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An artistic rug design depicting an IKEA receipt, hanging on tripod stands against a black background.
 

Make a statement with MARKERAD in collaboration with Virgil Abloh

When American designer/Off-White-founder/influencer/plus more Virgil Abloh and IKEA get together, the result is MARKERAD – a collection of first home must-haves that don’t force you to compromise on who you are. It’s somewhere to sit, sleep, work, and store stuff, but function is just part of the greatness. More than anything these are statement pieces, challenging tradition.

While known to most as the founder of fashion brand Off-White, Virgil Abloh is also an architecture grad, a DJ, a producer, and soon to be the new Men’s Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton. When the collaboration with IKEA was revealed last year, Virgil told us how he loves to work with the best in the class of any genre. He sees IKEA as the provider of fertile soil for new ideas and concepts – and considers it his job to provide something provocative.

“Given how tremendous this opportunity is, I’m not content to just make another chair”, he said at the time.

A chair that stands out

And he sure doesn’t. Instead he makes a chair that stands out, and that owes it all to a doorstop.

“It’s about elevating the anonymous, everyday icons that we use without noticing. When we put a doorstop on one of the legs of an ordinary chair we create something unexpected – an interruption”, Virgil says.

Two men beside a chair and a pedestal with a small red wedge on it, in front of a large white display wall with black text.
Virgil Abloh and Henrik Most, Creative Leader at IKEA, during a workshop in New York.
“It’s about elevating the anonymous, everyday icons that we use without noticing. When we put a doorstop on one of the legs of an ordinary chair we create something unexpected – an interruption”
A glass-door display cabinet with a wooden frame and a red handle, inside a black display box.

MARKERAD cabinet.

A red wedge opposite a mirror box on top of a black display box.

MARKERAD door stop.

The chair is just one of the furniture classics that he takes to another level. The same goes for the collection as a whole, whether it’s the daybed, the table, the rug, or any other piece. Like the glass cabinet that’s transparent on all sides, for example. It’s a modern-day version of a baroque Wunderkammer, a cabinet of curiosities, where people used to show off their favourite objects to the world. The MARKERAD cabinet is basically the same. Instead of hiding stuff, it encourages the opposite. Put your icons – everything you love – on display to show who you are.

“Virgil has a fantastic ability to work with essential functions and basic materials and create something new. Each MARKERAD item is both a design object and a piece with high artistic value”, says Henrik Most, Creative Leader for the upcoming collection.

Perfecting prototypes

With the launch drawing nearer, Henrik, Virgil and the rest of the team are in the process of perfecting the prototypes, some of which will be shown during Democratic Design Day in Älmhult. Virgil has high hopes:

“I want each item to bring a sense of pride, and I want the great design to be the biggest reason why you get it.”

MARKERAD collection will be available for a limited time starting in 2019.

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