Home & design Limited-edition Swedish style, from Ikea

Ikea’s new limited-edition collection is simply brilliant

‘You don’t need to know it’s an Ingegerd Råman design, but you do need to know someone has really taken care while making it’

Ikea is on a roll with its designer collaborations. Following last year’s blockbuster range by the British interiors guru Ilse Crawford, it has unveiled a similarly desirable collection by Ingegerd Råman. It’s doubtful that you will have heard of Råman, but the septuagenarian designer is a national treasure in her native Sweden, and her timeless creations have won the Excellent Swedish Design Award no fewer than 17 times.

Although she is best known for glassware and ceramics, Råman’s limited-edition Ikea collection inlcudes everything from tableware to sculptural seating and lighting. Much of it was handmade in Vietnam from woven fbres such as bamboo, rattan and seagrass, and Råman worked closely with local craftspeople to develop the products.

‘I don’t speak Vietnamese, but when you’re working together you forget that because you always fnd a way of communicating through the materials,’ she says. ‘And that’s the most beautiful part.’

The upshot is a simple, understated range of everyday essentials – tumblers, stools, storage baskets – that are designed to be discreet. Unlike many big-name designers who pump out fashy pieces, Råman sets herself the challenge of making beautiful, useful objects that recede into the background.

‘You should see it but you shouldn’t see it,’ she explains. ‘I used to say when a design is ready, “Oh, so it’s nothing.” You don’t need to know that it’s an Ingegerd Råman design, but you do need to know that someone has really taken care while making it. That’s the feeling I want each piece to have – warmth.’

Seagrass rug, £25, bamboo pendant, £20, and dishes, from £9, rattan sofa, £145, chair, £35, and easy chair, £95. All from the Viktigt collection (ikea.com)

From top Glass serving plates, £19.75 for three, jugs, from £4.25, bamboo chair, £40, basket, £13, and chopping board and bowl, £7.50, and glass bowl, £11.25 for two