Tom Dixon and IKEA have collaborated to design the DELAKTIG, a bed/sofa with add-on accessories that has the potential to become anything users might imagine and create. 

DELAKTIG (Swedish for ‘involvement’) taps into the global community of IKEA hackers who modify or combine IKEA products beyond their prescribed design and intention to create furniture tailored to their own styles and specifications. IKEA initially objected to the hacking culture but has slowly embraced it, running hack-a-thon sessions, using it as a tool to learn what people want from their products, and now collaborating with Dixon on a hackable bed/sofa. 

Described by Dixon as a “living platform,” the single bed/sofa can be adapted for different uses with add-ons (or hacks) that change its purpose. These include task lamps and side tables that can be clamped, slotted or bolted to the frame to create a space for sleeping, relaxing, working or entertaining. It can be transformed from a single bed into a chaise longue or three-seater sofa and has the potential to become a twin, bunk or four-poster bed.

“The general idea is that, just like with your iPhone, people can build apps around this sofa which will allow them to adapt it for a longer life,” Dixon says. “The success of this will be if, in 30 or 40 years, people have changed its functionality and it’s still survived rather than just being discarded.”

In this way, DELAKTIG is never a finished piece of furniture. Dixon, IKEA, designers, manufacturers and users can continuously expand the collection by creating an ever-growing range of hacks. The flexibility and versatility mean one piece of furniture can serve multiple and changing uses over a longer lifespan.

Dixon originally pitched a cot and a coffin to IKEA. They settled on a bed/sofa. DELAKTIG is designed for adaptability, longevity and user customisation, and with add-on accessories that can take it from day to night, it may have the potential to serve from cot to coffin.

DELAKTIG launched in Europe in February 2018 and will be available in Singapore from April.

Want more IKEA stories? We recently considered the five lessons of Swedish design by IKEA.