Mikael Axelsson calculates it takes him five minutes to assemble Ikea’s inflatable chair. Add 7.5 minutes for inflation with the foot pump and that’s 12.5 minutes all up. It took me 34 minutes. As it should be. He is, after all, the IKEA designer who created the 8kg flatpack and my modus operandi is to not to read instructions or know which end of an Allen key is which. So all in all, not a bad effort from me – but I did get a step-by-step account from Mikael in IKEA’s birthplace of Almhult, Sweden.
His chair is one of 40-plus products as part of IKEA’s 10th PS Collection – a range of products that have been produced every few years since 1995 to reinforce the brand’s origins of democratic design for all and to prove to the world they know best when it comes to Scandi design. Every piece is about “dynamic, simple and useful products that invite interaction. Simple functions, with a little extra joy”.
New Zealand has even played a small part in the creation of the chair. Mikael went to Massey University to study product, furniture and graphic design for a formative year in around 2008 as an exchange student.
“New Zealand was super nice,” says the Swede who thinks there are similarities between the two countries, particularly the “dramatic South Island”.
Trip highlights
As an extreme sports fan, Queenstown was a highlight, the designer fondly recalling the bungee jumping and Fergburgers. After that came a stint studying mechanical engineering in Stockholm before getting an internship at IKEA. Now, with four children, a cat, a dog and rabbits and living in the small IKEA town of Almhult, he’s gone on to design hundreds of products for the global brand.
Mikael had the idea to design an air-filled chair back in 2014, wanting to move them on from the short-lived blow-up chairs of the ’90s. Back then, he says, the recommendation was to use a hair dryer to inflate them. Invariably, people used the heat seating. Heat and plastic were never going to be a winning combination. The thing about those pieces was they were super light, skated across the floor and “didn’t feel like real furniture”.
He came back to the inflatable chair idea for this PS Collection with its collective theme of playful functionality.
“There’s something poetic about using air. Everyone has access to it,” he says.
It also reduces the amount of materials needed for construction. This time round, he wanted it to feel as much like a “proper piece of furniture” as possible. His solution was to use steel componentry to ground it and give it weight. Early iterations of the air-filled pocket weren’t comfortable. “They felt like a Pilates ball.” He came up with the idea to have two chambers in the inner layer of the seat’s bladder, concealed within the padded fabric exterior.
He knew he’d cracked the comfort factor when “a colleague came over for a chat, sat down for quite a while, and then eventually said, ‘Too bad you had to go for the foam version’.”
Every piece IKEA produces is put through its paces in the in-house test lab to ensure it will last when it goes into people’s home. This didn’t include a cat claw test, so Mikael took an early prototype home to see if his cat could do any damage. His cat wasn’t interested in scratching it, but he did find a more cooperative feline that obliged and the prototype survived.
PS: If you read the instructions, it’s actually very easy to build the Inflatable chair. Available now at IKEA for $199.
Playful functionality
What is the PS Collection? It is 40-plus pieces designed by 12 designers with everything from fun paper wall masks to a rocking bench seat. It’s meant as an addendum to the standard range, but staying true to its modern Scandinavian roots.
What is the design mantra for this collection? Playful functionality. Things that can add a smile to your regular Tuesdays. Useful, but playful. Thought through, but with a smile.
What does democratic design mean: Creative leader Maria O’Brian says it’s about making good design affordable and used every day for many people.
Other notable pieces in the IKEA PS 2026 collection
Floor Uplighter by Lex Pott
$79.99 at Ikea
Designer Lex Pott got carried away when Maria briefed him on the collection and came up with at least 70 ideas, including cutting up a broomstick to prototype a floor lamp. This was one of his four ideas that made it into the PS Collection. Because of the two joints, the metal floor lamp also becomes an uplight and a spotlight. It comes in chartreuse, burgundy and cobalt.
Cabinet by Friso Wiersma
$749 at Ikea
One of the pieces created by Friso Wiersma is the woven pine cabinet. The cabinetmaker and boat builder has a “deep passion for wood”, saying “wood is the boyfriend you can’t trust, because it will tell you one thing and behave in a completely different way”. The delicate woven fronts of these cabinets were inspired by Japanese shoji screens and put together by skilled workers who can really read the wood.
Rocking Bench by Marta Krupinska
$249.99 at Ikea
Described by an IKEA colleague as the company’s “ambassador for playfulness”, designer Marta Krupinska wanted to “wake the inner child” with her rocking design. The pine bench that rocks also “channels the joyful feeling of Oktoberfest sitting on a bench having fun. I want the world to be more happy.”
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