IKEA with a new furniture line for gamers
The home goods retailer has just unveiled a new collection of gaming furniture that throws huge splashes of color and vibrancy into a space that has been dominated by gunmetal black. With furniture that inflates, folds, and transforms, the new collection is an attempt to make video game furniture that doesn’t have to just be video game furniture.
“We wanted to make something for gamers and the people who live with gamers and gaming in everyday life,” says Philip Dilé, product developer of the new collection, Brännboll, which is being unveiled today. He says the collection was designed specifically for gaming, but also to be used in non-gaming contexts. “People want to be able to make space for that activity but maybe not have it take over,” he says.
The pieces created for the collection are, by and large, more playful than formal. There’s an inflatable donut chair reminiscent of a beanbag, an armchair that folds open to become a low lounge, and an easy chair with a seat that’s suspended from its metal frame by elastic bands. That chair is a highlight of the collection, Dilé says, and represents the balance Ikea is trying to strike. “You can imagine playing a racing game, where you lean into the curves and corners of the track,” he says. “It also allows you to get some very simple, low tech ergonomics.”
Bright yellow, green, blue, and red are prominent in the collection, while black only appears in small doses. “We really wanted to make something that added a lot of energy into the play space, because gaming can be very emotional and energetic,” Dilé says.
Some of the collection was informed by personal experience. One of the four designers on the project had hacked an Ikea rolling cart to store his gaming systems and a projector. “When it was time to game, he literally rolled it out and projected on the wall. And then when the game was off, he had everything all in one package,” Dilé says. The rolling cart in the collection, which doubles as a side table and a storage solution, could play a similar role, or at least be a central place for all those controllers and cords and headsets.
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