The Return of Bold Form: 8 Favorites from the New IKEA PS 2026 Collection
After nearly a decade of silence, IKEA returns with a new edition of its legendary, experimental PS (Postscriptum) collection. This is a rare territory where the Scandinavian furniture giant deliberately strips away standard commercial constraints, allowing its designers to “go a bit more wild, be free, and ask 'what if?'”. The theme of the new range is playful functionality—a clear design manifesto proving that simplicity does not have to be sterile, and that stripping a form down to its essentials only heightens its final expression.
We analyzed the entire 30-piece collection and selected 8 standout objects. They excel perfectly as those essential “visual anchors” that establish architectural order and restore aesthetic calm to the home.
Object 01
PS 2026 Rocking Bench
Design: Marta Krupińska (Poland)
A brilliant exercise in interactive design. This timber bench functions as an adult-sized seesaw, inherently encouraging dialogue as every movement on one side naturally shifts the gravity of whoever sits on the other. Beyond its social rhythm, it holds a sophisticated engineering feat. The all-wood build maintains its structural integrity without metal reinforcement, achieved by splitting a solid timber beam and gluing it back together with the grain reversed. The opposing grains work to reinforce one another, producing an outcome stronger than the initial metal-backed prototype.
Object 02
PS 2026 Floor Uplighter
Design: Lex Pott (Netherlands)
A striking object capable of instantly grounding an empty room. This floor lamp commands attention through its expressive, characterful trumpet silhouette and a highly considered color composition. Yet its true value lies in its functional adaptability. Engineered with a clean 45-degree hinge, a simple flick of the wrist converts it from a soft, ambient ceiling uplight into a precise spotlight for reading. It serves as a perfect structural axis for a minimalist seating area.
Object 03
PS 2026 Birch Plywood Easy Chair
Design: Ellen Hallström (Sweden)
Unupholstered, all-timber lounge seating defined by generous, unobstructed surfaces has emerged as a definitive staple of contemporary premium Scandinavian design. Here, IKEA responds with an honest, accessible iteration executed in dependable birch plywood. The piece delivers the rich tactility of solid timber without the prohibitive cost. Its clean, sharp geometry anchors a space while injecting warmth, maintaining visual restraint without unnecessary weight.
Object 04
PS 2026 Height-Adjustable Stool
Design: Mikael Axelsson (Sweden)
A direct visual dialogue with the modernist ideal of form follows function. A vibrant blue latch sharply interrupts the pale birch frame, immediately signaling its mechanical utility. The low-tech adjustment mechanism features two interlocking sawtooth stems that grip one another, creating an instantly iconic, architectural silhouette. It plays with utilitarian forms without taking itself too seriously.
Object 05
PS 2026 Inflatable Easy Chair
Design: Mikael Axelsson (Sweden)
A daring move given the historical unpredictability of inflatable furniture, yet this design successfully elevates 1990s irreverence into a mature architectural component. The designer has enclosed transparent, blow-up cushions tightly within a crisp, Corbusier-inflected tubular metal frame. The stark juxtaposition between weightless, trapped air and the cold precision of the metal grid creates a powerful, sophisticated visual anchor.
Object 06
PS 2026 Folding Chair
Design: Ellen Hallström (Sweden)
Modern spaces increasingly treat lightweight seating as wall-hung art. Ellen Hallström advances this concept by rendering a foldable seat in striking, contrasting blocks of red, black, and powder-blue. Utilizing a palette directly evocative of Mondrian’s neoplasticism, the chair behaves like a flat, cubist installation when suspended from a wall, transforming a utilitarian object into a clean graphic statement.
Object 07
Solid Pine Wide Shelf
Design: Friso Wiersma (Netherlands)
Affordable solid-timber storage is virtually absent from the primary market unless sourced second-hand. Trained boat builder Friso Wiersma corrects this by reimagining IKEA’s cult-classic Guide shelf from the 1970s entirely in honest pine. Highly intentional joints, highlighted by clean, red-painted ends, introduce a quiet architectural sophistication that completely transcends its democratic price point.
Object 08
PS 2026 Portable LED Lamp
Design: Lex Pott (Netherlands)
Lex Pott is widely recognized for his rigorous, near-mathematical approach to color harmonies. Here, he merges his chromatic precision with the modern necessity of cordless, mobile illumination. Crowned with a delicate blown-glass sphere, the lamp is edited into distinct, advanced color pairings—ranging from deep oxblood and raspberry to a strict modernist clash of blue, green, and baby pink. It provides a small but potent geometric anchor for any plane.
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