For the IKEA PS collection 2014, entitled “On the move”, David Wahl designed the IKEA PS pendant lamp, inspired by science fiction films. It’s a planet-shaped light source that’s reminiscent of a glowing globe. The shape and strength of the light can be altered by pulling the string.
David Wahl was an industrial designer before joining IKEA in 2010. As well as the pendant lamp, David Wahl designed another three products for the IKEA PS collection 2014. He remembers it as a long and challenging design process: “At IKEA we have a concept called Democratic Design, which every product has to live up to in terms of form, function, sustainability, quality and price. It’s a way of making sure we always offer high-quality design for the many people.”
David quickly came up with the pendant lamp’s beautiful form, but it took a lot of hard work to meet the other demands of Democratic Design, including the low price. He remembers: “At first, I thought the lamp would be too expensive to produce. But thanks to a close collaboration with the supplier, we were able to reduce the number of parts and improve the packaging, design and assembly. In the end, the price was actually lower than I’d originally hoped.”
The IKEA PS pendant lamp was launched in the 2015 IKEA catalogue, and is still sold at IKEA in 2021.
