Ikea’s new inflatable chair defies expectations
▼ Summary
– Ikea previewed three pieces from its experimental PS 2026 collection, including an inflatable chair with a metal frame, to be fully revealed on May 13th.
– The new inflatable chair uses two adjustable air chambers and a carbon steel frame to prevent bulging and bouncing, unlike Ikea’s failed 2000 Rolig chair which had leaky valves.
– Ikea’s prior 2000 inflatable furniture line was expensive and deflated over days, though later kids’ inflatable pieces were more successful.
– The PS 2026 collection also includes a pine wood rocking bench for two people and a tubular floor lamp with rotating segments for adjustable lighting.
– The inflatable chair passed all of Ikea’s durability tests for armchairs, but pricing has not yet been announced.
Ikea has offered an early look at three items from an upcoming experimental collection, with the full lineup set to debut at the company’s annual event on May 13th. Among them is an inflatable chair that bears little resemblance to the cheap, lumpy blow-up furniture that defined the 1990s.
This is not the first time Ikea has revisited inflatable seating. The Ikea Museum website even features a dedicated page to what it describes as an “idea that fell flat.” Back in 2000, the company launched the Rolig easy chair and Innerlig sofa, but both were expensive and plagued by leaky valves that caused them to deflate over several days. Later efforts focused on more successful inflatable pieces for children, but in-house designer Mikael Axelsson wanted to revisit the concept for the 2026 edition of Ikea’s experimental PS (post script) collection.
The PS 2026 easy chair relies on more than just a fabric shell around an inflatable airbag. It uses two separate adjustable air chambers wrapped in an emerald green textile cover, all enclosed within a carbon steel frame. That frame keeps the air chambers from bulging when someone sits down and adds enough weight to prevent the chair from bouncing across the room like a balloon. Pricing has not been announced, but Ikea says the chair “has passed every durability test Ikea runs on its armchairs.”
Alongside the inflatable chair, which comes with its own pump, Ikea previewed two additional PS collection pieces. Designer Marta Krupińska created a solid pine wooden bench with curved runners underneath, allowing it to function like a two-person, side-by-side rocking horse. Designer Lex Pott contributed a tubular floor lamp with multiple segments that rotate at 45-degree angles, redirecting light in various directions, including straight down for reading.
(Source: The Verge)
