Ikea simply launched a brand new assortment of audio system that double as precise items of artwork.
The gathering, which incorporates three spherical bluetooth audio system, two lamp audio system (referred to as the Kuglass), and one new model of Ikea’s beloved Fado lamp, was made in collaboration with the Swedish designer Tekla Evelina Severin (also called Teklan). Severin, who is understood for her work as a colorist, photographer, and designer, brings a eager eye for colour and sample to the designs, turning a product that may in any other case be an eyesore into one worthy of show. Actually, it could be tough to even acknowledge the merchandise as audio system upon first look.
This assortment is an evolution of Ikea’s broader mission to make in-home tech products not only functional, but additionally aesthetically pleasing. Teklan’s colourful contact bumps that objective up a notch by turning the brand new line of audio system into true design objects.
How Ikea is making dwelling tech aesthetic
Ikea launched its first line of audio system, called Eneby, in 2018. They have been ultra-simple, sq., and wall-mountable, obtainable in a darkish and light-weight grey colorway. The corporate’s new assortment with Teklan exhibits simply how a lot our relationship with dwelling electronics has expanded since then. As tech turns into extra built-in all through the typical American dwelling, clients are more and more searching for merchandise that mix seamlessly with their decor—and don’t draw an excessive amount of consideration to their precise capabilities.
Lately, Ikea has constructed out its speaker portfolio with extra artistic additions just like the Symfonsik picture frame speaker and Vappeby outdoor speaker lamp . Whereas the model is understood for its minimalist fashion, in current months, it’s began to inject extra colour and shocking varieties into its dwelling electronics choices. Simply earlier this month, Ikea introduced a wide range of updated smart home products, designed to simplify the linked sensible dwelling expertise, that seem like analog gadgets on the surface and are available in hues like rust orange and mint inexperienced.
“Tech is in every single place and rising, however I feel few see it as a part of the house’s identification,” says Sara Ottosson, product developer at IKEA of Sweden. “More often than not you find yourself adjusting your house to the tech, relatively than the opposite means round, just because these merchandise aren’t designed to harmonize with something, and we don’t assume it needs to be like that.”
With this new assortment, Ottosson says, the entire level was “to make audio system really feel like they belong amongst furnishings and textiles.”
Contained in the the design of the brand new assortment
To try this, Ottosson’s crew began by approaching the design of the brand new assortment equally to how they might strategy a brand new chair or lamp.
“The speaker archetype is commonly this sharp field, the place the design is one thing added onto the know-how,” Ottosson says. “That’s simply how the class has appeared for a very long time. We come from home-furnishing design, so we naturally strategy issues from a special aspect. We have been inquisitive about what occurs once you work with softer shapes, colours, and patterns—issues that make a product really feel extra like a part of the house, that harmonizes with the remainder.”
For the three round audio system (referred to as the Solskydd household), the crew tapped longtime Ikea designer Ola Wihlborg. He reimagined the tech as spherical, comfortable objects that may both relaxation on ornamental stands or mount on to the wall. And for the 2 speaker lamps (referred to as Kuglass), Ottoson says the product crew pushed the idea of an embedded speaker additional than they ever have earlier than. The lamps are designed to learn immediately as a desk lamp, with the comfortable shade and pleasant silhouette virtually fully disguising the tech part.
What actually elevates the gathering to design object standing is Severin’s collection of colours and patterns. The audio system are available in a teal striped design, a subtly 3D pink sample, and a comfortable orange; whereas the lamps can be found in dual-tone pink and inexperienced.
The consequence, Ottoson says, is one thing “we merely haven’t had earlier than at Ikea”: a mix of shapes, colours, patterns, and light-weight that looks like a sensory expertise.
“Teklan pushed us towards her methods and unconventional combos, going for colours from nature, and tones that really feel nostalgic and emotional,” Ottoson says. “The concept was to make the merchandise actually really feel like dwelling furnishing design with know-how inside, relatively than know-how wrapped in a design.”
