IKEA x Virgil – progress report from New York

IKEA is still in the middle of the creative process. In this progress report, we got the chance to see some of the product ideas for the collection that will be named MARKERAD, which is translated to “highlighted”. So, what has Virgil, Henrik Most, Creative Leader at IKEA, and the team been working on since they shared the first ideas for the rugs? Looks like one of the products is a chair.

“It wouldn’t really make sense to introduce another chair as a kind of replica of something that has already been done. If we want to reinterpret the design history, we need to twist it. We need to take it to another level and make it more relevant for today”, says Henrik.

“Yeah, that’s why I try to embed an artistic quality in things that you already have. So the chair has elevated because it feels more like an art object than a typical chair that just serves it functions with four equal legs”, adds Virgil.

“I understand IKEA already has display cases, so my role is to think of something else that they don’t already do. And that is strong enough to be a valid concept.”

Therefore the chair has a doorstop attached to one of its legs. The doorstop is a kind of everyday icon but still something that might not be considered to have a high design value. Here it has been used in an unexpected way, an interruption with a thought behind it.

“I had this image of an airplane wheel with two chunks like door stops to stop it. And I just posed the question; the person who designed the wheel must think he is God’s gift to earth. But the person who designed the doorstop is equally impactful because he can stop a plane in its tracks.” says Virgil.

The team is curious to know what happens when product design and street culture join avant-garde, readymade art practise in new constellations. Another product the team is working on is a display cabinet. The way it’s designed with glass makes it possible to display your favourite sneakers or something that has personal value rather than storing things behind closed doors. Like the door stop on the chair, the handle, which is a red nail, manifests the same thinking on the display cabinet.

“I really like the idea that you took the nail, again, a universal, anonymous no-name design and then actually transformed it into a functional and also a sculptural handle”, says Henrik.

To ask yourself “why” is crucial for Virgil when designing, regardless if it’s a water bottle or a handle. That is how he starts to think of what will be his interruption.

“I understand IKEA already has display cases, so my role is to think of something else that they don’t already do. And that is strong enough to be a valid concept”, explains Virgil.