The Swedish furniture retail chain IKEA seeks to make the next generation furniture much more simple and functional, factoring the changing needs of people’s lives.

As IKEA explores new ideas to improve the ease, comfort and enjoyment of life in the modern home, it has  announced partnership with British Designer Tom Dixon to produce new furniture solutions for modern living and with Danish design company HAY for living room furniture.

Product development at IKEA is always based on the understanding of the changing needs of people’s lives. In a world where the living space for many people is shrinking IKEA knows that the boundaries within the home are being challenged by space as well as our interaction with technology and each other.

In collaboration with Tom Dixon, IKEA has set out to explore what these changes mean for the future of living and how to successfully resolve the tensions they create. Tom Dixon is the perfect partner for this challenge. Well known for his award winning design, but also an expert in production and manufacturing.

“We can see big changes in how the space in our homes is becoming more fluid and we are exploring what this means for both the design and production of furniture. Working with Tom is exciting because he shares our curiosity and drive to find new ways to make things better,” says Marcus Engman, Design Manager at IKEA.

“We are in the midst of a huge revolution in how people create, manufacture and consume – the furniture business has been slow to respond to the opportunities, but now is an amazing time to experiment in new ways of working. In this case in a fresh collaboration directly with the consumer, industry and global experts,” says Tom Dixon. The immediate focus is on seating solutions.

HAY

IKEA has initiated an exploration journey on the topic future Scandinavian design. As one of the first steps on this journey, it will together with the Danish design company HAY create a collection for socialising in the living room.

“The way we work with accessories in the collection is to connect and combine colours for a fresh modern look. For the accessories we work with at IKEA, we have explored many different materials including, aluminum, metallic, terracotta, textiles, plastic and wood to create a diverse range with different uses that we are excited for,” says Mette Hay, co-founder of HAY.