The smart, two-seater IKEA PS sofa could easily be folded out and made into a double bed. It also had wheels, which made it extra flexible. It was designed by Thomas Sandell and Chris Martin for the second IKEA PS collection, launched in 1999.
The first IKEA PS 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 one who wasn’t fully delighted was Ingvar Kamprad, who thought the first collection was far too highly priced. When the second collection of products was launched under the name IKEA PS the prices had been kept down, but the high design ambition still remained.
The designers, Thomas Sandell and Chris Martin, epitomised this. Thomas Sandell was already a well-known architect and designer, with his own design firm. Chris Martin had a degree in furniture design from the Royal College of Art in London, and had worked as an assistant to the renowned designer Jasper Morrison. In the IKEA PS brochure from 1999, the designers say: “We wanted to create good design that makes people happy. Design that has a positive influence on people. You can pull the IKEA PS sofa bed out with one hand, without spilling wine from the glass you’re holding in the other.”
