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Ikea can't stop collaborating, but we're not complaining. Our editors share their fave up-and-coming collections.
Ikea recently held its annual Democratic Design Days, a two-day event in Älmhult, Sweden, that’s basically the the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference of the furniture world, where new products, collections and other soon-to-be-released innovations from the Swedish home-and-decor behemoth are revealed to the public.
From plant-based Swedish protein balls to the development of robotic furniture designed for small-space living, more than 15 new initiatives were announced at this year’s function—many of them collabs with seemingly non-home-related names like Adidas, Lego and Saint Heron. Below, WL editors pick their fave and most highly anticipated drops from the brand.
Checks over stripes? Erm, sorry, Drake, but not for Ikea, who’s teaming up with German athletic label Adidas to create Rörlighet, a collection that promises to make at-home workouts not only easier, but actually kind of fun?? Ikea first teased this collab last year, calling the result a wellness-focused line that aims to “make sport accessible to everyone” and this most recent update reveals that designers from both Ikea and Adidas have spent time in abodes around the world to determine what challenges people face when it comes to exercising at home.
The products—set to debut in 2021—are meant to “make the home a more active place” in a manner so fun kids won’t even be able to resist getting onboard. Could the collection include a resealable Frakta bag that you can load up with sand for strength-training exercises? Resistance bands that double as moving straps? (Great for getting your already assembled Ikea furni out the door!) Whatever it involves, it’s bound to be branded with Adidas’s signature three stripes in a blue-and-yellow scheme, right? It only makes sense!—Lucy Lau, style editor
Not just anyone could pull off Dame Zandra Rhodes’s neon pink bob, but luckily, you don’t have to be a 78-year-old British iconoclast to rock her collection of globally inspired prints coming to Ikea’s textile collection next year. It’s the perfect full circle given that Rhodes started her career studying printed textile design at London’s Royal College of Art, and the perfect opportunity to test out Rhodes’s DGAS attitude in the comfort of your living room.—Stacey McLachlan, executive editor
Tom Dixon’s punk-rock roots mean he’s always a little revolutionary with whatever new project he’s taking on—his past project with Ikea included a sofa that the buyer could “hack” right from the start. This time, he’ll be working with the team to develop products that facilitate urban farming, encouraging people to grow vegetables both inside and outside the home. “Every day brings miserable headlines about the destruction of our natural world,” says Dixon. “I think many people feel they want to contribute to change and one thing that we all can do is nurture the world by growing. Without plants we are nothing.”—Anicka Quin, editorial director
Ikea also teased this collab with Solange Knowles’s multi-disciplinary creative agency, Saint Heron, at last year’s Democratic Design Days, though the company was tight-lipped on the details, only revealing that the collection would include “architectural and design objects with multifunctional use.” The furni giant now adds that Gåtfull—which takes its name from the Swedish word for “enigmatic” and will drop in 2021—will explore “time, space, light and matter” and result in a selection of design objects that, essentially, look as good as they work. We’d expect nothing less from the woman who can pull off a literal pink garbage bag and a jacket so big and plump it could pass as a comforter.—L.L.
It’s always nice to see Ikea doing its part for sustainability, given its reputation for being fairly disposable (no one’s planning on passing their Lack side table down to the grandkids, let’s get real). In collaboration with World Surf League, the brand is attempting to tackle ocean pollution with plans for both a an awareness campaign, and a jointly designed line of surf-centric products that utilize reclaimed ocean-bound plastic. Score one for the turtles.—S.M.
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