Ikea PS – Ikea’s 10th PS collection arrives in stores and online, blending playful prototypes with Scandinavian “less but more” design values.
Ikea is leaning into what it does best—design at scale—while making a clear statement that Scandinavian aesthetics don’t have to be strict or silent.. The retailer’s new PS collection. now available in stores and online. brings whimsical. almost fantastical objects into the mainstream. tying them back to the long-running Scandinavian focus on simplicity. smart materials. and functional clarity.
The setting for the launch says a lot about the intent.. Inside Ikea’s headquarters in Älmhult. Sweden. a movie-studio-size marketing and production facility holds a corner of a soundstage piled with colorful “props” that look like they belong to a children’s show.. Among the items are a bench that rocks. a bright blue lamp whose narrow post hides two transforming elbows. a glass vase with jug-like “ears. ” and a clock perched at the end of a curved red tube that resembles a worm emerging from the ground.
These playful objects are part of the PS line. a recurring product drop Ikea uses “once in a while” to stretch its experimental design capabilities.. This year’s PS collection marks the 10th since the company launched the concept in 1995. when it introduced a range of products designed to carve out a stake in a design style that has since spread widely around the world.
For Ikea, PS is more than a creative exercise.. The report frames it as a flag-planting moment for a global home furnishings giant that wants to influence the present and future of Scandinavian design while also shaping its own design direction.. The collection includes softly curved plywood chairs. a square table with a drawer designed to slide through from one side to the other. and an adjustable stool that uses a sawtooth mechanism to ratchet up to different heights.
The creative intent is summed up by Maria O’Brian. the creative leader behind the PS collection. who describes the brief as aiming for “less but more” and “simple but not a bore.” Standing amid the new pieces in early April. she said that those goals are what came back—an emphasis on keeping things stripped down. while still finding room for character.
Ikea’s ability to move from concept to production is also central to the PS story.. The report recounts a visit to Ikea’s prototyping shop at headquarters. where many of the 1. 500 to 2. 000 new products the company releases each year are developed with careful attention.. During the visit. part of the collection was being prepared to ship to Milan for the annual Salone del Mobile furniture fair.
Salone del Mobile is positioned in the report as an event that was once the exclusive domain of high-end design.. It adds that Ikea’s earlier move into the fair—through the inaugural PS collection in 1995—brought the retailer’s low-cost version of “democratic design” into that more rarefied world.. More than 30 years later. O’Brian sees the new PS collection as doubling down on the original purpose behind the line.
The report also makes the case that Ikea’s version of Scandinavian design is not about decoration for decoration’s sake.. O’Brian ties the style to simplicity. material choice. functionality. directness. and resourcefulness—being smart with materials and ornamentation without simply adding something “for the sake of it.” At the same time. she stresses that the result isn’t boring. framing playfulness as compatible with Scandinavian restraint.
That philosophy shows up in what the report calls a seemingly difficult product: an inflatable easy chair moving into hundreds of Ikea stores around the world.. The report says designers and engineering efforts stretched over more than a decade. describing how designer Mikael Axelsson worked to turn an inflatable furniture concept into something comfortable and manufacturable at Ikea’s global scale.
Other pieces reflect a different kind of challenge—precision engineering disguised as everyday utility.. The report describes designer David Wahl’s foldable side table as opening like a briefcase and clicking into place in one smooth motion. while the prototyping process was described as grueling.. In Ikea’s prototyping shop. Wahl reportedly pulled out four prototypes with different hardware and fittings. each initially a wobbly mess.. The team reportedly needed nearly a year of back-and-forth work to reach a locking mechanism accurate to the millimeter to keep the table steady. and Wahl even likened an early version to a “dancing table” as it rocked.
Not every product in the collection starts with a long technical siege.. The report notes that some items come from easier creative origins tied to other work backgrounds.. For the bright floor lamp with two pivot points in the lamp post. designer Lex Pott is credited with sawing 46-degree cuts into a broomstick—an anecdote that highlights how functional design can emerge from unexpected raw materials.. Meanwhile. designer Friso Wiersma is described as drawing on boatbuilding experience to create a refined storage cabinet whose doors look woven like baskets.
The development of the cabinet is also portrayed as fast-moving and iterative.. O’Brian recalls asking Wiersma to make storage for the collection. saying he responded quickly and returned within a week with two final. “amazing” cabinets. after which the discussion continued from there.. The report pairs this with the broader point that PS pulls together different kinds of creative expertise. not just one uniform design approach.
Beyond the marquee technical pieces. the report lists other highlights that reinforce the collection’s mix of softness. adaptability. and multi-use thinking.. These include a puffy chair that flops open to become a bed. and a pared-down chair whose backrest can be used sideways as an armrest or even backwards as a place to prop up your elbows.
The through-line, according to O’Brian, is that PS exists to challenge Ikea itself.. She says the idea is to push boundaries—questioning what the company thinks it can do and how it does it—suggesting that even when products arrive as mass-market items. their route can still be unconventional and deliberately experimental.. For shoppers. that may translate into familiar furnishings carrying unexpected mechanics and playful forms. while for Ikea it signals an ongoing attempt to shape design culture rather than only follow it.
Ikea PS collection Scandinavian design home furnishings product prototypes Salone del Mobile democratic design