What Ikea Designers Keep for Themselves

When I went to Stockholm in February to preview the 40th anniversary of Ikea’s Stockholm collection, I knew I was in the unique position to ask the question I most wanted the answer to: what does an actual Ikea designer have from Ikea? Would it be something as ubiquitous as the Billy bookshelf, or some obscure product I hadn’t seen before? The team’s answers surprised me, gave me ideas to look for pieces I hadn’t before, and underlined a truth: we all love looking backwards.

Nike Karlsson, designer: I have all those things that never end up in something. It’s the scrap yard. Prototypes.

Paulin Machado, designer: I have Nike’s sofa from 2014 [the PS 2014 sofa]. I found that on a vintage site. I was so happy when I got it.

Dwell: So you’re also looking for vintage Ikea, like everyone else is.

Machado: Oh yes. We love to do that. I think you learn a lot from that too, to see what has sustained in time and how it looks. And I think it’s a good school to learn from.

Johan Ejdemo, global design manager: I have a lot of stuff in my kitchen to cook things, but then I have, obviously there are sentimental projects that I’ve been involved in. And I have Nike’s old day bed; now we have a new daybed, but I have the old one. You can find it at auction sometimes popping up from the PS collection. I have a few products from that PS collection. The steel cabinet, the one that is a locker cabinet, but lower. There have been quite a few of those that we have been moving around. And sometimes they're all in a row, sometimes they spread out in different places in the home. And they have been with me for a long time.

Machado: I think you have more than me now.

Karin Gustavsson, creative leader: I made a collection a few years ago called Industriell together with a Dutch designer called Piet Hein Eek. And I have that bookshelf. And I collect so many books and it’s the one super smart solution. You can build as big as you want in plywood. So I have that one as one of my favorites. But then I have something every day. I have the mattresses. We have such good quality mattresses. So I’m happy about them. You don’t see things sometimes, sometimes you take them for [granted].

Ola Wihlborg, designer: I have a lot of different stuff because I try them when I design them, I try them and evaluate them. But we have sofas. We have two sofas that we have had for a really long time. The old Stockholm sofa that I told you about with lots of cushions. That one we have had for 10 years. And then we also have Soederhamn, that’s another sofa from Ikea, that one has also been in the house for a long time.

Photos courtesy of Ikea

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