Geometrical patterns, bold pops of colour and an element of playfulness—textile designer Kangan Arora’s collection, created in collaboration with IKEA, can transform any space. It ranges from home textiles to tableware and serveware sets. Think colourful bedding, rugs, soft furnishings, dinnerware, trays, napkins and even fabric by the metre.
The London-based designer who runs an eponymous studio works extensively with Indian fabrics. “My dream is to bring the joy and vitality of Indian textiles into every home and every living room. So for me, IKEA is the perfect collaboration,” she says.
To Kangan, the playfulness element was important right from the outset. “I built a library of basics — stripes, dots, squiggles and grids — and used these to explore pattern through geometry, layering and overlapping using screen-printing, or, what I like to call ‘sketching with screens’,” she says.
During the design process, she visited the IKEA museum and went through the archives in the Textile Playground (an interactive exhibit). “I found it hugely inspiring to see the extraordinary legacy they have in printed textiles, which goes back more than 50 years,” she says. She also turned to abstract and minimalist artists such as Ellsworth Kelly, Donald Judd and Carmen Herrera for inspiration, and then immersed herself in the print room, playing with shape and colour.
The pieces of the Spring collection are versatile and would be right at home in various settings, be it a personal space or a professional one. Available online and in IKEA stores.
Photographs: courtesy Inter IKEA Systems BV
