Bangkok--14 Jun--ABM
From Photo: Lacia Sherlock (right), the Deputy Retail Director responsible for IKEA stores in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines and Bhanu Inkawat (left), Executive Creative Director of Greyhound Group
IKEA, the leading furniture and home furnishings retailer from Sweden, unveiled its "Collaboration Projects 2020." This time round IKEA selected Greyhound Original, the sole fashion and lifestyle brand from Southeast Asia, to develop the special SAMMANKOPPLA collection, of which the collection means "unify" or "interconnect". This limited collection will be available in IKEA stores worldwide in 2020.
Driven by curiosity about other cultures and perspectives on life at home, IKEA's product developers have in the past formed design partnerships in South America, India and Africa. This time, IKEA turned to Southeast Asia to find fresh ideas for multi-functional home furnishings aimed at a new generation of young urbanites living in small spaces.
"We are so excited to see our IKEA product developers working with home-grown, Thai design talent," said Lacia Sherlock, the Deputy Retail Director responsible for IKEA stores in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines. "Thailand has watched Greyhound grow from a fashion label into a cafe and an edgy lifestyle brand. Now this creative team has developed products that will add a cool, industrial chic to be offered in our stores. I can't wait!"
Bhanu Inkawat, Executive Creative Director of Greyhound Group, was stunned when IKEA first contacted him about a collaboration two years ago. "We didn't expect that a global brand like IKEA would recognise us. There was no way that IKEA would approach us to do a collaboration together!" he said. Yet, not long after he replied the email from IKEA of Sweden that Mr. Inkawat and his team set about working side-by-side with Michael Nikolic, Creative Leader at IKEA in Sweden.
"Small spaces and tight budgets are a common challenge all over the world, and still many people want to show their personalities at home through unique objects," says Mr. Nikolic. He explained that he was curious to work with Greyhound Original because the brand has considerable experience in combining the expressive designs of fashion and street culture while reusing or repurposing materials in a creative and natural way.
The result is a limited-time collection, called "SAMMANKOPPLA" which will be introduced to IKEA stores around the world in August 2020. The range of 25 products includes reversible rugs made from recycled plastic, a table and shelving rack inspired by scaffolding regularly seen in major developing cities, a multi-purpose LED lamp inspired by an adaptive Thai idea to revive disposed items, tableware, Thai style triangular-shaped cushions, and much more.
On June 4, IKEA and Greyhound Original jointly introduced the collaboration to the global media during Democratic Design Days, IKEA's annual design event held in the small Swedish town of Älmhult – the birthplace of IKEA.