In the quiet town of Älmhult, Sweden, at the headquarters of Ikea of Sweden, designer Mikael Axelsson has spent a decade haunted by a miniature model. The object—a dollhouse-sized chair made of bent wire and hand-carved foam—represented a design challenge that has eluded the global retailer since the late 1990s: how to make inflatable furniture that feels like a legitimate home furnishing rather than a novelty exercise ball.
The concept first took shape in 2014, born from a desire to reinvent the kitschy, translucent blow-up aesthetics of the nineties into something sophisticated and structural. However, the transition from a Barbie-sized prototype to a full-scale piece of furniture proved difficult. Axelsson faced two primary hurdles: the physics of air-filled cushions, which tend to lack the ergonomic support of traditional upholstery, and the corporate memory of Ikea’s previous commercial failure with the medium decades ago.
The project found new life during a recent experimental design sprint. Axelsson and a small cohort of designers were tasked with developing boundary-pushing concepts for the upcoming Ikea PS collection—a recurring, design-forward series known for its more adventurous Scandinavian spirit. By returning to the prototyping lab, Axelsson is attempting to solve the technical limitations of his "white whale," leveraging new material insights to finally move the chair from his office shelf to the living room.
With reporting from *Fast Company Design*.
Source · Fast Company Design
