Two generations, one collection

The AVSIKTLIG collection is a collaboration across generations. All the designers are either over 65 or around the age of 25. An interesting moment to take stock of how working methods have changed when designing textiles.

Creative leader Jutta Viheria began developing the collection by asking the younger designers how they interpret the work of 10-gruppen today? They came back to Jutta with hundreds of sketches.

Jutta sent the same question to the members of 10-gruppen taking part in the collaboration and each designer came back with a single pattern, in an original size. “Already there I felt the difference between the generations,” says Jutta.

In a way, for the original members of 10-gruppen, time has stood still. They are used to delivering original work in 1:1 scale and using specific scanners to convert them to a digital format. These scanners are not used anymore at IKEA. Creating digital versions of the patterns has been a rewarding challenge for the team at IKEA. The designers have kept a close eye on the work to ensure that every pencil stroke of their design is transferred to the digital version.

 

The designers have kept a close eye on the work to ensure that every pencil stroke of their design is transferred to the digital version.

This is the third collaboration at IKEA exploring the work of iconic Swedish designers. The first was ÖGONBLICK, sharing the work of illustrator Olle Eksell with the world. Last year came the minimalist collection VIKTIGT, with the glass designer Ingegerd Råman. And now, 10-gruppen.

Jutta Viheria has been the creative leader for all three. “I have been on a fantastic journey,” says Jutta. “To work with Olle Eksell’s widow Ruth, who at 95 years old is still completely clear in her head and then Ingegerd, a professor, who knows so much about glass. Then Tom (Hedqvist), who is a teacher at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm, who knows so much about design – especially graphic design. It’s like spending time with an encyclopedia! It has been very very rewarding.”

As well as exciting new products, for each collection IKEA has produced a book. The book about 10-gruppen visits the designers in their homes. “It’s not an ordinary history of 10-gruppen, you will meet them in their home environment,” says IKEA designer Ida Pettersson, whose home is also a part of the book. As an extension of the collection, which was a collaboration between generations, we will also be able see the home environments of two generations of textile designers.