The wool rug was part of the second IKEA PS collection. The first collection had been launched at the Milan furniture fair in 1995 under the name Democratic Design. It summed up an ambition to create products of good design, high quality, good function and sustainable production. All at a low price. The collection was very well received.
The only person who wasn’t fully delighted was Ingvar Kamprad, who thought the first collection was far too highly priced. Although sales of the products exceeded expectations, he wanted to try a new strategy for reducing the prices. A group of young Scandinavian designers was sent to visit factories in Poland, where they created new products directly on the factory floor, under the theme of ‘think differently’. That then became the second IKEA PS collection. Because the designers took a fresh approach to design and production processes, production costs, and therefore also prices in store, were now far lower. The collection entered the IKEA range in 1998–99.
Eva Lilja Löwenhielm was one of the young designers who went to Poland. At the time she had recently graduated from Beckmans College of Design and had her own design studio, along with a scholarship from IKEA. Since then she has been an important part of the Swedish design scene, with jobs for many famous brands including IKEA. In 2019 she was appointed head of design at IKEA.
