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

VIRGIL ABLOH & IKEA, Marked, carpet, “Wet Grass”. Designed in 2019,
Description
approx 195x132 cm.
Tagged with: IKEA c/o Virgil Abloh “Flooring”, Älmhult, Sweden. in 2019.

Designed by Virgil Abloh in a major 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 collection of men's clothing since 2018.

HISTORIAN:
The carpet in the MARKERAD collection, with its clear written mottos, was part of a collaboration that IKEA began 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 Swedish homes, and the temporary MARKERAD collection received a lot of attention. In addition to the carpets, a chair, a table, a bed, a display cabinet as well as interior items such as a backlit painting and a wall clock were also included in the collection. All in all, it encompassed 15 items, many of which sold out in no time.

MARKED was based on a classic, minimalist design that was spiced up with rebellious details. Virgil Abloh's famous quotation marks recurred throughout the collection, adding a sense of humor and warm irony.

“I am delighted that MARKED 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 add 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 rug. 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 “playing fields” and a genuine willingness 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 a message for our time,” said Henrik Most, Creative Director at IKEA of Sweden.

The carpets became one of the biggest successes of the collection. The carpet with the print “KEEP OFF” sold out instantly. Over time, 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.