a carefully crafted Linea Mini espresso machine celebrating German and Italian design and engineering.

Merging Rimowa's signature grooved aluminium with La Marzocco’s engineering, the Linea Mini is a compact design accessorised with bespoke compartments, and packs an artistic punch with your morning shot of espresso.

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Ido Yoshimoto's sculptural pieces

We visited sculptor Ido Yoshimoto at his California studio, where he spoke about his work with wood, from his beginning as an arborist to his sculptures and furniture made with local reclaimed material – whether salvaged cedar, walnut or cypress, or old-growth redwood downed by disaster.

For Yoshimoto, making art is a way to figure out how things work, and how to fix what is broken. Sometimes it’s just repairing an old pepper grinder or cleaning a fish. But it’s also about living as nature, not with nature, an expression of curiosity and connection. Making art makes the world feel less mysterious because it’s tinkering in its highest form.

Writer: Shonquis Moreno

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50 years of the Rubik’s Cube

Hidden away in Budapest’s Buda Hills stands Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik’s minimalist five-storey abode. Adorned with multiple scenic terraces, it stars an elevator that conveniently glides between levels and furniture of Rubik’s own design. 'Yes, I made other things, too,' he told Wallpaper* on a tour through his comfortable rooms, 'but people only want to talk about the cube.’

The cube, of course, is the Rubik’s Cube, the bestselling 3D combination puzzle that the inventor dreamed up back in 1974. Twisting and turning into some 43 quintillion permutations, the six-sided cube is clad in vibrantly tinted squares that beckon enthusiastic problem solvers.

Fifty years after its birth, we spoke with Rubik about the history of a design classic.

Writer Alia Akkam

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Air Play Moon Safari

While the ‘Air Play Moon Safari’ tour was in full swing across Europe, the USA and Mexico during 2024 (they're playing 2025 dates too), we explored the design of the French band's White Box stage. They played their intimate, retro-futurist classic album, in full, from a five-sided, white-walled, 21:9 aspect-ratio letterbox that faced its voyeuristic audiences like Hitchcock’s Rear Window property as reimagined by Californian modernists. 'It could be a home, it could be our world, our head… our architectural concept,' they said of the project.

Writer Simon Mills

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Designing the Olympics

How do you begin to design the Olympics? On the eve of this year's event, we pulled up a pew with Joachim Roncin, the director of design for Paris 2024, to learn more about gender-free mascots with a genital likeness and medals made from the Eiffel Tower.

This had been a five-year assignment with a sprawling, impossibly broad scope, a hard deadline, a global audience and – ideally – a positive legacy that will span generations of future citizens. The heat was real.

Writer Hugo Macdonald

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Despite being one of the earliest forms of interior lighting, wall sconces remain an underrated lighting option in modern homes. Once essential for holding torches, oil lamps, and wax candles, they’ve evolved into more decorative, nice-to-have fixtures, often overshadowed by the 'big light' or, worse, overly harsh spotlights.

Unlike overhead options that can leave spaces feeling flat and clinical, wall sconces offer a subtler, more flattering glow. They cast light at eye level, transforming walls into radiant canvases and creating inviting and atmospheric interiors. Whether you want to highlight an artwork, craft cosy pockets of light, or create a sculptural focal point, our selection of wall-mounted sconces and lamps is for those seeking style and substance in equal measure.

See also: our favourite floor lamps and bedside lamps.

'Dado' wall lamp by Volker Haug x Flack Studio

From the portfolio of Australian lighting designer Volker Haug, the 'Dado' wall lamp features an aluminium disc set in a cast glass cube that refracts the light beautifully. The design, which evokes glass bricks popular in late 20th century interiors, was launched during Milan Design Week 2024 as part of the studio’s Me and You collection—a collaboration with Melbourne architects Flack Studio.

$1,850, available The Future Perfect

'Tripod HM12' by Hvidt and Mølgaard for &Tradition

Pioneers of Danish mid-century design, the Copenhagen-based firm Hvidt & Molgaard created hundreds of designs throughout their careers, including the celebrated 'Tripod' floor lamp. This more recent wall lamp adaption for Danish firm &Tradition boasts the same specially developed swivel joint for easy articulation, perfect for bedtime reading.

£365, available through Twentytwentyone

'Del Playa' single arm sconce by Jessica Helgerson for Roll and Hill

For designer Jessica Helgerson, the 'Del Playa' sconce is an ode to the beaches of Santa Barbara where she grew up. It features a turned white oak arm and white bone china shade that recalls the handcrafted aesthetic of California in the 1970s.

From £2770, available through SCP

'Lentium' sconce by Roman and Williams Guild

Launched to coincide with the 2024 opening of Roman and Williams Guild’s New York exhibition A Certain Slant of Light, the 'Lentium' is a substantial cast bronze sconce featuring a bubbled, cast glass shade crafted by Venetian artisans. The sconce takes its name and inspiration from the Lentium, lens-like objects historically used across artistic and industrial fields to manipulate light, either sharpening or softening its beams.

From $8,400 , Roman and Williams Guild

'Joy' wall lamp R25 by Draga & Aurel for Artemest

Italian studio Draga & Aurel drew inspiration from the Space Age when designing 'Joy', an elliptic resin and bronze wall lamp. luminous sculpture. It's made by layering epoxy resin to create a gradient of hues. When combined with the dimmable neon light source, these layers blend to produce a soft glow.

£6,720, Artemest

'Rotor' wall light by Palefire x 8 Holland Street

Designed with reading corners and bedsides in mind, the 'Roto' wall light recalls the diablo-shaped lights of the 1950s. Its hand-painted body and shade are realised in moulded paper pulp and connected with a brass fitting. This punchy green colour is an ode to Italian architect and industrial designer, Vico Magistretti and his 1970s Gaudi chair.

From £420, Palefire

'Shade' sconce by Blue Green Works

Inspired by the shape of a cymbal, the 'Shade' sconce by Manhattan-based studio Blue Green Works is a lesson in refined simplicity. The circular disc, crafted from either steel or brass, features a subtly asymmetrical centre that lends it a distinctive yet minimalist aesthetic. The sconce can be mounted directly to the wall with the disc facing downward, serving as an elegant bedside light, or facing upward to act as an architectural accent in spaces like hallways.

£2,535, available through SCP

'Varmblixt' wall lamp by Sabine Marcelis for IKEA

For those looking for high design at more accessible price points, Ikea’s designer collaborations are always hotly anticipated. In 2023, it was the turn of Dutch New Zealand designer Sabine Marcelis who conjured a series of sculptural lights for the Swedish behemoth. Her collection included 'Varmblixt', a playful, doughnut-shaped wall lamp made from orange glass that creates a radiant, warm glow.

£55, IKEA

'Tolomeo Mini Parete' by Michele De Lucchi for Artemide

The 'Tolomeo Mini Parete' by Artemide has cult status in the world of lighting design. Created by the renowned Italian designer Michele De Lucchi in collaboration with Giancarlo Fassina, this lamp epitomises functionality, precision and timeless design. Introduced in 1987, the Tolomeo series was celebrated for its envelope-pushing approach to task lighting, combining a minimalist aesthetic with exceptional adaptability.

£310, available through Finnish Design Shop

'Alma' wall light by Beata Heuman for Original BTC

The 'almost ethereal quality' of bone china as well as mid-century Scandinavian design served as the inspiration for the 'Alma' lighting collection by Swedish designer Beata Heuman for Original BTC. Made at the brand’s Stoke on Trent factory, the shade of this wall light is punctured with 41 hand-made holes which when lit, resemble little glowing stars.

£515, Original BTC

Not many shopping bags have reached the popularity and ubiquity of IKEA’s blue Frakta bag. Meaning ‘to freight’ in Swedish, the Frakta bag’s durability, versatility, and high capacity have made it one of the most iconic and memorable products from the Swedish home furnishing brand. So much so that on the 28th of November, IKEA is opening a pop-up concept store on London’s Oxford Street called the ‘Hus of Frakta’.

At the 'Hus of Frakta', IKEA aims to celebrate the legacy of its blue bag, elevating it from a simple shopping accessory to a symbol of design ingenuity and cultural significance. The pop-up store promises an immersive experience, inviting visitors to explore the enduring appeal and versatility of the Frakta bag, which has been reimagined by designers like Zandra Rhodes and Marimekko.

Strategically located at 216 Oxford Street, right next to IKEA's forthcoming multi-floor store set to open in spring 2025, the 'Hus of Frakta' underscores the brand's commitment to innovation and community engagement in the heart of London's West End. This temporary space not only serves as a prelude to the grand opening of the new store but also as a standalone tribute to a product that has seamlessly integrated into millions of households.

While specific details about the pop-up's offerings remain undisclosed, shoppers can anticipate a range of Frakta bags available for purchase, starting from just 75p. The store may also feature creative reinterpretations of the iconic bag, showcasing its adaptability and influence in contemporary culture.

Open daily until March 2025, the 'Hus of Frakta' is an invitation to rediscover a familiar object through a new lens. Whether you're a long-time fan or a curious passerby, the pop-up provides an opportunity to engage with a piece of design history that continues to be relevant in today's fast-paced world.

Hus of Frakta is open daily until March 2025.
Find it at 216 Oxford Street, London,W1D 2JH

The new Ikea Utsådd pet collection is a new range of objects for cats and dogs imagined for 'eating, sleeping, playing, and hiding', and developed in collaboration with a team of veterinarians and pet experts. To bring the collection to life, Ikea partnered with the Woodgreen Pets Charity on a series of images where rescue cats and dogs model the collection. 

Ikea for pets: the Ikea Utsådd pet collection

'As much as we love furniture, it’s family that makes a home and that includes our furry, four-legged friends,' reads the catalogue's introduction. 'Pets hold such an important place in many homes, so we’ve teamed up with Woodgreen Pets Charity to showcase their su-paw-stars putting the Utsådd range to the test. In doing so, we hope to also help more pets find new homes and raise awareness of the charity’s work in helping pets and their people.'

The Utsådd range all pets essentials: in the 29-piece collection you'll find striped bowls, a rattan dog bed and cushion, a tepee-like cat house and a series of soft dogs toys as well as a scratching board for cats. 

Each of the items is playfully modelled by the charity's pets, from 4-weeks-old Tiny Moon (a cup-sized black cat peeking from the felt tent) to 4-month-old Teddy (an energetic German Shepherd) and 2-year-old Lurcher Cloud.

As much as promoting the Ikea Utsådd collection for pets, the campaign (split into a 'Cat-Alogue' and 'Dog-Alogue') aims at raising awareness on rescue pets. 'In 2023, Woodgreen saw a 62% increase in abandoned pets as well a huge increase (253% year-on-year) in people looking to give up their pet due to financial reasons, primarily the rising cost of living,' reads a note accompanying the images. 'Last year alone, a total of 8,821 pets were helped through the charity’s service. The collaboration with Ikea UK aims to support Woodgreen’s mission of giving thousands of pets a brighter future, through safe shelter and specialist care.'

All furniture and accessories from the catalogue has been donated by Ikea to Woodgreen's pet rehoming centre. 

The Ikea Utsådd pet collection is now available from ikea.com

The new Ikea Sötrönn collection by Hiroko Takahashi combines the Swedish company's contemporary Scandinavian sensibility with the bold motifs of the Japanese artist's work. 

Ikea Sötrönn collection by Hiroko Takahashi

Comprising of 17 items 'that bring you joy', the Sötrönn collection includes textiles and home accessories such as mugs, pillow cases, throws,scented candles and an umbrella, each bearing the distinctive motifs of Hiroko Takahashi's work. 

'The starting point for our collaboration with Ikea was our curiosity to explore a creative blend of Scandinavian and Japanese design aesthetics,' says Hiroko. 'A bold, contemporary world emerges from the minimalism of both aesthetics, to give you more freedom and enrich your space.'

Through her work, she specialises in contemporary takes on traditional Japanese patterns, which she applies to modern kimonos as well as objects and accessories (through collaborations as well as her own brand, Hirocoledge). She only uses circles and straight lines to create her patterns, that embody 'the infinite possibilities born from the finite,' and serve as a metaphor of beauty found in limitations. 

The collaboration expresses Hiroko's view of what is 'Japan-ness and Tokyo-ness', in addition to her own creative identity. 'By expressing myself in a natural way, as an artist born and raised in Japan, I would inevitably create something that is uniquely Japanese,' she adds. Each pattern comes from a single motif, which was then adapted to the different materials and forms of the collection. 

'I would like you to imagine that somewhere in the world there are people using this collection: I believe that being aware of this world, where you are not alone, is the first step to communicating with others,' she says. 'I would be happy if the existence of this collection triggered deeper connections between people than ever before.

The Ikea Sötrönn collection is now available from ikea.com

Swedish furniture giant Ikea is launching its first gaming collection at Milan Design Week 2024. Spearheaded by Philip Dilé, product design developer at Ikea, the Brännboll collection hopes to capture the burgeoning popularity of casual gaming; offering 20 new pieces of furniture tailored to this new audience.

'We were aiming for a collection that reflects casual gaming today,' says Dilé. 'Making pieces that perform well for gaming and blend stylishly or nicely into the home; making products that work effortlessly, that add to the gaming experience, whilst contributing to a nice home for gamers and those they live with.'

Brännboll: Ikea's first gaming furniture collection

Maintaining the brand’s reputation for iconic, functional, and affordable furnishings, Brännboll marks a broadening of Ikea’s catalogue to match the rise of gaming amongst younger people, and those sharing their living spaces with others. Many of the pieces on show have been tailored to allow for the swift re-shaping of a home; both by using light materials, and often including a transforming structure, to suit a variety of potential uses.

Whether it’s the discreet and compact ‘gaming station’ cabinet, or the unfolding ‘gaming lounge chair’, Brännboll’s additions have been designed to allow gamers to quickly transition a space from a domestic orientation into a gamer’s paradise. The collection also includes a shelving unit and side tables on castors, allowing for gaming materials to be effortlessly shifted around the room, and maintaining the multi-functionality of their homes.

One standout amongst the new items is undoubtedly the new ‘gaming easy chair’, developed by designer David Wahl to accommodate the range of playing habits often adopted by casual gamers during lengthy sessions online. Suspended within its frame by four finely tuned belts, the chair’s seat has been designed to adapt and shift with the movements of the gamer, capturing how people shift in their chair whilst engrossed in their videogame of choice.

Allowing for lateral movement in four directions, alongside robust support for gamers to lean back and get comfortable for longer stints playing, the piece hopes to embellish an immersive gaming experience. As a former gamer himself, Wahl brought his unique insight to the product’s design process: 'You notice that when less experienced gamers get into the game, they tend to move around a lot in their chairs, so I wanted to create something that would enhance this movement… embracing the fun of gaming.'

Whilst it's a jubilant pastime, conveying a sense of maturity for a gaming audience was a major focus for the Ikea team, and greatly influenced both the athleisure-inspired design of the Brännboll pieces and their atypical colouring. Whilst many gaming furniture brands use a darker, colder aesthetic, the team at Ikea embraced a vibrant palette; hoping to capture the less serious, and more playful tastes of a grown audience. Working seamlessly within Ikea’s established brand, and deploying a playful attitude to form, Brännboll aims to capture the imagination of gamers with a diverse set of interests and lifestyles, whilst bridging the gap between a popular hobby and the wider home.

The Brännboll collection will be released in September 2024

ikea.com

‘Tesammans’ means 'together' or 'in company' in English. It is also the name of the latest collaboration between Ikea and Raw Color, a studio based in Eindhoven and founded by Christoph Brach and Daniera ter Haar (whose ‘Link’ sofa for Sancal won a Wallpaper* Design Award 2024).

Ikea’s creative brief given to the pair was direct yet liberating – reveal the potential of the spectrum. ‘Raw Color possesses a distinctive grasp of colour’s potency, its emotional impact, and its role in shaping our living environments,’ says Maria O'Brian, creative Leader at Ikea of Sweden. ‘We aim for this collection to spark creativity and empower individuals to craft vibrant and cheerful living spaces in their daily routines.’

Ikea and Raw Color present ‘Tesammans’

Colours have the power to stir emotions and influence people's psychology. Warm shades typically evoke vitality and enthusiasm, while cooler tones are frequently linked with a sense of calm, serenity, and relaxation. ‘As designers, we are captivated by the transformative potential of colour and the ways in which various hues interact with light, motion, materials, and one another,’ ter Haar says.

‘Tesammans’ blends Raw Color’s unique design language of colours, minimal shapes and graphic lines with Ikea's home furnishing expertise. ‘As we progressed with the design, the composition of the collection became clearer, both for ourselves and internally at Ikea. The main challenge for the company was the multitude of colours used in one collection, which took them some time to get accustomed to,’ continues ter Haar. The collection encompasses a range of objects, from hanging mobiles to lampshades, rugs, and storage units on castors, all in vibrant yet soothing hues.

Brach and ter Haar sketch in colour and also create prototypes in colour. It's not in order to immediately define a product’s final colours, nor to impose limitations. Rather, looking at things through colours gives the duo a different perspective, not only influencing the forms that emerge but also their emotional impact.

The colour-glazed stoneware vase set consists of two pieces – the larger, shorter one serves as a plant pot, while nestled inside it is a taller, thinner vase. The glaze on the outer surface forms a façade striped in various colours, offering users the flexibility to choose which shade to display, based on their moods or the flowers they picked on different days; they can also create a warmer or a calmer atmosphere.

‘We love textiles, and we work extensively with them. We had previously created the “Temperature Textiles” collection at the TextielLab (located at the Textiel Museum in Tilburg, the Netherlands), which is solely knit-based. We expressed our interest in working with knit to the Ikea team, and the resulting throws are impressive,’ ter Haar says.

The collection's most alluring characteristic, besides its carefully curated colour palette, is the transformative nature of its objects. The throw is designed with multi-colour trimmings at both ends and is divided into four large colour blocks along its length. When it is folded in different ways or draped loosely over a bed or sofa, the colours meet together, creating completely different looks.

Raw Color surely had fun with building the colour palette, but in terms of working under such scale in production, it was a steep learning curve: ‘At Ikea, it's a guiding principle in product development that designs should appeal to a wide audience and be democratic. It was a nice challenge for us; we had to find the logic for production,’ Brach says. ‘The two lampshades were designed to match with an existing base from the regular product catalogue, and we've given it a different colour. So there's no need for extensive technical and safety testing, which typically demands significant effort and resources.’

‘It was challenging for us and the team because it is a limited collection – with only a small quantity available for a set period of time. Take the carafe as an example: the decision on its final production size is driven by the choices made by buyers in their respective countries. If 500,000 pieces of this carafe are ultimately ordered, it presents the challenge of pricing it competitively against another model from the regular collection, which could receive an order for five million pieces,’ Brach adds.

‘Tesammans’ will make its debut at the Ikea+ exhibition during Paris Fashion Week from 29 February to 3 March 2024. The collection will then be available in Ikea stores globally from April onwards

ikea.com

Few endeavours in the world of furniture design are as iconic or impactful as designing for Ikea. With its global reach and democratic design philosophy – making the possibility of home enhancement accessible – the Swedish giant has been shaping not just living spaces but also the way we interact with furniture. Now, in 2024, Ikea has collaborated with Italian designer Gio Tirotto (who is also the first Italian to work with the company) to introduce the ‘Ensholm’ chair, a fusion of functionality, sustainability, and iconic design.

Designing for Ikea: Gio Tirotto

Tirotto's perspective on designing for Ikea encapsulates the essence of the project and his ‘Ensholm’ chair offers a sophisticated and practical solution for outdoor environments. He says, ‘Designing a chair for Ikea is certainly one of the most interesting and important challenges for a designer. Ikea is known all over the world for its democratic design approach, in which an object's creation and production prioritise accessibility, ensuring it is attainable to the widest audience while preserving the core design characteristics.’ 

Named after a small island in eastern Sweden, the ‘Ensholm’ chair blends thoughtful design with functionality. Crafted with painted steel and a unique plastic mesh fabric, the chair offers durability and comfort. Tirotto's emphasis on assembly as a social and educational process underscores Ikea's commitment to its customers. ‘Designing for Ikea, there is a phase that I particularly love, which concerns the relationship between the object and the user – that is the assembly,’ he says. ‘During assembly, users become aware of the design process, increasing their relationship with the object itself.’ 

The technical prowess of the ‘Ensholm’ chair lies in its structural integrity. The tension between the fabric and the seat/backrest frame creates a supportive yet yielding surface, inviting users to relax without worry. Additionally, the design features an ergonomic handle integrated into the rear legs, allowing for easy mobility without direct contact with the fabric.

Tirotto's commitment to synthesis and functionality is evident in every aspect of the chair. He notes, ‘Every element of the chair is useful; if we eliminated only one of its components, it would fall.’ With only ten Allen screws required for assembly, the chair embodies simplicity and sustainability. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the chair also prioritises environmental consciousness. Every component is fully recyclable, aligning with Ikea's sustainability principles. 

 The design’s strength, as Tirotto puts it, is ‘its absolute synthesis, the tireless search for subtraction’, and the ‘Ensholm’ chair invites us to reimagine outdoor comfort and sustainability in our living spaces. 

The ‘Ensholm’ chair, £27, is now available via ikea.com

For over eight decades, Ikea has explored every facet of living, through collaborations with cutting-edge designers and institutions, and constant research into how daily lives can be improved by design. The Swedish giant just released its latest Life at Home Report, an annual compendium and an ongoing analysis of how we live.  

'The Life at Home Report began in 2014, exploring the practical aspects of home, and over the years has expanded into the emotional landscape of where we live,' reads a note from the company introducing the 90-page report, a survey of 37,428 people across 38 countries. 'One of the most distinct qualities of the Life at Home Report is exploring how people feel about where they live, and not just what they do there. This blend of functional and emotional insights helped to develop a framework that presents eight emotional needs for a better life at home. This year, the research survey was based on the emotional needs of home.'

Ikea Life At Home Report: visions for future living

'Based on the paths our lives are taking now, it’s possible to point to a number of certainties for our shared future,' reads the report. 'The difficult reality is that the road ahead is sure to be bumpy. We know that the climate crisis will continue to grow in scale and intensity, and it will impact all aspects of life – including where and how we live at home.'

Looking at how we will live at the end of this decade, Ikea imagined three scenarios, brought to life with the help with AI, reflecting on the uncertainties of the present and offering ways to 'depict a desirable role for the home in a volatile world'. The report presents three characters, each with unique life circumstances that guide their everyday behaviour and dwelling style. 

Below, Ikea asks four questions that inspired its vision of the future.

What if there wasn’t just one home, but multiple homes to help people foster resilience and nurture themselves?

Jin lives in a pod in a high-rise apartment in central Seoul, a temporary living arrangement after climate reports proposed a temporary evacuation from the lowlands. Among his current plans is a graduation party in the building's breakout room (with guests attending both physically and remotely), and travelling with the help of a personalised AI advisor, who can check on visa and other requirements for moving across borders and facing extreme climate events. He also uses a headset, which 'helps with immersion, and he can access virtual environments that help him get into the feeling of travelling'.

In a few months, Jin is due to start a new job in experience design – his company's co-living programme will allow him to stay in pods all over the world.

How can our homes foster our sense of identity and togetherness without alienating distinct communities from one another?

The next future scenario sees Angela living in a women-only housing collective in Massachusetts, USA, working towards complete self-sufficiency. 'The group has designed a central workspace, which they call their She Shed, where they can repair almost anything in the collective,' explains the report. 'It’s where Angela will teach others to weld once she’s received her training at the technical college across the other side of the township.'

Angela's partner, Patricia, is learning how to deliver emergency medical treatment, while also helping 'fortify all the collective housing units against climate change'. Angela and Patricia's shared concern for climate change and interest in sustainable interior design have shaped their living arrangements, with bio-solar wallpaper that uses algae to generate electricity from sunlight, inspired by patterns from the early 2000s. 

How might our relationship with technology and nature allow us to live with a more regenerative mindset?

Finally, Jamie is a non-binary primary school teacher, living with their two partners and children in a small township north of Uppsala, Sweden. To help with home management, the surfaces of the kitchen and all the floors are self-cleaning, and they can outsource meal planning and grocery shopping to the cloud. 

As part of their routine, Jamie downloads a report from Gaia, the in-house AI that monitors energy use and overall wellbeing. Looking at data from climate and health forecasts, it makes suggestions including switching on the home's wind-ready turbines, or playing music to manage anxiety spikes.

The family 3D prints their own furniture from a mushroom compound and when visiting is not possible, spends time with relatives at virtual Sunday lunches and smaller online get-togethers. But Jamie also likes to move away from technology, by working on their adjacent land to reconnect with nature and earth. 

The homes depicted in these three scenarios support their residents from a practical and emotional perspective, enhancing the quality of their lives through technology that is unobtrusive and practical. They consider the fundamental roles of a home, making space for everyday essentials, regular connections, meaningful moments and future plans. 

'It’s significant to see the impact of climate change on life at home as we know it,' says Mat Lincez, Foresight Director for Human Futures Studio. 'But there is careful optimism, with technology helping us live more sustainably. We will need a shift towards new ways of powering our world, as well as emerging techniques for distributed manufacturing. These scenarios also emphasise the role of relationships between people: the shift towards co-operatives, community-centric lifestyles, and collective self-reliance can be a way to improve overall quality of life for everyone.'

He continues: 'I’m curious to see how Ikea can support when “home” becomes a relative term in the wake of increased mobility. Being able to quickly establish a home environment and social connections will be vital in these uncertain circumstances.'

ikea.com

For our 2024 horoscope, we asked Italian astrologist Lumpa for a detailed reading of each star sign's fortunes, and the design objects that identify them:

Lumpa: Happy 2024 everyone! Before proceeding to the annual destinies of the individual signs, I’d like to say something about the year ahead. 2024 is a leap year, and 29 February will be a day full of lucky surprises for some (and unlucky for others). It is a year marked by the transit of Saturn in the sign of Pisces, like in 1994, 1995 and 1996, so it will be easy to notice similarities with those years. So if you were born with Saturn in Pisces, or in the years mentioned above (but also between 1964 and 1966), watch out, as you might easily enter into crisis.

Unlike 2023, which was a very slow year, 2024 will seem to pass very quickly, because Mars and Venus will not retrograde (well, at least until December, let's say). It is a condition that can result in new love, and that makes couples thrive.

It will also be a Chinese Year of the Dragon, which according to tradition should bring rain after periods of drought (and possibly more children).

Wallpaper* 2024 horoscope by Lumpa

Aries

Even if early January is a bit annoying, a very important and beautiful year is about to begin for Aries. It could even be the first of a series, because future years will bring more growth. The year will be defined by a great life change and the beginning of a new cycle of luck. A wish is about to come true, in your emotional or professional life: you saw the first signs of it in 2023, even if that was still a tiring, stressful year. In 2024, you are going to consolidate a new step – it could be a new life, a new career, an important family event, or something in your private sphere. Children are on the way for many Aries. Signs of improvement will be noticed as early as February and March, with a peak in the birthday season. One of the happiest months will be August.

Design for Aries: Aries enjoy bold and colourful pieces – sometimes their choices can be playful or flashy. We picked a classic of Sottsass' Memphis era, a cacophony of colours and shapes. 

Taurus

Many Taureans will feel that just making it to 2024 is an achievement. Recent years have been difficult on many fronts: at work, as a couple, even in health. For many, self-esteem and personal power need to be recovered. The new year ushers in greater strength, physical health and even a bit of luck: the recovery begins. This is a year in which Jupiter will be in your sign and Saturn in your favour, a perfect condition for recovering energy. However, there are also changes to be made; in work, it is necessary to take a new direction and leave your comfort zone, something that is always a little difficult at first, but which will then succeed well. Overall, it is a good year for finances. Even in the area of affection, there is greater wellbeing – anyone looking for a partner, or just wanting someone alongside them, will find what they need.

Design for Taurus: When it comes to interior design, Taureans are big spenders. Always enjoying the most expensive pieces, their style is very classy and sober. Gio Ponti's classic designs feel like a natural fit for this discerning star sign. 

Gemini

2024 will be a memorable year for Geminis, mostly a lucky year, but not entirely easy to manage. Saturn in Pisces is in a critical position and the bearer of changes that are not always easy to implement. Saturn usually brings break-ups, at work and in love, and more generally, challenges personal growth. It is the planet that makes us age, as it brings mental heaviness. This year's events are somehow related to what happened in 2016/17, two critical years. However, there is also good news: the changes brought by Saturn can prove difficult to live with, but positive for your career, and indicate the moment in which you can make a real leap forward. Of course, nothing is free; it all depends on how serious and responsible you have been in recent years. What guarantees that things will go well is mostly the presence of Jupiter in Gemini, always a carrier of luck (and often new love). Those who have the courage to change will be rewarded.

Design for Gemini: Geminis discover new trends and embrace new concepts before everyone else: they fall in love with ideas and stories and their style is in constant evolution. Among the past year's design innovations that they would love is Samuel Ross' bathroom faucet evolution for Kohler. 

Cancer

The beginning of the year might not seem exciting, just as the arrival of the previous autumn was already stressful. 2024, however, is a lucky year, even very lucky for some Cancerians. Saturn and Jupiter are in favourable signs, indicating that there will be important positive news for feelings and finances. For many it is the beginning of a new life – perhaps they have changed jobs, cities, or have become parents (or are about to!), and sometimes the adjustment will be the cause of stress. There is some difficulty in January, and towards April and May. This is a very eventful year, in which there will be a lot of work and a lot of positive feedback. It will often be easy to lose patience, and the commitments will be many.

Design for Cancer: Cancerians love their homes; they're the couch potatoes of the zodiac and surround themselves with cosy and comfortable pieces. We've been eyeing this collaboration between Italian mill Lanerossi and Milan Triennale, resulting in a series of blankets that are a perfect mix of craft, culture and comfort. 

Leo

Leos will find that the future is easier to manage compared to the past couple of years. People of this sign have matured a lot, thanks to complex events and situations that have undermined much of their proverbial personal security. 2024 brings a comeback, but there are still issues to settle, and unexpected events. There will be periods that are not easy to manage, such as February/March and July/August, defined by great impatience. As soon as you understand what is limiting your freedom and find a way to resolve it (perhaps by changing your home, job, or partner), everything will be resolved. Some problems could come from someone you consider a friend, and I recommend you be careful not to take the trust you place in others for granted, because there is the risk of feeling betrayed and disappointed.

Design for Leo: Leos love to show off. They are allergic to mediocrity and choose objects and furniture that express their sense of grandeur. One of modern design's most impressive pieces, the Albero bookcase is both ingenious and sophisticated. 

Virgo

2023 was a tough year for many Virgos. There might have been physical tiredness, health problems, and a multitude of conflicts to manage. 2024 is less belligerent, less tiring, but nevertheless, there will still be things to manage. Saturn is in the sign of Pisces, therefore in opposition. There is a big change that must be faced to regain serenity. It is most likely to do with work, and Virgo is a sign that is always very slow to resign, tending to feel paralysed when faced with risks. The advice is not to wait until you are at your limit to abandon a suffocating situation. In other cases, problems may concern your love life; with Saturn opposite, we often break up. 2023 put relationships through a great stress test, so those who find themselves in a critical emotional situation are probably already aware of it. In 2024, there should be no bad surprises, only important issues to react to.

Design for Virgo: Virgos do a lot of thinking and rethinking before buying. They hate aesthetic arrogance and prefer a minimalist style. Their love for all things vintage made us pick this Ikea cabinet, timeless, modern and essential.  

Libra

I am optimistic for Librans in 2024. I have seen people of the sign mature a lot in recent times and become less self-centred, more aware and wise. There have been many changes in the relationships field, among partners and friends, resulting in a restyling of personal networks. In late 2023, Librans entered a new cycle of life; they have new goals, new allies and a newfound mental independence, and getting to this point wasn't easy (in many cases, relationships ended with suffering). 2024 is a carte blanche on which to begin reimagining your life. There will be new partnerships, in work, in love, and in the world of friendships. Rewriting your life requires great energy, first at the beginning of the year, and again in spring, times which will be intense. In short, 2024 will be a beautiful, but also tiring, year of construction, when important loves can blossom.

Design for Libra: Librans are known for their good taste in design, leaning towards sophisticated minimalism, and enjoy unique pieces known only to the few. They'd appreciate how special this chess set is, designed in 1950 by Carl Auböck and meticulously crafted by hand by the legend's descendants in their Vienna workshop. 

Scorpio

I am happy to be able to write a nice 2024 horoscope for Scorpios: you deserve it after some difficult years. The recent period has left you a little tired, from criticism and conflict at work, and disappointments in your love life. 2024 is the year when you feel more spirited, eager to show the world that difficulties stimulate you rather than take you down. There is a healthy desire to want more: more money, more love, more success – and you'll begin to see the results. The year begins well in January, with determination and planning, and generally continues well, but you will see cyclical setbacks in early March, early July, and even in August. These are useful in making you understand that to truly get more from life, you must also question parts of yourself that you didn't think you wanted to change. Pay attention when you feel impatient or suffocated – that’s when you will understand what you have to leave behind. Scorpios in their thirties must also pay attention to friendships: some people are not as good friends as they say they are.

Design for Scorpio: Scorpios love secrets and mysterious objects. Their taste can have an erotic touch, because they love to play with taboos. Fornasetti's expansive collection of ornate ceramics is their cup of tea, especially the designs at the more humorously kinky end of the spectrum. 

Sagittarius

2023 was a tiring year and Sagittarians will be hoping that 2024 helps them regain confidence. The year ahead will certainly be better, with less tiredness and fewer conflicts. However, Saturn is in a critical position, so there are still difficult issues to deal with. Saturn in Pisces brings a desire for solitude and, in some way, will dampen the enthusiasm and sociability of Sagittarians. It's a moment for introspection; trust this feeling and take advantage of it to look inside yourself. Other problems can come from the economic sphere; it would be better not to spend too much and to take good care of your accounts. At work, it is time to think about a change of direction and, for many, it will be easy to end professional relationships. Finally, the conditions in love are not the best and there could be crises, break-ups or, worse, the beginning of unhealthy relationships. A cycle that began around 2016 is about to end. March and April are the most difficult months.

Design for Sagittarius: Sagittarians don't think twice when it comes to buying, and they're heavy decorators. They enjoy dreamy objects with a history, and shy away from minimalism. We picked a Moroccan rug for them, a vintage piece featuring an abstract Berber design that is sure to be a showstopper in their home. 

Capricorn

2024 for Capricorns begins with great determination; there is a desire to do things and new projects are starting. A beautiful year begins with positive surprises and general growth; it's a good year for finances and for loved ones. The balance is very positive, but there will be moments of stress and tiredness. You seem committed to a new life project, and 2024 feels like a sort of year zero: everything will be under construction. A lucky event will surprise you towards the beginning of April, and its management will keep you very busy for the following two months. This will be trying on a physical level and will test your patience. As always, luck and prosperity never come free, and there will be a certain amount of effort to be made: it could be moving and even changing city. For others, there may be children on the way. Capricorn is not a sign that fears physical fatigue, but is more stressed when dealing with new things or doing something for the first time, in unknown territory. Arm yourself with patience: it will be a beautiful year.

Design for Capricorn: Extreme functionalism is key for Capricorns, who prefer old-school objects without ostentation. A contemporary turntable is the perfect match for them, utilitarian and nostalgic. 

Aquarius

Aquarians leave behind some difficult years, which have made them mature and acquire wisdom. From the birthday season, there will be a real restart. March and April will find you very busy, always at work. The second half of the year, from June, will be peaceful and bring some good news. There is the possibility of new loves, and those who find themselves in bad or unclear relationships will find the possibility of ‘jumping on a better train’, especially in June. Many understood what wasn't working in their lives in the summer of 2023, and 2024 is here to bring a turning point to that dissatisfaction. Aquarians are often slow to process changes, but this year, at a certain point, they will find an edge, greater confidence and therefore also the courage to assert themselves. Finances will also be positively affected by this change in attitude.

Design for Aquarius: Aquarians avoid the mainstream – they're the non-conformists of the zodiac. They enjoy concepts more than aesthetics and fall in love with designs with a twist – like these sunset lamps that add a mysterious glow to a room. 

Pisces

Everything that could have gone into crisis did so in 2023, a truly difficult year for Pisceans. There were conflicts, misunderstandings, physical exhaustion, and worry for yourself or others. 2024 will not reverse the situation 180 degrees, but it will be less trying on a psychophysical level. The problems that emerged in 2023 now need to be resolved. The first thing is to stop taking on other people's problems and emotions and put yourself first. Another important thing will be to ask for clarity and to always tell the truth; be transparent. You are in a period of personal growth, new developments in your career, and a general moment of maturation. However, none of this should be taken for granted, so the advice is to pay close attention to your mistakes, because they will not go unnoticed. The birthday season will be very important.

Design for Pisces: Pisceans have a particular sensitivity for beauty. They are very visual and imaginative, and feel the energy of spaces and objects. Sabine Marcelis' pastel resin and marble combo contributes to the soft atmosphere of their ideal interiors. 

If you think Ikea has conquered every facet of our lives, think twice - think home training as well. For Miami Art Week, the Swedish big-box furniture giant hosted an Open House to present Dajlien, their new line of versatile training equipment for the home, set to launch globally in January 2024. 

Ikea Dajlien: training equipment for the home

Led by 4 of Ikea’s designers - Sarah Fager, Paulin Machado, Akanksha Deo, and Maja Ganszyniec - the 'Dajlien' collection brings 19 new wellness products into their catalogue. In a fresh palette of soft and bold greens, grays and bright yellow, the collection includes exercise mats, portable speakers, a training bench inspired by old-school gym equipment that converts into storage, an air purifier for recovery and stress release, and our favourite, a set of inconspicuous mint-green weights that could easily be mistaken for minimalist home decor.

Keeping to the brand’s vision of affordability and democratic design, the multi-purpose objects allow users to adapt the equipment to their unique lifestyle in the intimacy of their home. Not defining a clear function also takes the heaviness off its discipline and makes it easier on the eye, “We wanted to contribute to the democratization and accessibility of training, ensuring that even a bit of activity is within reach for everyone, every day,” says designer Akanksha Deo.

The vibrant South Beach Open House exhibition was also a celebration on storage. In true Ikea fashion, a maze of 6 connecting rooms in an array of colour ways, invited guests to interact and draw freely on the walls and furnishings - speaking to the child in all of us.

The Ikea Dajlien collection will be available in stores from January 2024. Prices range from $3.99-$135

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Space10, the Copenhagen-based design office working exclusively with Ikea on innovative design concepts, has announced it will close at the end of August 2023 after ten years of ground-breaking collaboration. 

‘Space10 was never meant to last and – after a decade working with Ikea – we have achieved what we initially set out to accomplish,’ says Kaave Pour, co-founder and head of the studio. ‘We feel immensely proud to have influenced one of the biggest design companies in the world while making our ideas portable and shaping conversations in everything from technology to design, architecture and food.’

From the HQ in Copenhagen’s Meatpacking district, the Space10 team has spent the past decade building a portfolio of speculative projects and ideas that were open, democratic, purpose-driven, playful and community-oriented, combining creativity and technology to address the pressing issues of today’s living – from climate change to social injustice.

The studio’s projects have served as a starting point for Ikea’s own work, and its projects were aimed at creating a culture of innovation within the Swedish furniture giant.

‘We know the vision and values of Space10 will continue to spread to new places and organisations via our incredible team, the 500 partners we’ve worked with throughout the years, and the 250,000 people in our community. Space10 will only close as a company, while the mission lives on.’

Says Jon Abrahamsson Ring, CEO Inter IKEA Group: ‘The collaboration between Space10 and Inter Ikea Group has been a great learning [experience] with multifaceted achievements and outcomes over the years. Space10 has challenged our mindset of thinking outside the box, they have been our eyes around the corner looking into the future, facilitating new partnerships and business ventures, helping us investigate how we can create a better everyday life for many people. But perhaps most significantly, the partnership between Inter Ikea and Space10 has motivated our internal innovation culture and inspired us in how we approach innovation at Ikea.’

We look back at some of Space10’s most innovative ideas.

 Space10: a decade of innovation 

Tomorrow's Meatball, 2015

Among the studio's first projects was an alternative to meatballs to address unsustainable meat production. 'Whether we like it or not, the world’s love affair with meat has become one of the largest burdens on the planet,' the team wrote in a text introducing Tomorrow's Meatball, a visual exploration into the types of foods we should be eating in the future. 'Industrialised meat production strains fresh water supplies, is a direct cause of deforestation and grassland destruction, and is linked to massive carbon emissions. Additionally, global food demand is expected to grow by 60 per cent as the world’s population reaches 9.7 billion in 2050.'

Following research into technological gastro-innovations, cultural rituals and culinary inventions, the team produced a menu that included The Wonderful Waste Ball, The Nutty Ball, and The Crispy Bug Ball, made using food waste, nuts and legumes, and protein-rich insects – ingredients that nowadays might be considered alternative but that will likely become a normal part of our recipes in the near future. 

The Growroom: food-producing architecture, 2016

The Growroom combines sustainable food production, urban greening, and on-demand manufacturing. Presented at Chart Art Fair in 2016 as a one-off project, it soon took off developing into an open-source shareable design that reached users globally. Developed with architects Sine Lindholm and Mads-Ulrik Husum, the structure is imagined as a way to grow food in urban, shared spaces, from offices to homes. 

The Growroom can be built with just two rubber hammers, 16 sheets of plywood, and a local maker or workshop to help with CNC milling. Made of wood, it's designed for simple, intuitive assembly. 'Bypassing the pollution of global shipping, we intentionally made the design open source, allowing anyone to download and build their own Growroom where they live,' say the team. 'One month after its release, downloads surpassed the 30,000 mark and that number kept growing.'

Ikea Place, 2017

How can a furniture company remain relevant in the ever-increasing digital and virtual future? Ikea Place attempted to answer this question, through an app that would bring furniture into a user's spaces through the camera on their phone. 'Placing furniture in augmented reality was an obvious use case, yet the potential importance for Ikea was huge,' says a text introducing the project. 'Not everyone lives near an Ikea store, and nearly 40 per cent of people experience an ‘imagination gap’ – a lack of confidence in taking risks regarding changes in their homes. With augmented reality, Ikea could suddenly meet people where they were. So that is where we started – at home and through the phone cameras people would use to augment it.'

Spaces on Wheels, 2018

Spaces on Wheels explores a driverless future, looking at the potential of self-driving vehicles. 'As self-driving cars find their way onto our streets, it’s necessary to explore how they might enable a better everyday life – beyond delivering us from A to B,' say the Space10 team. The project included a history of self-driving cars, a study on their opportunities and challenges, and a collaboration with F°am Studio to visualise seven new ideas for autonomous vehicles for the future. These consist of Flexible Workspace (a roaming shared space that is effectively an office on wheels); Coffee on the Go (a boutique rolling roastery); Healthcare (drug dispensary); Farm (a mobile farmers’ market); Play (a pod for augmented reality experiences); Hotel (a sleep station) and of course a shop. 

Future Food Today cookbook, 2019

Created in collaboration with design agency Barkas, Future Food Today stews food, technology and science, in a concoction developed from months of research at the lab's test kitchens. The book looks forwards to the sustainable kitchens of tomorrow, highlighting that what we consume today will impact the prospective future. The book reflected Space10’s aim to create a positive perception of the future of food, giving people the tools to try out recipes for themselves. 

With over 20 unique recipes which challenged ‘the category of cookbooks both visually and conceptually’, there are takes on sustainable junk food such as the ‘dogless hotdogs and algae chips’, experimental foods like ‘the bug burger’, meals to feed a party, zero-waste snacks and many other dishes that ‘we could one day be eating on a regular basis’. The recipes reflect seasonal changes and moods, and include inspirations from many cultures.

Open Fabrication, 2019

The Open Fabrication project answers the question: ‘How can we apply algorithms to create unique furniture from mass-produced components?’ Space10 collaborated with design studio Ransmeier Inc using open-source design principles to transform paper waste into affordable customised furniture. 'For Open Fabrication, we designed a range of prototypes and a conceptual platform for customising furniture from a small but versatile module selection,' they say. 

An algorithm can calculate hundreds of furniture designs, starting from eight different modules, creating a range that includes shelving systems, tables, bed frames, seating, and more. 'The modules were made from 100 per cent recycled paper waste, which, if the concept were realised, would actively address a pressing waste challenge. Add aluminium hardware and the result is affordable and customisable furniture that is also recyclable.'

Bee Home, 2020

A click-and-build project designed in collaboration with Tanita Klein and with a digital platform made by Bakken & Bæck, Bee Home is a kit with simple instructions to build and install an insect sanctuary. 'Solitary bees are absolutely essential to life as we know it on this planet,' says Space10. 'For millions of years, these tiny creatures have played a leading role in pollinating flowering plant species. Yet human influences like global urbanisation, the routine use of pesticides, and monoculture farming threaten their place in this world.'

The Ideal City, 2021

Ideal City is a book published with Gestalten exploring how to create a better everyday life in our cities. A compilation of best practice from around the world – 53 cities in 30 countries – the book captures urban projects that are striving to make a difference, gently but inexorably steering towards the impossible goal of ‘utopia’. The projects inside range from public toilets to new parks, urban farms, food provision, prisons and wholescale city district regeneration. Divided into five focal areas – The Resourceful City, The Accessible City, The Shared City, The Safe City and The Desirable City – the book includes projects and proposals from featured architects such as SelgasCano, Naruse Inokuma Architects, Gustafson Porter + Bowman, and Urban-Think Tank, along with a host of thinkers and theorists.

Future Forest, 2022

This report explores the potential of technology to support sustainable forestry. 'According to the UN, the world lost 420 million hectares of forest cover in the three decades between 1990 and 2020. Work to reverse deforestation and reforest the planet needs to start immediately,' Space10 writes in the project's introduction. The project evolves from four areas of focus, including ending deforestation, reforestation, traceability, and Indigenous lands, combined with a research into applicable technologies. 'We need to listen and learn about the ways Indigenous peoples interact with forests to understand where, how, and if digital technologies should play a role in local contexts. And provide room for active and ongoing community engagement around the design, implementation, and usability of the technologies,' they say. 

Couch in an Envelope, 2023

‘Couch in an Envelope’ aimed at reimagining the sofa as a flat-packed, modular, and light furniture piece. Designed in collaboration with Swiss studio Panter&Tourron (founded by Alexis Tourron and Stefano Panterotto) and involving AI in the process, the small sofa concept followed the concerns of modern living, from space-saving to circularity. 

The design's starting point is the sofa's frame: lightweight (only 10 kg), modular and conceived for easy assembly and disassembly, it is made of 100 per cent recyclable materials. The couch comes flat-packed, in packaging allowing a single person to carry it by a handle, but also allowing wider distribution in a seamless, cost-efficient and more sustainable manner. Materials include an aluminium frame, cellulose-based fabrics and yarns, and mycelium foam.

Additionally, the couch's design takes modern living into consideration: its modular compositions can be adjusted to fit with a person's needs around the home, and changed during the day, from a place of rest to a more social spot.

The Ikea leaf table (the unofficial name for the Swedish furniture company's ‘Lövet’ table) was launched in 1956, marking the brand’s first foray into flat-packed furniture. Now reissued as part of ‘Nytillverkad’, the collection celebrating Ikea's 80th anniversary, the table returns in a series of bold colours, including blue, green and orange. 

Ikea leaf table: a flat-packed icon reimagined

When the original 1950s table made its first appearance in the Ikea catalogue, it was described by company founder Ingvar Kamprad as ‘a lovely little thing, in ultra-modern design’. The leaf-shaped design was defined by a jacaranda wood top and brass-covered feet, the wooden top assembled to resemble the veins of a leaf. 

As the legend goes, Ikea team member Gillis Lundgren was tasked with photographing the table as part of a set. When the object did not fit in his car, he sawed off the legs to transport it, and reassembled it on set, kickstarting Ikea's flat-pack revolution (Lundgren went on to design the company's best-selling ‘Billy’ bookcase, once again making Ikea history).

The leaf design was in production until 1962, when it was discontinued until 2013. That year, Ikea product developer Glenn Berndtsson was sifting through the archives (known at Ikea as 'the treasure chest') with Kamprad when he rediscovered the table. 'We knew that a lot of people were interested in these design classics, and felt the time was right to resurrect some of them,' Berndtsson remembers. 

That year, the table was part of a series of reissues (the 'Re-imagined Classics' collection), and its design returned as the ‘Lövbacken’, a name it keeps today. The 2013 design replicated the original with a poplar veneer top (as Jacaranda had since become a protected species) and beech legs with gold-foiled tips. 

Fast-forward to 2023, and the leaf table is once again back in the spotlight, with Ikea reissuing it as part of the celebratory ‘Nytillverkad’ collection in new colours. 

The collection includes cobalt blue, sage green and tangerine orange interpretations of the 1950s classic, in keeping with the anniversary theme of applying bold hues to Ikea's best sellers from the past eight decades. 

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Since its founding in the 1940s, Ikea has made it its mission to create accessible furniture and design that reflect the needs of its time. For this reason, vintage Ikea finds are often an exciting window into the history of contemporary interiors and how we lived over the past eight decades. Ikea recently celebrated its 80th anniversary with the Nytillverkad collection, a new line that revisits some of the most beloved pieces from its archives, but vintage Ikea furniture is still going strong with iconic objects by the likes of Verner Panton and Niels Gammelgaard, rare designs that can be found second-hand on platforms such as 1stDibs.

We scoured the web to find some of the most exciting vintage Ikea finds available to buy now, from furniture to lighting, and including rugs and children’s furniture.

Shop our vintage Ikea picks

Tiger rug by Walter Van Beirendonck

Launched in 2016, the ‘Glödande’ collection by Walter Van Beirendonck featured the Belgian fashion designer's signature bold prints across furniture and accessories. The limited-edition rug features his signature superhero ‘Kwade Tijger’ in bold colours.

Buy now

Sälen Armchair by Knut & Marianne Hagberg 

Available in its original packaging and instructions, this 1982 chair by Knut & Marianne Hagberg was never assembled and is an incredibly rare find (having originally been in production for just 2 years). The Sälen chair is made of Scandinavian pinewood with a red lacquered steel seat and back and white pillow.  

Buy now

‘Guide’ shelving system by Niels Gammelgaard

The ‘Guide’ shelving system by Niels Gammelgaard was designed in the 1980s, and features a powder-coated metal frame with four black shelves with profiles in bold colours, making it a classic of industrial design with a twist.

Buy now

‘Markerad’ daybed by Virgil Abloh

Virgil Abloh's 2019 ‘Markerad’ collection for Ikea featured a limited-edition range of furniture and accessories featuring recurring elements of the designer's work, from fluorescent tags to sentences in quotation marks. A highlight of the collection, this daybed is perhaps the most conservative among the designs, featuring a classic midcentury silhouette with grey textile upholstery and an orange label. 

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‘Storvik’ lounge chair by Carl Öjerstam

Made of a light bamboo frame and a woven rattan seat, the ‘Storvik’ lounge chair by Carl Öjerstam was awarded the Red Dot Award in 2002. The lounge chair's inviting forms are ideal for both indoor and outdoor, and feature a touch of that whimsical approach that has defined Ikea ever since its beginning.

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‘Vilbert’ chairs by Verner Panton

Verner Panton created furniture for Ikea in the 1990s, and the ‘Vilbert’ chairs are among the collaboration's most distinctive designs. The chairs (here available as a set of two) were originally produced by Kellco Switzerland and were distributed by Ikea.

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Rug by Louise Treschow

The output of artist Louise Treschow included tapestries and jewellery, and her brief stint at Ikea resulted in linear furniture and this woven-motif rug. A rarity for Ikea at the time, the hand-tufted rug was produced in a limited edition of only 1,000, this being number 100 in the series.

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‘Peggy’ highchair by Karin Mobring

This vintage Ikea highchair was designed by Karin Mobring in 1959 and became part of the company's catalogue in 1966. Mobring's work was spotted by Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad at Stockholm Furniture Fair, and she became part of the company's in-house team, creating over 100 designs over four decades.

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Peanut wicker bench

This rare wicker bench features a slim frame and a whimsical peanut-shaped seat. Made in the 1980s, the bench combines a refined craft construction with the sense of humour that has always defined the Swedish company's designs

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Skye Chaise Lounge by Tord Björklund

One of Ikea's most prolific and iconic creators, Tord Björklund's pieces would be at home in a James Bond-esque interior. Originally produced in the 1980s, the Skye Chaise Lounge is a postmodern design featurng a steel frame and seat with leather upholstery. 

Buy now

Ikea’s independent design research lab Space10 launches ‘Couch in an Envelope’, a new project that aims at reimagining the sofa as a flat-packed, modular, and light furniture piece. Designed in collaboration with Swiss studio Panter&Tourron (founded by Alexis Tourron and Stefano Panterotto) and involving AI in the process, the new small sofa concept follows the concerns of modern living, from space-saving to circularity. 

Ikea's ‘Couch in an Envelope’: flat-packed, modular, flexible

The design's starting point is the sofa's frame: lightweight (only 10 kg), modular and conceived for easy assembly and disassembly, it is made of 100 per cent recyclable materials. The couch comes flat-packed, in packaging allowing a single person to carry it by a handle, but also allowing wider distribution in a seamless, cost-efficient and more sustainable manner. Materials include an aluminium frame, cellulose based fabrics and yarns, and mycelium foam.

Additionally, the couch's design takes modern living into consideration: its modular compositions can be adjusted to fit with a person's needs around the home, and changed during the day, from a place of rest to a more social spot.

‘This project began as a way to challenge problematic design archetypes,' says Georgina McDonald, Creative & Partnerships, Space10. 'The couch, as we know it today, is a complicated and high-maintenance piece of furniture, to find and to move. However beloved it is, the couch is often a strain on people owing to its weight, on the planet due to its design intricacies, and a burden on the friends who generously help us to move. The project is an agenda for change, inspiring the design community to move further towards a couch that is better for us – and the planet.'

Designing with AI

The new sofa concept was conceived using AI tools to define the design direction. The starting point for ‘Couch in an Envelope’ involved questioning the traditional sofa: 'Bulky, cushioned, heavy: why do so many couches follow the same form?,' wondered the design team. They discovered that on AI tools and platforms, the word 'couch' always generated a typical, ultra-recognisable shape. 

‘Outdated, unsustainable design archetypes embedded in large language models are problematic in algorithms, and negatively impact the future of design,' says Alexis Tourron. 'Presently, AI can only take us so far in design innovation before craft, and the human hand needs to intervene.’

The team then tweaked the prompts to expand the design's scope. New words included ‘platform,’ ‘lightweight,’ ‘sustainable,’ ‘recyclable,’ and ‘easy to move,’ which helped the designers expand the traditional concept into a new idea that considered lightness, flexibility and circularity.

‘Comfort is primarily the main requirement when designing a couch, which can compromise durability and sustainability,' adds Panterotto. 'We wanted to simplify the material composition, prioritise weight, disassembly and circularity. We’ve envisaged something that’s 100 per cent recyclable, without sacrificing softness. “Couch in an Envelope” is a new generation of comfort.’

“Couch in an Envelope” can be discovered at Design in the Age of AI at Space10 Gallery,  open until 30 November 2023

Flæsketorvet 10
1711 Copenhagen
Denmark

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Nytillverkad is Ikea's 80th-anniversary collection: bold, bright, sustainable – and familiar. Those who have lived and grown up with Ikea may recognize some of it, because everything has been made before. It’s a back-catalogue collection in forward-facing materials and fresh new colours. The first drop, of around 20 pieces, was unveiled during Fuorisalone 2023 and is available to buy now, while this latest release will be at Ikea stores globally from October 2023.

80 years of Ikea celebrated with colour and patterns

It makes perfect sense. Ikea launches around 2,500 products a year and is sitting on a treasure trove of great designs. But with so much rich history where to start? For Karin Gustavsson, creative leader of Nytillverkad, it wasn’t easy. ‘We had a big list to choose from,’ she says. ‘The only thing we knew for sure was that, after the pandemic, we wanted colour and pattern, which people like to mix and match.’ 

To this end, flower print cushions come in popping primary colours; pillows and rugs feature bright bold stripes and unlike their predecessors, these textiles are made from recycled cotton and ‘post-consumer’ recycled fibres. ‘People today are very mindful of consumption,’ says Gustavsson. ‘Sustainability is top of everyone’s minds.’

‘Materials, supply chains, production methods and home life have changed since these vintage pieces were first made,’ adds Johan Ejdemo, design manager of Ikea Sweden. ‘In the 1960s, you sat with the baby in your lap, and smoked cigarettes,’ he observes. ‘Thoughts around safety were rather different.’ To this end, tippable sofas and chairs that fall over easily didn’t make the edit, nor did pieces in exotic woods like jacaranda. ‘Some of the items from the past are very complicated to do today.’

Those that reappear have been reworked in modern, eco-friendly ways; take the 1971 ‘Gogo’ easy chair originally made with a carbon steel frame. It now features high-strength steel that emits 50 per cent less CO2 than its predecessor. Across the whole collection, plastic packaging has been replaced by paper where possible and more focus has been placed on flat pack. ‘Dis-assembly is as important as assembly for a nomadic generation always on the move,’ says Ejdemo, because it’s while moving that most breakages occur. Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad created the first flat-pack piece – the ‘Lövet’ coffee table – in 1956, and in homage to the company’s visionary founder, an ash version appears in Nytillverkad, in orange, green and blue.

Going forward, Nytillverkad will not be launched chronologically, and will include whimsical pieces too, ‘like those from the disco period of the 1980s and 1990s’, says Gustavsson.

This back-to-the-future collection is also great news for those who missed the boat first time around. Vintage Ikea pieces now trade for hefty price tags; the €25 ‘Medevi Brunn’ chair (2004) recently sold for €346 (proof, if any were needed, that Ikea pieces can stand the test of time). By its very nature, Nytillverkad will be stuffed with ready-made classics. And who can argue with that?

Nytillverkad, Ikea's 80-anniversary collection, first drop now available with more coming in October 2023

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During Milan Design Week 2023, Ikea announced Annie Leibovitz as the first creative to take part in the Swedish company's new Artist in Residence programme. 

It was also announced that Leibovitz will lead a new mentorship programme offering guidance to five aspiring young photographers aged 18 to 25 (available to enter until Friday 30 June 2023). 

Maybe it’s the filters, the plethora of interiors influencers and the mistrust of the media more generally, but according to Ikea’s 2022 Life at Home report, almost half of us do not feel like our home lives are reflected accurately in the media. And of the 37,000 respondents, 61 per cent say their household budgets will be affected by the cost of living crisis.

‘We've been in this industry for 80 years, so maybe we need someone else to look at what life at home could be for the future,’ says Marcus Engman, chief creative officer at Ingka group (which controls the bulk of Ikea stores). Enter the legendary American photographer as the company’s first artist in residence. 

Annie Leibovitz and Ikea: Artist in Residence programme

Her brief? To photograph the nuances of real life at home. For the rest of 2023, Leibovitz will travel to the UK, Japan, the US, Germany, Italy, India and Sweden – seven of the 37 countries that took part in the Life at Home survey – capturing normal people doing normal things in normal homes. Leibovitz could not be more excited: ‘I have such incredible respect for Ikea; one of one of my houses out in California has nothing but Ikea furniture in it,’ she says at a press conference during Salone del Mobile, where she has just returned from shooting three Italian subjects for the project. ‘Ikea is like a world in itself, and it doesn’t take in how ahead of the game and important it is.’

So, can we expect images of overflowing bins, empty fridges and tatty upholstery? Probably not. Leibovitz is not known for gritty photorealism: her shoots have graced magazine covers from Vogue to Vanity Fair to Rolling Stone; they are big-budget portraits of A-list stars artfully executed with Hollywood levels of production. But, she explains, ‘I learned very early on in my portrait work that you should start with your subject at home because they're going to sit in a chair a certain way. You're going to see who they are at home. On some level, our homes are mirrors to ourselves.’ 

But there’s a big difference between capturing regular folks at the kitchen sink and celebrities. She counters: ‘For the longest time, I really fought the whole idea that there was a difference. A well-known person is still a person, after all. But actually, with someone famous, the biggest difference is that there are already many photographs of that person out there; for example, when I photographed the late Queen of England (in 2007), she was probably the most photographed person in the world.’

What makes this assignment different? ‘Home is now more important than ever,’ she says. ‘Especially since Covid and the hybrid model of working from home.’ But why do people feel like they're not represented in the media, that they’re left out? ‘In the same way that there has been a typical idea in the fashion industry about what size a woman should be, there's been a typical idea of what a home is,’ wagers Leibovitz. ‘But now we've opened up in all sorts of ways, and there’s a difference between a home and feeling at home. And the latter can happen in many different places and maybe that's more important now than an actual home.’

With 50 years’ experience behind her, capturing these societal and psychological shifts in her subjects does not faze her. ‘More challenging is how to narrow the images in the series down.’ Some may be Hockney-style collages; some may not be one, but two, images. Some may appear in a book. Exactly how, when and where they will be shown is top secret. And all will be revealed at the end of the year.

Aspiring photographers aged 18 - 25 are invited to enter the mentorship programme via lifeathome.ikea.com until Friday 30 June 2023

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Olafur Eliasson’s Little Sun has partnered with Ikea to create two lighting designs, part of a limited-edition collection that aims at raising awareness of alternative energy solutions. The solar-powered lamps are part of the Sammanländ collection, imagined to encourage users to experience solar energy within their home. 

The collection was conceived as part of Little Sun’s mission. Founded by Eliasson with engineer Frederik Ottesen, Little Sun’s mission is to give access to solar energy to communities without regular electricity, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa. 'If, however, we are to transition to a world powered by renewable energy in the next decade and create a more sustainable world for future generations, we will need everyone everywhere to recognise the importance of solar energy,' says Eliasson. 'When Ikea reached out to me with the idea of developing a project centred on solar power, I recognised this as an opportunity to spread awareness to a broader audience.'

 Ikea and Olafur Eliasson: Sammanländ 

'Collaborating with a company that shares many of our central beliefs has been incredibly encouraging – even more so, since IKEA can reach those who may not already know much about the potential of solar power and the vast disparities in energy access around the world,' adds Eliasson.

The collaboration comprises two LED lighting designs, both portable and solar-powered: a table lamp, and a smaller, portable lamp, whose concept originated from Eliasson's original Little Sun lamp. 

The design of the table lamp is informed by the Earth’s orbit around the sun, and is characterised by a half-sphere concealing the light source, placed on a round mirror and surrounded by two metal circles. The multifunctional object can also become a pendant lamp thanks to the adjustable metal frame, and the light source can be removed and used as a torch.

The second, smaller portable lamp is imagined for use in outdoor settings, and is equipped with a yellow strap to hold it, or hang it to recharge in the sunlight. Each lamp is also equipped with USB-A and USB-C ports, for when solar charging is not possible. When fully charged, the lamps' batteries can also support charging a mobile phone. 

‘With this collaboration, we wanted to spark a conversation around solar energy and put the power of the sun in the hands of the many people,’ says James Futcher, creative leader at Ikea. ‘Our shared belief is that the possibilities of thoughtful design lie in its ability to create awareness and make a difference.’

'My hope is that more design will simply be solar without being necessarily 'solar design', that is, the solar aspect will be taken for granted as normal,' adds Eliasson. 'This is because solar energy must be available to all. The power of the sun is abundant, inexpensive. It helps individuals and families own their access to power at the source, which makes them more self-sufficient, independent, and resilient.

'If we are to transition to a world powered by renewable energy in the next decade, we need everyone to recognise the opportunity of solar energy: sunlight is seemingly invisible, but solar energy allows us to make the invisible visible.'

LED solar-powered table lamp, £80, and LED solar-powered portable lamp £11, available from Ikea stores in April 2023.

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Ikea and Marimekko present the Bastua collection of furniture, glassware, and textiles, inspired by Nordic wellness and self-care available from 1 March 2023. The limited-edition collection features 26 products and also marks the first time that Marimekko has designed a set of prints exclusively for a collaboration with another brand.

Bastua collection by Ikea and Marimekko

The Bastua collection by Ikea and Marimekko is deeply rooted in the two brands' Nordic origins and inspired by Finnish sauna culture and its many wellbeing benefits. The collection's objects draw from Ikea's furniture and product expertise and are enriched with Marimekko's iconic take on prints, with a recurring motif of the Bastua collection being the decorative rhubarb leaves that are often found near sauna huts across Finland.

The name itself, Bastua, is a word used to describe sauna in the southern Swedish region of Småland, where Ikea was founded. 

'Capturing the essence of Marimekko’s Finnish roots and its connection to the historic origins of sauna culture was a fundamental part of the design journey and the creation of the Bastua prints,’ says Rebekka Bay, creative director at Marimekko, who worked on the collection. 'Marimekko is committed to bringing joy to the everyday lives of people with its bold prints and designs, and we are excited to see this come true in collaboration with Ikea.'

Among the collection's highlights are traditional sauna designs such as colourful robes, towels and Ikea's first-ever sauna bucket, while other objects are imagined to be used before or after the ritual and reference traditional Nordic design. These include modular cushioned seats, a side table with matching trays and glassware, and a bench, as well as scented candles in elderflower, rhubarb and sweet vanilla.

'Nordic furniture design has always been characterised by clean lines and simple constructions that focus on function,' adds Mikael Axelsson, designer at Ikea, nodding to the birch veneer side table as his personal take on the Nordic aesthetic heritage. 

'Collaborating with Marimekko was a natural choice for Ikea, as we are both committed to enabling a better everyday life at home, and with the Bastua collection, it begins with focusing on wellness first,' says Henrik Most, creative leader at Ikea. 'The collaboration encapsulates the sensations of endless summers and the simple and aesthetic beauty of Nordic nature in furniture and accessories for the home.'

The Bastua collection by Ikea and Marimekko is available instore and online from 1 March 2023

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Ikea and Sabine Marcelis' much-anticipated 'Varmblixt' collection is now available online. Originally previewed during Milan Design Week 2022, the collection is fronted by two LED lights with a broader collection of home accessories and glassware now added to the lineup. 

Sabine Marcelis' 'Varmblixt' collection for Ikea is formed of 19 pieces, comprising a series of limited-edition pieces as well as 4 LED lighting designs that will remain part of Ikea's collection long-term. These include a donut shaped table/wall lamp made of orange glass; a pendant lamp; a circular wall lamp and a wall lamp that doubles as a mirror.

'I wanted to take an unexpected approach to exploring the idea of how lighting functions within the home and to inspire people to consider new shapes and elements which blend into and highlight different types of interior spaces in new, bold, and artistic ways,' says Marcelis upon launching the Ikea collection. 

Sabine Marcelis Ikea collection: from lighting to glassware

As well as the lighting, the 'Varmblixt' collection includes glassware such as a vase, champagne coupes and 35ml glasses, glass drink stirrers and carafes, donut-shaped glass bowls with lids in green and amber, paper napkins and low pile rugs in orange gradient inspired by sunsets, glass shelves and trays as well as coffee tables that mimic the designer's popular Candy Cubes.

‘When I select designers [I ask them], “What do you have on your mind? What is your vision? What do you want to change in this world?”’ explains Henrik Most, creative leader at Ikea. ‘For me, it's about finding the original signature a designer has, and what it is that separates this person from others. [But] the question is: “How do you define originality?” As an aesthetic person, I hope I have a feeling for when somebody has an originality that stands out. With Sabine, I recognised it from the beginning.’ 

For the collection, Marcelis sought to create a piece focused on art and emotion and that had life far beyond functionality. ‘[Light] is a very powerful tool to design with, because you can drastically change how you experience a space just by the temperature of the light, or the way it highlights different parts of the architecture it’s placed in,’ she says. 

According to Most, the ‘open-minded’ conversation, which began virtually during the pandemic, led to a ‘bunch of ideas’; wide-ranging in concept and geometry. ‘It was a very tempting menu that she presented,’ says Most. ‘It was super hard to choose. So we went through all the concepts, and the functions and tried to narrow it down to sync to kind of a curational thread where light, material and colour were the focus.’ 

The standout piece of the ‘Varmblixt’ collection – and one that garnered much attention when the collection was first previewed – is a circular wall lamp, the top of which appears to ‘bounce’ off the wall creating a dramatic glow behind. The minimal lamps, previewed in linear and circular versions, can either be configured in multiples or as single wall pieces. When turned off, they can function as sculptures in their own right. ‘The concept was to take a singular line, and to gently pull it off the surface it would be mounted on. And that gap would allow for a void of light to flood on the surface’, says Marcelis. ‘Maximum impact with minimal materials.’ 

ikea.com

This slender Symfonisk floor lamp speaker is the newest product from the ongoing collaboration between Ikea and Sonos. Hot on the heels of other products in the Symfonisk range (see our pick of home tech innovations), Ikea has blended its interiors expertise with Sonos’ unrivalled knowledge of dispersing crystal-clear sound.

The partnership began back in 2019, since when there has been a major refocus on the domestic interior – for obvious reasons – and the art of ‘furnishing with sound’ has also made a major comeback.

The new Symfonisk floor lamp speaker is a winning combination of Sonos sound quality and Ikea’s ability to make functional furniture at an affordable price point. ‘We know that many people want to have several light sources on different levels and [in different] parts of the room to create the right mood,’ Stjepan Begic, range design leader at Ikea, explains. ‘The challenge of not having enough room for a table to put the lamp on led us to create the floor lamp.’

The newest addition to the range continues the admirably simple approach. An elegant tripod base elevates the speaker, with a bamboo-weave lightshade throwing a subtle, diffused light. Additional shades are available for different room schemes and tastes. The new speaker can also be paired with other Ikea speakers to create a stereo pair or more advanced home theatre set-up.

‘The Symfonisk floor lamp speaker is a great example of how our collaboration continues to challenge the traditional idea of sound in the home,' says Sara Lincoln, principal product manager at Sonos, who points out that it’ll also connect up to all the speakers in the Sonos range, from big to small. Ikea’s own smart hub, Dirigera, can also be used to create automated scenes and moments around the home. 

Symfonisk floor lamp speaker, available January 2023, ikea.com

Vintage Ikea seller Billy for Sale has announced a two-day London pop-up, marking its first in-person event. Dubbed Casa Billy, the event is set to take place over the spaces of Clerkenwell’s Dinner Party Gallery for the weekend of 12 and 13 November 2022.

Casa Billy: a vintage Ikea pop-up in London

Casa Billy will feature the vintage Ikea dealer’s latest acquisitions, pieces from the Swedish company’s archives that include the 1973 ‘Tajt’ denim easy chair by Gillis Lundgren, Walter Papst’s fibreglass ‘Munken’ stacking chairs from the 1970s, and the ‘Anima’ steel and leather dining chairs, a 1991 design by Törd Bjorklund. The sale will also include smaller accessories, with objects such as vases, tableware and candlesticks starting from £15.

As part of the pop-up, more than 100 designs from Ikea’s past (including furniture, lighting and objects) are shown in a revolving installation and accompanied by a photographic exhibition by Dexter Lander. Lander was commissioned by Billy for Sale to create a series of images that explore their collection of anthropomorphic vintage Ikea objects.

Billy for Sale started in November 2020, from an idea by artist Harry Stayt, who had up until that time been an avid collector of 1980s and 1990s Ikea designs. Named after what are possibly the most popular Ikea shelves, the ‘Billy’ bookcase, Stayt’s collection spanned five decades of furniture, catalogues and accessories.

Through his platform, Stayt has brought to the spotlight a less-known element of Ikea’s identity: many of the Billy for Sale items are colourful, postmodern and playful, something that is reflected in the London pop-up.

Casa Billy is open on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 November, 12-6pm

Dinner Party Gallery, 70 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1M 5QA

billy.forsale
@BILLY.forsale

‘Obegränsad’ is an Ikea furniture collection with a difference. Created in collaboration with Swedish House Mafia, the electronic music collective consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso, it’s a series of furniture aimed at home studio owners, be they designers or musicians. 

Obegränsad is Swedish for ‘unlimited’, and the collaboration taps into the country’s long cultural association with Ikea.

The Swedish House Mafia team highlight the role the furniture maker has played in the democratisation of good design throughout their lives. ‘We used to find a creative way to make Ikea furniture accommodate our teenage lives as creatives, so the collaboration’s purpose was formed around our own personal journey in life,' they say.

The collection comprises 20 different products, ranging from the ‘Obegränsad’ record player (Ikea’s first turntable since the 1970s), a USB-powered minimal black rectangle with an intersection circular platter, to a series of three LED lamps, and a clock. 

There is also a set of all-important stands, capable of holding laptops, tablets, and speakers, as well as places to stack records for easy access.

There’s a home office desk, a chair, two different kinds of shelving units – derived from Ikea’s best-selling ‘Kallax‘ with an added spot for amplifiers – and a bunch of matching accessories. These run to rugs, bags, and even cushion covers, for ultimate Ikea catalogue-aping.

‘Hopefully, our collection inspires and enables more people to be more creative within their home, and it does not have to be restricted to only music making. It can be so much more,’ says Swedish House Mafia.

The slick black aesthetic is far removed from Ikea’s more familiar wood veneer, and the fact the collection embraces everything from throws to turntables, clocks, and lights, illustrates Ikea’s mighty, all-encompassing range.

INFORMATION

Ikea.com

The new Ikea air purifier, Starkvind, is an indicator of which way the Swedish giant sees the wind blowing. Over the past few years, the company has dipped its toes into electronics and appliances, and Starkvind is its first foray into what’s now known as ‘Smart Air’.

We’ve seen a plethora of new air purifiers designed to direct and monitor the air quality in homes and small offices, so Ikea’s design team are bang on the mark. What’s interesting about this circular device is its multifunctional approach. 

You can get Starkvind in two different versions, a standalone disc that evokes the sculptural speakers of Bang & Olufsen, albeit using far more pragmatic materials and finishes, or integrated into a circular side table.

It can also be incorporated into Ikea’s burgeoning smart home ecosystem, which currently includes motorised blinds, bulbs, and loudspeakers. Both models are available in black or white, with matching dark and light wood legs on the side table. 

Home air purifiers don’t exactly tackle the source of the problem, but they make our living spaces much more agreeable. The twin filters within Ikea’s system captures both large and small particles, from dust to pollen. There’s the option of adding another carbon gas filter to strip away even more unwanted molecules, including cooking smells and the myriad volatile organic compounds that permeate the modern home. The fan has five speeds and can be switched into auto mode, which’ll set the fan speed according to the current pollution levels.

Like all of Ikea’s best ideas, Starkvind is a straightforward way of enhancing the quality of your space.

INFORMATION

STARKVIND by IKEA, standalone £129, side table model £165

IKEA.com

Ikea launches its latest Art Event Collection, presenting a range of domestic objects that blur the boundaries between art and design. The collection features new work by Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis, multidisciplinary creative Daniel Arsham, as well as artists Gelthop, Humans Since 1982 and Stefan Marx.

‘Art places an important part in our everyday lives; it triggers emotions, sparks conversations. Having this imaginative space and time in our lives enriches us as human beings,’ says Ikea’s creative leader Henrik Most. ‘This collection explores the sweet spot between art and design.’ Designs feature five everyday objects reimagined by the artists, who tapped into their own creative experiences, artistic backgrounds and Ikea’s own vernacular. 

Ikea's Art Event Collection: everyday objects reimagined with an artist's eye

The collection comprises ten objects including lighting by Sabine Marcelis, a wall clock by Daniel Arsham, a table lamp and a torch by Japanese collective Gelchop, a vase and a throw by Stefan Marx and a wall box by Humans since 1982. Every piece in the collection has a formal simplicity at its foundation, and it is enriched with the artists’ own sensibility.

Wallpaper* Design Awards judge Sabine Marcelis' pair of wall sconces is based on the interaction between light and colour, with a warm chromatic glow elevating the experience of the piece. Humans Since 1982 recreated a classic insect box, but substituted the traditional butterflies with miniature drones. ‘The iconic shapes of drones fascinate us,’ explain the artists. ‘Drones trigger many feelings, conversations and discussions that can connect people.’

Daniel Arsham drew on his Falling Clock, a 2011 art piece featuring a standard-looking wall clock disappearing into the wall and referencing the artist's own preoccupation with the theme of time. For Ikea, he revisited the design with the clock becoming wrapped into the seemingly moving rigid textile. ‘I think the position of the artist should be neutral, so i see the works as provocative to a viewer who can make their own assumption about it,’ he says. German visual artist Stefan Marx contributed a blanket and a vase to the collection, emblazoned with his signature scribbled motifs spelling out the messages “I’m so so so sorrryyyy” and “I wait here for your forever as long as it takes”. 

And finally, Japanese collective Gelchop found inspiration in Ikea itself, recreating the familiar shapes of the company’s Allen key wrench (necessary to self-build any Ikea furniture) into a lamp and torch pair. ‘Our inspiration comes from everyday ‘aha moments’,’ say the artists. ‘A small, insignificant tool is blown up into a larger item that acquires new meaning.’

The objects will be available to test virtually via a new AR effect available through Ikea’s Instagram, for users to try them in their own home ahead of the April launch.

‘Ikea is a home furnishing company, and we normally put functionality at the forefront of our collections,’ continues Most. ‘Here, experience becomes the primary function. Everyday life is also about creativity, using our imagination to spark our fantasy to become more in tune with ourselves. We have been democratizing design for a long time, and we believe art should be affordable and accessible for people around the world. Art belongs in the home.’

INFORMATION

IKEA Art Event 2021 will be available globally at IKEA stores and online from April 2021

ikea.com

The Ideal City is a new architecture book from Space10, the Swedish furniture giant Ikea’s own R&D lab, based in Copenhagen. A compilation of best practice from around the world – 53 cities in 30 countries – the thrust of the book is to capture urban projects that are striving to make a difference, gently but inexorably steering towards the impossible goal of ‘utopia’. As a result, there’s a welcome thread of positivity running through the pages, perhaps unsurprising when you consider how much of a positive spin Ikea has managed to place on the prosaic art of furniture making.

The project run from public toilets to new parks, urban farms, food provision, even prisons and wholescale city district regeneration. Divided into five focal areas – The Resourceful City, The Accessible City, The Shared City, The Safe City and The Desirable City – the book includes projects and proposals from featured architects such as SelgasCano, Naruse Inokuma Architects, Gustafson Porter + Bowman, and Urban-Think Tank, along with a host of thinkers and theorists.

The topics cover all the key talking points of our age, from closed-loop energy systems to more walkable, accessible and diverse urban spaces. As architect Bjarke Ingels describes it, true utopia might be impossible, but that doesn’t stop designers from ensuring that each time they design a ‘little fragment of the world [you have to make it] more like the way you wish the world to be’.

Many of the featured projects follow the now-familiar format of a focal point designed to act as an exemplar and generator of socially progressive ideas, whether it’s a place of worship, a community market, a bike park or public seating.

The book goes further by talking to planners and entrepreneurs, highlighting the uneasy relationship between public and private that makes progress so unpredictable. You’ll come away from these pages realising that although design leadership is never in question, what’s needed most is political will. Without economic and legislative building blocks, a new social contract will struggle to take shape. 

INFORMATION

The Ideal City, SPACE10 & gestalten, €35.

space10.com

gestalten.com

Often associated with fast furniture, IKEA archives and vintage IKEA furniture designs can be overlooked. Artist Harry Stayt has been collecting underappreciated IKEA styles from the 80s and 90s; the postmodern furniture collections that marked the launch of the Swedish brand in the UK.  

Vintage IKEA for sale

Stayt spent years collecting IKEA archive furniture, gathering over 100 discontinued IKEA products which he initially sold through the platform Billy.Forsale in November 2020. Named after what are possibly the most popular IKEA shelves, the ‘Billy’ bookcase, the collection spanned 5 decades of furniture, catalogues and accessories.

Relaunching on 7 June 2020 at 6PM, Billy.Forsale offers 50 newly-added pieces of furniture from IKEA archives, including iconic items such as Verner Panton’s ‘Vilbert’ chair and ‘ULK’ Mirror, Gilis Lundgren’s ‘Impala’ lounge chairs and Tord Bjorklund’s ‘Skye’ chaise. Prices start at £65 for smaller items, and following this sale, the platform will become a regular operation, with frequent IKEA vintage furniture stock updates and a plan to produce in-house designs in the future. 

Tracing the history of IKEA

The collection has been in development since Stayt’s university days at Camberwell College of Arts, London, where he studied the sculptural possibilities of modular and flat pack furniture. Ongoing research (and a long held interest in the ‘wonderful everyday’), took the artist to Älmhult, Sweden – birth town of IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad and home of the IKEA Museum – where 40 rare IKEA catalogues were discovered, dating back to 1970. They have since proven to be a useful tool for finding desired items for the BILLY collection and tracing their provenance.

Many of these forgotten pieces feature IKEA’s most playful designs, which were perhaps once too radical for a mass audience, but now they speak to those seeking a nostalgic, upbeat aesthetic. The modern availability of these long since decommissioned designs emphasises their durability, and offers a new way to appreciate the Swedish furniture giant, so often hobnobbed with thoughts of throwaway culture. 

INFORMATION

www.BILLY.forsale
@billy.forsale

Singapore based designers Lanzavecchia + Wai and Lekker Architects have joined forces to create Hack Care, a project that builds on design’s potential to heal and improve lives. Unveiled in September during World Alzheimer’s Month, Hack Care serves both as a reminder of the struggles of people living with Dementia, as well as a practical tool to empower those affected by the condition and their families.

The project was initiated by the Lien Foundation, a Singaporean philanthropic organization whose mission is to offer a radical approach to common social issues. ‘We view innovation as a permanent state of exploration, and embed design into our work in early childhood development, eldercare and end-of-life issues, as a key driver of value creation,’ reads their mission statement. The foundation put together a team offering professional and personal caregiving insights, to inform the project, which combined design thinking and scientific research with the aim of providing a person-centred care plan.

‘Living with dementia is daunting, and our everyday home environments do not always anticipate or meet the unique needs of people battling cognitive and physical frailty,’ said Lee Poh Wah, CEO of the Lien Foundation. ‘These challenges can be mitigated with good design that is functional, inspirational and accessible, and shaped by the shared experiences of caregivers who have been on a similar journey.’

Hack Care is an independent project not officially linked with IKEA, but the Swedish giant’s approach and visual language offered a practical and familiar concept for the team to build on. The project is based on the popular Ikea Hacks concept, a global movement of people repurposing the company’s furniture with customised designs.

The 240-page book is styled like a classic IKEA catalogue depicting traditional domestic interiors, featuring over 50 simple tricks to make furniture more comfortable or approachable for patients living at home with dementia, and for their carers. It is broken down into ‘micro-worlds': domestic spaces dedicated to rituals and daily habits, from meals to personal care. ‘Daily rituals like bathing and dressing can become opportunities to shape the living environment to improve the wellbeing of the person with dementia,’ reads an introduction to the project. 

Lekker Architects’ Director, Ong Ker-Shing (a long-term collaboration of the Foundation) drew from her personal experiences to work on the project, having witnessed her father’s fight with dementia for over a decade. ‘At home, we observed how my father was incredibly responsive to changes in his environment, and more importantly, that the manipulation of this environment was really in the hands of us, his family, and not so much in the hands of architects and designers,’ she said. She noticed that the experience of hacking living spaces was common for caregivers, and her work on the book features both practical insights, provocations and tips for ‘non designers to think like designers’.

Singaporean-Italian duo Francesca Lanzavecchia and Hunn Wai had already explored the topic in 2012, with a collection titled No Country for Old Men that included ‘walking aids for living' (wheeled walking canes that doubled as coffee tables), a magnifying lamp (which was shortlisted for a Wallpaper* Design Award) and a chair that tilted to help its user get up. The research and design insight from that project informed this new endeavour. Hack Care's practical solutions include creating a carer’s corner within the home for administrative documents and medication, or limit wardrobe contents with pre-arranged hangers to let people dress independently. The book also suggests small changes to furniture that can make it more comfortable and practical, or how the use of colour and plants in a space can help navigating an environment and feel more at ease. 

‘Design holds great promise to solve the most pressing challenges of our time,’ continues Lee Poh Wah. ‘We hope to engender a new breed of designers as catalysts for change in our ecosystem of partners and projects.’

INFORMATION

hackcare.org

The near future is a beloved stomping ground of designers, a place for wild and crazy concepts that retain just a foothold in reality. The IKEA-funded future living lab, Space10, spends its time exploring this realm, examining how home, work and transport will evolve, throwing new ideas into the air and seeing which way up they’ll land. Briefed by the world’s largest furniture retailer to envisage scenarios for tomorrow, Space10 has come up with concepts that put digital fabrication, locally sourced food and shared living into the mix, imagining how they might play out in the real world through a combination of prototype design, research papers and living labs.

Spaces on Wheels tackles a critical issue: urban transport. More specifically, how self-driving cars might change our surroundings. Starting with the very reasonable premise that ‘the day fully autonomous vehicles hit our streets is the day cars are not cars anymore,’ Space10 and f°am Studio have created seven different rolling frameworks to represent the wealth of options promised by this new technology. These consist of Flexible Workspace (a roaming shared space that is effectively an office on wheels); Coffee on the Go (a boutique rolling roastery); Healthcare (drug dispensary); Farm (a mobile farmers’ market); Play (a pod for augmented reality experiences); Hotel (a sleep station) and of course a shop, the ultimate in instant pop-up, shown here in IKEA mode.

These ‘Spaces' are showcased in a new app, one which combines the interface and ease of use of Uber with augmented reality to give users a flavour of what such a paradigm shift in environment would be like. Dial up the app, developed with digital design studio Norgram and developers Shape, summon the Space on Wheels you require, give it a spot to park in the virtual realm and watch on your device as a fully rendered 3D model trundles down the road and installs itself before you. Space10 admit this is a conversation starter – ‘playful research’ – rather than a truly practical solution for the city of tomorrow. Instead, the app is a taster for the imagination – what if a coffee bar could double up as your cab ride to your next meeting? Could a doctor’s appointment take place on the way to work? Imagine buying gifts en route to a party, or having fresh produce delivered to your door straight from the fields, or even explore virtual worlds on your way home.

Most importantly, it brings another edge to mobility design, eschewing what Space10’s creative strategist Bas Van De Poel decribes as the ‘sleek, sterile, chrome painted machines straight out of science fiction’ that dominate popular thinking about future cars. ‘We generally need cities that prioritise pedestrians, bikes and public transportation much higher,’ he explains. These bubbly, friendly machines conjured up by the studio prioritise space over streamlining and combine fun with function, resembling miniature pieces of mobile post-modern architecture. Car culture will never be the same again.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the SPACE10 website

Tom Dixon has been at the forefront of furniture and interior design for the past three decades. The famously self-taught designer led the creative team at British furniture retailer Habitat before creating his eponymous brand in 2002, which is now featured in showrooms from Reykjavik to Tehran.

Despite being in the throes of preparations for his new HQ at London’s Kings Cross (which you’ll be able to read about in the April 2018 issue of Wallpaper*), Dixon flew to Singapore to tell the Brainstorm Design conference about his unusual start in the design industry and what’s next for his growing empire – doing so while seated on the Delaktig, an open-source, modular seating system he released with Ikea last month.

Addressing his lack of formal design training, Dixon acknowledged that ‘too many people who go to art school don’t encounter commerce early on; it’s very theoretical. But I always had to sell my work on the streets.’

The same entrepreneurial streak motivated him to start his own label. ‘I didn’t want to be in service to a bigger company,’ he said. ‘In fashion design, people tend to have companies under their own names, so they have a degree of control over the way things are made, shown, communicated, and are in direct contact of the customer. I wanted to mimic them.’

The Ikea collaboration came from a similar desire to change the way the furniture industry did things. ‘Instead of perfecting an object, I sent the Delaktig into the world for other people to hack. The shape of the base frame – with an aluminium band around it – is reminiscent of the iPhone 4. Like the iPhone, people can add things on top, turning it into a sofa, adding lamps. I worked with 75 much faster, younger, fresher minds than my own, who added 75 ideas for it.’

Recalls Dixon: ‘I realised that [these young people] seem quite terrified of the modern world. The Japanese raised the bed so they could hide underneath during earthquakes, the Indonesians added inflatable elements so they could float in tsunamis, the Chinese added tents to shield from radiation.’

Lately, he has been taking his furniture to a new environment – specifically the waters of the Bahamas, where he has a sub-aquatic ‘furniture farm.’ Four years ago he submerged ten chairs and two tables so that they would grow a skin of coral (‘natural concrete’) on their surfaces.

‘It’s a furniture project,’ Dixon said, ‘but it also contributes to coral regeneration, and some day I’d like to do this on a more ambitious scale, so that people can pick chairs like fruits in the forest.’

The Brainstorm Design conference is jointly organised by Fortune, TIME and Wallpaper*, bringing together more than 300 top speakers and delegates from 33 countries. See more here

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Brainstorm design website

ADDRESS

Mandarin Oriental Singapore
5 Raffles Avenue
039797
Marina Square
Singapore

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It seems Dubai has lofty ambitions when it comes to trying to establish itself as a creative hub on the international design trail. Having launched its own design week a few years ago, the third edition took place last month and attracted 60,000 visitors, 50 per cent up on last year. The six-day event, anchored around the vast 15.5 million sq ft D3 design district – the second of three building phases currently underway, led by Foster & Partners – offered up a host of exhibitions, installations, a programme of over 100 talks, which included a keynote discussion with Sir David Adjaye, a tradeshow and an international graduate event.

Exhibitions that unearthed new regional talent were a highlight. At ‘ABWAB’ (which means ‘door’ in Arabic), a showcase curated by the festival’s head of programming, Rawan Kashkoush, served up the work of 47 designers from 15 countries, who are creating contemporary design mostly made employing traditional techniques or materials rooted in the region. The event was held within a freestanding, temporary pavilion made from discarded mattress springs by Dubai-based Fahed & Architects. Also of note, ‘Middle East Design Now!’ a new nomadic collection, founded and curated by Wallpaper* editor-at-large, Suzanne Trocmé. Having held its debut at this year’s London Design Festival, this extended show examined the work of 12 emerging designers from six countries including Kuwait, Jordan, Tunisia, UAE, Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco.

High profile international brands were in attendance too. Czech-based glass specialist Lasvit collaborated with local designer Khalid Shafer on Silent Call, a light sculpture inspired by the domed roofs of five well-known mosques, each of which lights up in sequence according to Islamic prayer times within different time zones. The fine white lights represent people making their way to or from each mosque. Swarovski, which has had a showroom in the district for some time, was celebrating its 10 year relationship with London-based design duo Fredrikson Stallard by presenting Prologue, a circular sculpture, four metres in diameter, featuring over 8,000 amber crystal droplets attached to a steel frame.

The tradeshow, Downtown Design, held by the D3 waterfront, was also the largest edition yet with 150 exhibitors (including brands such as Baccarat, CC Tapis and Lladro) on offer.

The Global Grad Show was another high point of the week. Curated by Brendan McGetrick, this year’s focus was on sustainability and empowerment and showed some 200 forward looking prototype projects from graduate designers from 92 universities from 43 countries. One example – and winners of the inaugural Progress Prize – was the Polish design duo, MIKO+ who designed a collection of jewellery that acts as a brace for those with wrist injuries or carpal tunnel syndrome.

The newly installed head of design at Art Dubai Group, William Knight, a former director of London’s 100% Design and the deputy director of the London Design Festival, sums up. ‘It was an outstanding week, which made a positive impact on everyone that visited events and the city itself. The event demonstrated the creativity and commitment of Dubai’s creative community and its supporters.’ 

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Dubai Design Week website

Swedish furniture behemoth IKEA is set to edge its way further into the design world with a micro-festival opening during Salone del Mobile in Milan in early April.

Having upped the ante via collaborations with the likes of Ilse Crawford (which won a Wallpaper* Design Award last year), Form Us With Love, Tom Dixon and Hay, the company is now set to take on the most important event of the design calendar with a dedicated multidisciplinary event.

The staging, titled ‘Let’s Make Room for Life’, was inspired by the brand’s fascination with home-life and living spaces. ‘For many people, the living room is the most important room in the home. It's a room that is both public and personal where you can show who you are and who you want to be,' says IKEA design manager Marcus Engman, who is curating the showcase. ‘But the functions and furniture people need in the living room is rapidly changing. As a curious company, it’s our job to accept the challenge of these new needs and redefine the living room.’

Housed in a warehouse in Milan’s Lambrate district, the show will transform the venue into an emporium of design, architecture, lifestyle, sustainability and food (what IKEA describes as the ‘future living room’).

As well as a host of workshops, installations, interviews, music and live prototyping, the brand will also be debuting six new collections including Tom Dixon’s ‘Delaktig’ daybed and furniture by Hay. IKEA will also be popping up at Dixon’s own show at Teatro Manzoni with a film festival, sharing the ideas behind the ‘Delaktig’ project.

INFORMATION

The festival will run from  4–9 April at Salone del Mobile in Milan. For more information, visit the IKEA website

Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA is known for its simple, affordable furniture that populates dorm rooms and studio apartments across the country. Now, the furniture chain is getting into the sustainable farming industry, one restaurant kitchen at a time.

The company—which has put further emphasis on becoming more environmentally sustainable—recently introduced ‘The Farm,’ a hydroponic garden that would allow them to grow the food served at their stores directly inside the IKEA restaurants. The in-store cafes—known for their Swedish meatballs, cinnamon rolls and lingonberry everything—are just one small slice of the company's $2 billion-a-year (£1.36) business. However, IKEA is hoping to use The Farm as a model for restaurants everywhere to take a more holistic, home-grown approach to the food supply chain.

The brand partnered with Space 10, a ‘future-living lab’ and exhibition space in Copenhagen, to develop and unveil the project. According to PSFK, one Space 10 employee compared the state of the environment to a sick human body, saying that the earth needs to time to rest and get healthier in order to recover from its current issues. IKEA is no doubt hoping this DIY farming concept will provide some of that rest for the planet by moving gardens indoors and taking a little stress off the land. The Farm utilizes a variety of IKEA products in its design; The LED lights that power the hydroponic garden are from the store's Rydda/Vaxer line, and IKEA-brand shelves and plastic bins are used to house the plant life. All said, 80 percent of the supplies used in The Farm's initial model came from the company.

For now, the company's design will be utilised only within its own restaurants, but soon chefs, restaurateurs and home cooks across the world could be creating their own on-site sustainable gardens. A sustainably sourced food future could be just an IKEA trip away.

This article originally appeared on Food & Wine