Who would have thought that high end luxe designer Tom Dixon, who’s known for his designs in copper, marble and stone, would team up with Scandinavian affordable furniture specialists IKEA?
A brand that’s synonymous with pale wood and simple designs doesn’t scream haute couture, but that’s exactly what Tom Dixon is bringing to this unusual collaboration.
The design began with a ‘hackable’ piece of furniture (more on what that means shortly) and is complemented by a haute couture cover that’ll turn an IKEA sofa into a show-stopping design piece.
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So what’s this collaboration all about? Read on to find out.
The DELAKTIG Bed/Sofa
This piece of furniture, created by IKEA in collaboration with Tom Dixon, was designed with furniture hacking in mind.
If you’ve never heard the term furniture hacking before, it’s not as technical as it may sound.
I bet you’ve been in this position before. You’ve imagined a perfect piece of furniture, but then it’s impossible to find. You might be able to stumble upon something close. But it’s not the right colour, or the right height, or the hardware is all wrong. So what are your options? Either you settle for something that doesn’t quite work in your space, or you spend an astronomical amount on a custom piece of furniture. Right?
Well, actually, there’s a third option. And IKEA knows it. It’s called furniture hacking, and it’s the idea of customising a piece of furniture so it suits your needs. The Creative Director of the DELAKTIG spoke about this concept, saying “We know that people want to make things different, to have their own identity.”
Until now, in order to achieve this, people have been coming up with their own ways to redesign – or ‘hack’ – IKEA furniture to suit their needs. This could be as simple as repainting a piece. Or as complex as completely repurposing an item into something else altogether.
But rather than resisting the customisation of their pieces, IKEA has decided to embrace it. They’ve done this by creating something that’s made to be changed. Tom Dixon worked with the Scandinavian furniture designers to create a product that can change and evolve according to the owner’s needs.
The IKEA DELAKTIG has, so far, been reimagined as a bunk bed, an airport lounge, and even a raft. And now Bemz is the first company to hack the bed. Their hacking collaboration was announced at Milan Design Week.
Bemz x Tom Dixon transform the IKEA DELAKTIG
Bemz is a Stockholm-based textile design company that specialises in custom-made covers for IKEA furniture. They only select high-quality fabrics made from natural materials that are all machine washable. Each cover is designed to extend the life of the IKEA furniture it was created for.
Bemz and Tom Dixon have teamed up to create an unusual haute couture cover. And it’s sure to transform the IKEA DELAKTIG.
“We have developed an extra furry cover in brownish black Icelandic long-haired sheepskin destined to transform the DELAKTIG sofa from a hyper-normal IKEA product into a super-texture Tom Dixon seating sculpture. This illustrates in the most extreme way the transformative nature of the project, where a new cover manufactured by Bemz can completely change the character of your sofa through the power of design. A previously sensible, minimal and rational bed sofa transforms into a moody dark and tactile animal”, said Tom Dixon about the product.
This cover, which was unveiled at Milan Design Week, is just the beginning of a Bemz x Tom Dixon collection. Each cover promises to transform your IKEA sofa from average to incredible in just a matter of seconds.
The Bemz x Tom Dixon collection of covers will be available to the public in February 2018.
© 2018 THE IDEALIST
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