When Ikea announced that it was collaborating with Swedish House Mafia, it said that it was hoping to release products that would “democratise creativity and music production so that even more people can be more creative at home.” Well, the first three of these products have now been announced, and it turns out that they’re… bags.
Specifically, we’re getting “remixed” versions of Ikea’s Frakta bag - the one you carry around in-store and load up with tea lights, etc. The Swedish House Mafia collection includes one bag for cables, one for your laptop and another for carrying vinyl records.
“Frakta is one of those Ikea classics that everyone has,” says the collective voice of Swedish House Mafia. “We wanted to do our take on it from a music creation perspective depending what type of gear you carry with you on the go. Our different takes on the bag are themes shared for the whole collection. All items in the collection have a timeless theme with a distinct trace of our DNA”.
The bags are in “Swedish House Mafia signature style”, which means they’re black. And, according to Friso Wiersma, one of Ikea Sweden’s in-house designers, the music production trio brought plenty of ideas to the table.
“It had been a dream for the guys to make a Frakta, but they wanted to add something more to it”, he says. “Talking about functionality and how they would use it in their daily life, it became clear that we wanted to solve different problems - and that we couldn’t do it all in just one bag style.”
If you were hoping for a little more than luggage from the Ikea/SHM partnership then rest assured that there are more products on the way; the next batch will be unveiled at Ikea Festival at Base in Milan on 9 June for Milan Design Week 2022. More than 20 furniture and smart home furnishing products are set to be released in total.
Formed in 2008, Swedish House Mafia comprises producers Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. They enjoyed huge international success before breaking up in 2013.
They returned with new music 2021, releasing their first album - Paradise Again - earlier this year.
Find out more about the Frakta collaboration on the Ikea website.
