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Bringing House Into the Home: Swedish House Mafia Talk New IKEA Collaboration

The Grammy-nominated trio discuss their exclusive home furnishing collection, how our spaces effect the way we listen to music, and democratizing the creative process

By Sage Anderson

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October 1, 2022

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Swedish House Mafia Ikea OBEGRÄNSAD Collection

IKEA

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In 2022, Grammy-nominated trio Swedish House Mafia – Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso and Axwell – focused on the one thing they hadn’t done yet. And no, it wasn’t making their full-length comeback album, Paradise Again. The house music group known for swaggering beat-crafting and screen-worthy live stage grandeur returned to their roots — helping creatives make music at home.

The trio collaborated with in-house designers at IKEA to create OBEGRÄNSAD, a limited collection dedicated to enabling the next generation in music and digital arts to build the perfect home studio on a budget. The collection consists of more than 20 smart home furnishing solutions, meant for everyone from DJs, musicians, or amateur producers building their own home setup, to vinyl heads wanting to create a space listen to music and relax.

IKEA

Buy Swedish House Mafia x Ikea OBEGRÄNSAD…

The OBEGRÄNSAD desk stands out in particular as being a core solution for upcoming music creators. “Sound is everything in music, and we have added two speaker stands to the desk in order to bring the
speakers to the ear level. We have also added a pull-out shelf below the desktop,” says Friso Wiersma, one of IKEA’s in-house designers. He says this maximizes the most desktop space possible (especially for adding a midi keyboard or other equipment), and represents the balance of form and function key to the collection.

Up-and-coming DJs will also appreciate the OBEGRÄNSAD shelving unit, built with shelf space for amps, as well as classic vinyl-sized block shelving, and a higher unit height for mixing on. Even for those that just want to make a space for jamming out, the OBEGRÄNSAD record stand holds approximately 60 vinyl records, and the listening armchair has a minimalist, yet comfortable feel.

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IKEA

Buy Swedish House Mafia x Ikea OBEGRÄNSAD…

In fact, the whole collection is all-black, with minimal, thin lines meant to fit into any space, like the LED work and floor lamps (inspired the light shows during SHM’s concerts), rugs, and even abstract clocks. Although the most unexpected product to come out of the collection was easily IKEA’s first record player since 1973 (IKEA actually has quite the history of music items for the home — they’ve made pianos, stereo systems, amplifiers, and more recently, bluetooth speakers).

The OBEGRÄNSAD record player has a sleek style, but with a solid, chunky design that practically demands a presence in the room. The group wanted to make record-listening an integral part of the space, as opposed to fading into the background (we demo’d it for ourselves with the vinyl of Paradise Again, and it delivered thumping bass and crisp highs).

IKEA

Buy Swedish House Mafia x Ikea OBEGRÄNSAD…

The name of the collection itself, “OBEGRÄNSAD”, is Swedish for “unlimited”, but gets to the heart of the collection’s goal: that anyone with limited means, but unlimited creativity, can have the same opportunities to make art as anyone else. Swedish House Mafia told Rolling Stone they aim to democratize music production at home. “The designs support creating, playing, enjoying and even just setting the mood,” Swedish House Mafia said in a press statement.

Swedish House Mafia sat down with Rolling Stone to talk how the exclusive home furnishing collection came together, how our spaces effect the way we listen to music, and democratizing the creative process.

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You’re taking the “house” concept to another place here by collaborating with IKEA on interior design products. What inspired starting the collaboration, and why did you feel like now was the right time? 

Axwell: It felt like an interesting and exciting project to take on since all of us have a love for the art of design — and keeping things simple, efficient and accessible. Which is a concept that we think IKEA has mastered.

Angello: First and foremost, we’re huge fans of solutions in general. So for us, most of our careers have always been either solving a problem with design, or expressing that solution with the song. Growing up in Sweden, for us, without the opportunity to change our situation, IKEA was always there, was always a place where we could always put things up and craft them together, but make it our own. We wanted to try to do something for our younger selves.

How do you think the spaces we live in affect the way we listen to and experience music? 

Ingrosso: Your surroundings will always affect how you think. A good creative space is essential to take in a good piece of music as well as creating something yourself, and a good space could be just about anything that you imagine as long as you’re in a comfortable place that helps you think and feel clearly.

Angello: And also to add to that, a house is your safe place, yeah? For us creatives, you know. I don’t know, I can only speak for myself. But I had a very rough time growing up. It probably caused problems in school, because I was creative. And that really labeled me as mentally ill, in some terms. I know there’s a lot of creators that feel the same thing.

So for us, it’s about creating a comfortable situation for yourself in life, and being happy doing what I do. Creativity in the home home can mean many different things, right? Playing with your kids, or listening to music while cooking, there’s many different ways. So we wanted to create a safe place for you and your loved ones. A place you can unwind on a regular basis, create things, and basically, be a good neighbor.

Decor can often feel purely functional, but you’ve described listening to music as experiential — how do you strike the balance between products that are both utilitarian and meant to be “lived in”, so to speak? 

Ingrosso: Well, you cannot forget that everything purely functional doesn’t lack experiential qualities. Everything you see, hear and feel is an experience that can satisfy your aesthetic needs whether it was only made to serve a function or to create a feeling. When the two factors meet (function and feeling), you have made something great.

Can you talk a little bit about the name “Obegränsad” and what it means to you and your identity as recording artists?

Axwell: Obegränsad means “unrestricted”, and while limitations in creative work can help you narrow down “solutions” to a piece of music or art that needs work, we feel as though the concept of being unrestricted is more about feeling free to do whatever you want with your art, express any and every feeling you can imagine without someone or something holding you down.

You say your collection is for creators with “limited means” and unlimited creativity. Why was it so important for you to democratize this collection, as opposed to making something high-end, exclusive and fine-tuned for audiophiles?

Ingrosso: Because this is our true origin. When we grew up and started making music we couldn’t afford high end equipment. We wanted to make accessible but still professional equipment for the many people to use in their everyday life. 

Angello: This is for the creatives that don’t have all the means in the world to build out some suped-up, hifi studio, or you know, something you would potentially invest sometimes millions into. IKEA helped me to enable my creative side by giving me the opportunity to hack it and kind of do it yourself. Even in terms of building your own setup.

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It’s been said that IKEA’s furniture and accessories are always designed to solve a problem in mind. What problem for music artists were you aiming to solve here?

Axwell: We wanted to simplify the process for people to create music.

Angello: I mean, for us, it was for any creator in general. It could be an art director, or painter, or game maker.

Axwell: Hopefully our collection inspires and enables more people to be more creative within their home and it doesn’t have to be restricted to only music making, it can be so much more.

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