‘YPPERLIG’ by IKEA x HAY

I have some more design news for you today, as two Scandinavian greats – Swedish super-brand IKEA and Danish company HAY – have just released the first official photographs of their hotly anticipated collaboration.

Called ‘YPPERLIG’, the collection has been more than a year in the making (IKEA first teased us with mentions of it way back in June 2016), but it looks like it will have been worth the wait. The 70+ pieces combine HAY’s signature simplicity and gentle playfulness with IKEA’s focus on accessible design, and include everything from seating and tables to candleholders and lamps. All have been created to meet the emotional and functional needs of the modern home, with a particular emphasis on social spaces such as the living room.

HAY is known for its sophisticated industrial manufacturing, and this seems to have been a driving force behind the collaboration. According to Marcus Engman, Head of Design at IKEA, it has given IKEA the chance to “explore new materials and production techniques, allowing us to gain new and innovative ways to achieve the end product we’re after.” It’s a sentiment that’s echoed by HAY founders Rolf and Mette Hay, who said: “HAY and IKEA are both driven by production. Yes, we’re designers, but we also have a genuine passion for how things are made. We learned a lot of things from this collaboration that we can apply to our own company: the simplicity in the IKEA supply chain, and making something that’s complex more simple and therefore better and less expensive.”

Although full details of the collection have yet to be released, there are already a couple of stand-out items for me: the tufted sofa with its gently flared arms and backrest, and the molded dining chair with its rounded, stackable form. I also love the look of the minimalist desk lamp, which will be top of my shopping list when I finally get round to finishing my home office.

‘YPPERLIG’ will be available in stores from October 2017, but in the meantime you can find out more here. It sounds as if IKEA has plenty of other interesting collaborations in the pipeline, too, so watch this space for news…

All images courtesy of IKEA