30 Years of Asking the Most Esteemed Design Fair: Can't Great Design Be for Everyone?
One of the biggest problems with IKEA’s STOCKHOLM collection is that it can’t make enough of it. One solid pine cabinet with a see-through, Japanese-inspired ratan outer, for instance, sold out in around six seconds when the last STOCKHOLM collection arrived in 2017.
“We're making it again [with our latest collection]. Sometimes, the hard thing for us is to make handcrafted things at a scale that works for the demand. Plus, we still want it to be at a price level people can afford,” says Marcus Engman, previously head of design at IKEA and now creative director at Ingka Group (the largest IKEA franchisee).
Unlike most of the Swedish company’s creations, where every last detail is considered to make it efficiently in huge numbers, the STOCKHOLM collection focuses on comparatively slow handicraft.
This is the highest echelon of IKEA’s offerings, featuring wool rugs handwoven in India by master weavers and top-of-the-line Swedish pine. “Craftsmanship is at the heart of this project, where traditional techniques and hands-on methods have resulted in durable and beautiful design pieces,” says Karin Gustavsson, creative leader for STOCKHOLM, in a statement.
It's impressive artisan-made stuff at impressively low prices: Mouth-blown bowls are just shy of $40 while a full-grain aniline leather sofa, the most expensive item in the new collection, is $2,499. “The purpose of the STOCKHOLM collections has always been to prove that high quality doesn't need to come at an intimidating cost,” continues Gustavsson.
To drive that message home, IKEA has opened a huge show space in the center of Milan during Design Week, the world's biggest and most prestigious annual design fair. And it's here where I’m sat, comfortably perched on a dark green corduroy sofa, chatting with Marcus Engman. Around us, preparations are in full swing for a party that evening — including a DJ line-up curated by Public Possession and Akwaaba, as well as Aperol Spritz served in paper IKEA cups — before opening to the public for the rest of the week.
A drone is buzzing around us trying to film every corner of the old industrial building: From the long table projected with an interactive animation (the meatballs move when you go near them!), to the very affordably priced cafe (€2.50 for a marinated ASC-certified salmon tartar sandwich!), to the showcase of sustainability measures taken by IKEA (did you know it recycles old mattresses to make new ones?).
And if you go next door, up some metal stairs to another reworked industrial space, are 96 pieces from the eighth STOCKHOLM collection. It’s the biggest of its collections yet, with highlights including a modular sofa designed to keep its shape, so the cushions never need to be fluffed, and a chandelier made of glass cylinders that can go through the dishwasher.
The release of these products, available now from IKEA’s website, marks forty years since its first STOCKHOLM release and thirty years since its first Milan Design Week presentation.
“Design is about making things better, and better should not be for the few, it should be for the many,” says Engman. And this is much of the reason why, in 1995, he helped in debuting Ikea alongside the flashiest, most expensive design innovations.
Was there some snobbishness among the old guard in response to IKEA’s reasonably priced design experiments at Milan Design Week? “I haven't asked them, so I can't say,” replies Engman, very matter-of-factly. “I guess some people thought it was not for us to talk about. But we try to have a common sense attitude towards design, and I think it's hard to argue with IKEA because we're so close to people. We're not doing it for ourselves, everything has to be tried and tested on people.”
There certainly is another thing that can’t be argued against: IKEA’s finest designs have only gotten more popular. And, in return, more collectible. There are now high-end auctions where its vintage low-cost furniture sells at sky-high amounts (like $12,000 for a ‘60s armchair), and the team regularly sees STOCKHOLM items resell for higher-than-retail prices.
It was something of a coup when IKEA first showed up in Milan. “People mostly saw us as a retailer before, not a design company. Suddenly, we came to Milan, talking about a new way of designing, and there was a shift in the perception of IKEA,” says Engman. Now, perceptions have shifted to a point where IKEA's pragmatic designs are even hitting big resell numbers.
