by Ikea’s Stockholm Collection has been completely refreshed for what is that collection’s largest new splash of product in its 40 years on retail floors.
Stockholm 2025 curates nearly 100 items for most rooms of the home, this time with a nod to nature. After a rollout earlier this month, the collection that made its debut in 1985 is already in stores and available online.
In its exactly four decades of life, or roughly half of Ikea’s own timeline, Stockholm has evolved with each of its eight distinct editions. Created by designers Paulin Machado, Nike Karlsson and Ola Wihlborg, and led by Karin Gustavsson, Stockholm is not surprisingly quintessentially Scandinavian in design and aesthetic. Combining handmade techniques such as hand-woven rugs and mouth-blown glass with natural materials that include pine, oak, leather and rattan, the refresh emphasizes nature.
“The purpose of the Stockholm collection has always been to prove that high quality doesn’t need to come at an intimidating cost,” Gustavsson said. “We have worked to create a no-compromise kind of collection where every piece tells a story. Craftsmanship is at the heart of this project, where traditional techniques and hands-on methods have resulted in durable and beautiful design pieces that stand the test of time.”
Designer Wihlborg said one of the goals of the refresh is to enable Stockholm to “feel like a home that’s been collected over time, even if you buy all the pieces at once.”
Mix and match or collect the whole set
At the same time, however, each of the 96 items stands on its own. Consistent with the rest of the Ikea assortment, Stockholm pieces can be mixed and matched with any Ikea product.
And while there are statement pieces in several categories, the two Stockholm sofas clearly stand out. One of the two, designed by Wihlborg, looks the same whether anyone is sitting on it or not.
“We focused on a soft shape with supportive pocket springs and high-resilience foam to hold its shape and comfort over time,” Wihlborg said of his modular sofa. He said he was inspired by his own frustration with sofas that constantly require cushion fluffing and that sparked the design concept. The previous signature Stockholm sofa, for example, had lots of cushions.
Wihlborg said he developed more than 30 prototypes before achieving balance between structure and softness, a balance consistent across its different configurations. Two modular pieces make a loveseat. Consumers can go longer by adding units. Wihlborg’s color choices for the sofa are turquoise, chocolate brown and a beige that leans gold.
Karlsson took a different route for the collection’s second sofa. Made with a solid pine wood frame and soft white cushions, Karlsson’s seating eschews foam for natural materials that include woven fabric, natural latex and coconut fiber.
“People often view pine as a budget material, but when you choose the finest, its beauty is undeniable,” Karlsson said. “The bench and sofa are perfect examples of this. The sofa is our first foam-free design, crafted with a 100% cotton weave and filled with coconut fibers and pocket springs. It produces a satisfying sound when you sit, quality that you can both feel and hear.”
And, as my wife noticed, gone are the Stockholm sofa’s metal legs.
Call of nature
Nature served as the main source of inspiration also for textile designer Machado, who designed Stockholm’s textiles, including the floor coverings. Machado’s hand-woven wool rugs feature earthy greens or minimalist black-and-white combinations meant to echo Sweden’s birch tree patterns.
“Nature is the best designer,” she said. “Every color matches beautifully [with] the natural world.”
Machado said she drew inspiration from her walks in the countryside.
“I captured colors that reflect the greenery of spring or the muted tones of winter,” she said.
The lighting, too, reaches outside with lampshades that feature leaf and mushroom motifs in color palettes drawn from the shifting tones of Scandinavian seasons, according to Ikea’s press release announcing the collection.
Changes in latitude
“You’d think a collection called Stockholm would just have a big-city feeling, but we went outside the city, to the nature and islands around it,” Karlsson said. “That shift was inspiring.”
To see Ikea’s Stockholm 2025 launch page online, click here.
The refresh has at least two firsts for Ikea: bouclé seating and storage shelving with no backing. But the collection not surprisingly relies on Ikea’s flat-pack packaging with legs that click into place without the need for tools.
“People want to mix and match and create a much more personalized space,” Gustavsson said. “Long gone are the perfectly matching sets of furniture. This collection plays to that. It is cohesive, but things stand out on their own and create personality.”
