During its annual conference today, IKEA took the opportunity to unveil a brand new product its working on in collaboration with fashion designer Virgil Abloh – a giant receipt rug.
The piece will be included in the collaborative Markerad range, which is due to be released next year and also includes a red doorstop that can be slotted under the leg of a chair and a glass cabinet described as “a cabinet of curiosities”.
“Virgil has a fantastic ability to work with essential functions and basic materials and create something new,” said IKEA’s Henrik Most. “Each Markerad item is both a design object and a piece with high artistic value.”
“It’s about elevating the anonymous, everyday icons that we use without noticing. When we put a doorstop on one of the legs of an ordinary chair we create something unexpected – an interruption,” added Abloh.
The collection aims to be a range of “first home must-haves” for students and young people and, due to Abloh’s huge influence within that demographic, it will no doubt achieve its objectives. “I want each item to bring a sense of pride, and I want the great design to be the biggest reason why you get it,” said the designer, who’s also the artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear.
Ughh you can just justify every non-sophisticated idea these days.