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04th Feb 2018

Ikea’s latest designer collaboration might just be their most amazing yet

Say hello to Delaktig.

Trine Jensen-Burke

If you thought Ikea was already as amazing as can be – think again.

The Swedish furniture giant recently revealed their latest design project with  Tom Dixon – one of the world’s leading furniture, lighting and industrial designers at the moment – and it is pretty much mind-blowing.

With “Delaktig” (the word means “taking part” in Swedish) Ikea and Dixon are inviting the world to co-design with them.

The system, which they have called ‘a platform for living’ is part sofa, part bed, part whatever you want it to be – and completely modular, so you can add a lamp, clip on a side table, or shake it up and create a chaise longue.

The combinations, it seems, are endless.

”Don’t chuck DELAKTIG away if you’re finished with it – turn it into something else, something new. Or save it for the children, so they can bring it with them when they move out.” – Tom Dixon

Delaktig has many components (they include one,- two-, and three-seater couches; two different chaise lounges; back and armrests; and lamp and side table attachments) and can be assembled in a whopping 97(!) ways – turning YOU into the designer of your home.

“This is a platform made to inspire and boost creativity, so IKEA hopes and foresees that customers will find many more options and possibilities,” James Futcher, IKEA’s Creative Leader, recently told Bloomberg. “The aluminum frame, open-source platform is available from February and the sofas, chairs, and chaise come in light gray, dark gray, and dark blue.

The inspiration behind the collection, it seems, were partly taken from the flourishing of websites geared toward the DIY hacking of IKEA furniture.

But will DIY-ers really be attracted to a system that essentially does the hacking for them? Maybe, maybe not. “I think there is this satisfaction of creating something totally different than what is mass produced,” Jules Yap, co-founder of the site IkeaHackers, told Wired.

This is what Dixon himself told the New York Times the collection’s debut at the Salone del Mobile design fair in Milan. “You could put on a lamp, a phone charger, a side table. You could raise or lower it, or put it on wheels. It can easily go from being a student bed to a really posh couch and then back again when you have kids.”

And while Dixon’s designs normally is reserved for those with budgets that stretch far beyond Ikea, this collection is priced similarly to the furniture store’s other sofa collections – meaning we can all get our hands on it.