VIRGIL ABLOH & IKEA, Marked, carpet, “Wet Grass”. Designed in 2019.

approx. 195x132 cm.
Labeled: IKEA c/o Virgil Abloh "Flooring", Älmhult, Sweden. 2019.

Designed by Virgil Abloh in a larger collaboration with IKEA in 2019.
Virgil Abloh, born 1980 in Rockford, Illinois, died November 28, 2021 in Chicago, was an American clothing designer who worked for Louis Vuitton's menswear collection since 2018.

HISTORY: The carpet in the MARKERAD collection, with its clear written mottos, was part of a collaboration that IKEA started in 2017 with Virgil Abloh, American designer, multi-creator and DJ. He was then one of the hottest names in the fashion world, best known for his work with both his own brand and international fashion houses.

With the collaboration, IKEA wanted to bring a contemporary street fashion into the Swedish homes, and the temporary collection MARKERAD got a lot of attention. In addition to the carpets, the collection also included a chair, a table, a bed, a display cabinet and interior details such as a backlit painting and a wall clock. In all, it included 15 items, many of which sold out in no time.

MARKERAD originated in a classic, minimalist design that was seasoned with rebellious details. Virgil Abloh's famous quotation marks recurred throughout the collection, adding a sense of humor and warm irony.

“I'm thrilled that MARKERAD is now ready to face the world and I look forward to seeing how these everyday objects become part of people's homes, and hopefully contribute an emotional value. In the same way that you can hang a work of art on the wall, art can also be incorporated into objects such as a chair, a table or a carpet. That was my starting point when I created this collection in collaboration with IKEA,” said Virgil Abloh at the launch.

"Our collaboration has been characterized by a curiosity about each other's 'game plans' and a genuine desire to try new paths. By allowing our different approaches to design to meet, we challenged each other to think differently. The result is a collection that I think is bold, contemporary and message-bearing for our time," said Henrik Most, creative director at IKEA of Sweden.

The rugs became one of the collection's greatest successes. The rug with the print "KEEP OFF" sold out immediately. Gradually, several rugs were added to the collection, including one with the message "WET GRASS" and another designed as a giant receipt from IKEA.

MARKERAD was sold in limited edition at six IKEA stores between September 2018 and February 2020.

Source: IKEA Museum.