IKEA has always made design feel accessible. You don't need to be a designer to walk through its spaces, find inspiration and imagine how a simple piece of furniture could transform a corner of your home. With its affordable, functional products and thoughtful approach to everyday living, IKEA offers ideas for different lifestyles while keeping design simple and approachable. But beyond this familiar side, the IKEA PS series has always been a space for something more experimental. First introduced in 1995, the collection was created to explore new ideas and bring unexpected designs into everyday homes.

After its last edition in 2017, IKEA PS took a nine-year break before returning in 2026 with a fresh approach centred on “playful functionality.” From unusual forms to clever mechanisms and bold colours, the new collection brings a sense of fun to familiar household objects, reminding us that functional design doesn't always have to be predictable. To explore what this comeback brings to everyday design, I picked four pieces that caught my eye.

Four Designs That Caught Our Eye

IKEA PS 2026 Shelving Unit

Friso Wiersma's shelving unit might be the quietest piece in the collection, but its details are worth a closer look. Made from solid pine, the long open shelves create a light, simple structure, while the red-painted ends give it an unexpected character. Inspired by IKEA's 1984 GUIDE shelving system, the design brings together natural materials and a piece of the brand's history. The red details are more than decorative, referencing traditional wood-drying methods. Sometimes, a small detail is enough to make a familiar object feel new.

IKEA PS 2026 Floor Uplighter

At first glance, Lex Pott's floor uplighter has a simple, sculptural form. Look closer, and its angled joints reveal something more. By rotating its sections, the light can shift between an uplighter, a reading lamp and a spotlight. The design grew from experimenting with 45-degree cuts in a metal cylinder, turning a geometric detail into a useful feature. What makes it interesting is how a small movement can change both the function of the lamp and the atmosphere of a room. Of the blue, yellow and dark red versions, the dark red is my favourite; its rich colour makes it stand out, and I can easily picture it in my own home.

IKEA PS 2026 Height Adjustable Stool

Mikael Axelsson's height-adjustable stool doesn't try to hide how it works. Its wooden mechanism and bright blue lever are left in plain sight, becoming part of the design rather than something to conceal. What I find most interesting is how little explanation it seems to need. The simple adjustment invites people of different ages to interact with it and discover how it works. To me, it reflects something familiar about IKEA: making everyday objects easy to understand, with just enough playfulness to make them interesting.

IKEA PS 2026 Inflatable Easy Chair

The bright green inflatable chair was the first piece in the collection to catch my eye. Mikael Axelsson revisits IKEA's inflatable furniture experiments from the 1990s, this time pairing air-filled cushions with a supportive steel frame. Beyond its playful appearance, the idea of a chair that's easy to move and inflate brings a practical side to the design. Still, I wonder how comfortable it would feel over time and how well the cushions would hold their air. For me, these practical questions are just as important as the design itself.

When Design Gets Playful

What I find most interesting about IKEA PS returning is its willingness to give old ideas another chance. Not everything needs to be invented from scratch; sometimes looking at something from a different perspective can be just as meaningful. I also like how the collection steps away from being overly serious, leaving more room for curiosity and interaction. For IKEA, the challenge is finding where that freedom to experiment meets its practical roots.

A design can make us look twice. The real question is whether we'd want to live with it.