Exciting IKEA Finds Hitting Shelves In May 2026

Playfulness is not solely the domain of children, even though the wonder and wackiness of children often informs how designers translate "playful" for objects like lamps, chairs, and benches. IKEA is previewing its new PS 2026 collection — the 10th postscript to its main catalog in 30 years — with three products that exemplify the collection's "playful functionality" theme: a three-directional floor lamp, an inflatable easy chair, and a rocking bench. From the very first PS collection in 1995, democratic design has been a unifying principle across each iteration, and the recently released teaser proves this year will be no different.

The defining characteristics of democratic design, as explained by IKEA, are low prices, form, function, quality, and sustainability. The added focus on playful functionality in 2026 is nothing new; the Swedish retailer has long been among the best places to shop for playroom furniture and other lighthearted items. Consider the previous PS collections, which were supplements to the IKEA catalog but not afterthoughts. The 1999 collection included Thomas Eriksson's coffee table (arguably one of IKEA's most iconic designs), a kid-themed approach defined the 2003 lineup, and in 2009, IKEA released a wonderfully odd and imaginative collection of practical household furnishings. PS 2026 brings back this tradition of inspired innovation, with the three preview pieces giving us a glimpse of the lighthearted designs in store when the full 35-piece collection is released on May 13.

IKEA designers Mikael Axelsson and Marta Krupińska contributed two of the preview pieces to the PS 2026 collection, an inflatable chair and a rocking bench. An inflatable chair might seem like an inevitable bucking bronco waiting to dump sitters on the floor, but this is not IKEA's first rodeo. Previous attempts at pump-plumped furniture informed this new chair, which is reined in by its chrome frame and has even been tested by kids and cats ... though not everyone is fully convinced it will hold up. What everyone thinks is great is not always the best measure of greatness, which is why even democratic design has designers rather than voters. But sometimes, people get it right, and the new collection's inflatable chair seems to be gaining interest as a surefire way to make a statement.

If the chair rocks, IKEA's new bench rolls. It looks like a rocking horse that has been de-horsed, leaving it as a frame meant to be ridden side-saddle. But this isn't meant for your baby's dreamy Scandinavian nursery. One product launch photo shows two dogs sitting on one end of the bench, tipping that end down and inadvertently inventing the wayward child's terrier catapult. And it's hard for a parent not to imagine the bench instantly becoming a sort of indoor seesaw, scuffing its way across your hardwood floor and into the vintage Enetri shelf where you keep your collection of film cameras and artisanal mixtapes. In all seriousness, though, this looks like more fun than you can reasonably expect from an IKEA bench.

IKEA says that designer Lex Pott "wondered what happens when you cut a steel cylinder at 45 degrees and start rotating the pieces" ... long a feature of flashlight designs. He created a torchiere lamp as conceived by the most strident of minimalists, integrating two points of 45-degree rotation to achieve lighting at a variety of angles. (Or, at its topmost few inches, as a study for a lost Magritte called "Ceci n'est pas un martini.") The result is a lamp that can direct light in an upward (uplight), downward (reading light), or horizontal (spotlight) direction. If those were the only directions the lamp was capable of, the spotlight mode would probably be of limited use. But the lamp's two joints are adjustable to any angle ... though any position other than 0 or 180 degrees makes the joints' ellipses not line up, making them look a bit wonky.

This is not IKEA's first foray into multi-directional floor lamps, of course. The 2009 PS collection featured the SVARVA lamp, which the designers called "a bendable, turned wooden pole" and looked like one of those tripods you would wrap around a hotel railing or a roller coaster safety bar. And IKEA currently offers the HEKTAR lamp, which can achieve all of the directions of the PS 2026 lamp at the same time. What makes this new lamp special are its aesthetics and the experience of using it either as task or accent lighting, which are perfectly fitting for IKEA and a PS collection focused on playful functionality.