There is something quietly radical about a chair made of air. Actual air, pumped in with a foot pump, held inside a carbon steel frame and wrapped in deep emerald green fabric.
IKEA’s new PS 2026 Easy Chair is the brand’s first serious return to inflatable furniture since the a.i.r range quietly disappeared in the late 1990s. The concept was always good. Air is free, lightweight, and flat-packs beautifully.
The problem was execution. Earlier versions slid across the floor, squeaked, and sagged. Designer Mikael Axelsson’s answer was to stop fighting the physics.
Blow up a balloon. Trap it inside a metal frame. Let the structure do the work.
Twenty prototypes later, including one involving a tractor tire, he landed on two adjustable air chambers held within a tubular chrome frame. It ships flat with a foot pump.
It has passed every durability test IKEA runs on its armchairs. And it looks like something you would actually want in your living room.
The Easy Chair anchors the IKEA PS 2026 collection, the tenth edition of the experimental line running since 1995. Also shown at Milan Design Week: a solid pine rocking bench and a three-directional floor lamp that shifts the mood of a room depending on which way you point it.
Three different objects, one shared instinct. The things we live with should be a little more alive.
The full collection goes on sale May 14.
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