Published 04 June 2019 • Inter IKEA newsroom
IKEA in collaboration with Greyhound Original Bangkok
In our latest exploration we went to Thailand where we, together with Greyhound Original Bangkok, wanted to explore small space living and multi-functionality with an open, problem-solving mindset. The result is a collection influenced by Asia, called SAMMANKOPPLA, which means to interconnect or unify.
At IKEA, the curiosity about other cultures and perspectives on life at home has led us to explore how we can make the everyday life better. Small spaces, tight budgets but still with a wish to express yourself through unique objects and expressive design is a common challenge all over the world. This time we went to Asia, where recycling, reusing, and creative re-purposing is a new awareness to make consciousness a part of the everyday life.
“We know that people today want their personalities to be shown in their home. At the same time both space and money is limited when living in big cities. Since multi-function and creativity is key in order to enable both a small space living solution and an expressive design piece, we turned to Greyhound Original," says Michael Nikolic, Creative leader at IKEA of Sweden.
Greyhound Original is a fashion company that sells food, and a food company that sells fashion. Multi-purpose and creativity is key for them. They opened the first store in 1980 in Bangkok with Men’s casual wear and then expanded to women’s wear and accessories. In 1998 they expanded the brand to food by opened the first Greyhound Cafe in Bangkok and turning the brand from fashion label to a cutting edge lifestyle brand.
“We were curious to work with Greyhound Original since they have a great experience of combining the expressive design of fashion and street culture to using materials in new ways, reusing and repurposing it. Something that can be really interesting when designing and it is also becoming more, and more important in the world,” continues Michael.
“For us working with IKEA was a great experience, learning about their way of working and how they stay true to their philosophy, how they are always in search of new directions and turning great ideas into beautiful furniture that is both affordable and accessible. At the same time, they are acknowledging contemporary Thai attitudes and lifestyle and striving to incorporate these ideas into their collection, an approach well suited to the task of making the most of small spaces in modern urban living," says Bhanu Inkawat, the Founder and Creative Director at Greyhound Original Bangkok.
The SAMMANKOPPLA collection will be available in store 2020.