Limited-edition collection features pieces designed to foster "musical democracy" and includes more than 20 home furnishing and sound creations.
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Music producers and musicians no longer need big, expensive studios in order to create chart-topping hits. The members of house-music supergroup Swedish House Mafia are happy to provide proof of that.
“As we speak, we’re sitting in a hotel room in Los Angeles, with two small speakers, making music,” says Sebastian Ingrosso, one third of the group alongside Axwell (Axel Hedfors) and Steve Angello. “I think that, back in the day — the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s — people were in big studios, and that’s also very important. But today, from ourselves to people that we collaborate with, people make music on their way to work, in the subway, on their laptops.”
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Speaking via video call during an international media event, the world-famous DJ explained how that creative spontaneity helped to inspire the group’s new collaboration with Swedish home goods company Ikea.
“What we are coming up with now with Ikea, I think that’s more than enough for people to make music,” Ingrosso says of the collection, titled Obergränsad. “And I think it’s going to be more and more driven from your home. To have a studio these days, it’s a very expensive thing.
“So, I think this is smart. I think this is where we all are heading right now. To be home or to be somewhere easy to make music — it should be everywhere.”
The limited-edition collection features pieces designed to foster “musical democracy,” according to the company, and includes more than 20 home furnishing and sound creations ranging from a desk and shelving units to a record player, LED work lamp, clock and speaker stand. Priced from $3.99 to $199, the designs and branding surrounding the collection are sleek and black, a point Angello says is particularly fitting for the house-music trio.
“Look at us, you know?” he says with a laugh, pointing to the all-black t-shirts they sported during the video call. “It feels bold. It’s strong. It’s a very mature colour, but at the same time, it’s very, very bold. For us, it was an idea that brewed with doing something that felt very united and strong. So when we were throwing ideas at Ikea, we all kind of decided that this would be the strongest outcome. And when we got the collection and saw it all come together, it looks beautiful.
“It’s a very, very, very strong collection and, aesthetically, it’s very pleasing.”
While undoubtedly skewed toward home producers and artists, Angello stresses the collection isn’t just for music makers.
“We speak to a lot of creatives all the time — you know, gamers and designers and architects and whatever — and this appeals to everybody,” Angello says. “It’s not just music-focused.”
That universal appeal, Angello says, taps into the heart of the collection — including its very name.
“For us, it means a lot of things,” Angello explains of the moniker Obergränsad, pointing to “unlimited” as its underlying definition. “It feels like it means ‘unlimited’ to creativity. It’s ‘unlimited’ to everybody that wants to purchase it and be part of it. It’s an ‘unlimited’ loop of just motivation and inspiration throughout the years.”
Ikea, the Swedish music group says, played an important role in their early careers as young artists.
“We grew up surrounded by Ikea, and we’ve always used Ikea to hack our first furniture and studio setups,” Angello says. “So for us, it was completely emotional.”
Following its release this month, Angello says he is looking forward to seeing how customers and fans incorporate the Swedish House Mafia designs into their own unique living and working spaces.
“It’s super exciting to see where it comes from and where it goes,” he says. “It’s going to be nice to see if someone takes our hacks and make their own hacks. It’s going to be nice to see what they do with it. For us, it’s a really nice space to be in. And we feel blessed to be able to do this. To offer something to our younger selves that wouldn’t have been able to afford a vinyl player, or you know, vinyl collection stand.”
As for a favourite piece in the collection, Ingrosso was quick to spike the idea — “Everything is our favourite, you know, it’s like you cannot pick a favourite child,” he said with a smile — but Angello gave a hint to the one item the trio seems most proud to see in the partnership.
“We all share the love of something physical. And, growing up around vinyl, it’s one of the most beautiful ways to listen and care about music. And we wanted to expand that into a format that’s achievable, that anybody can kind of dive into,” Angello said of the record player on offer for $199. “It was a challenge, obviously technically, to make it work and make it affordable. But you know, going back and forth, we figured it out. And, you know, we’re extremely excited to see it.
“And I just woke up to 10 text messages from people asking me if they’re going to still be available.”
While the band is busy with their ongoing tour, the Paradise Again World Tour, which saw the trio make several stops in Canada including in Vancouver on Sept. 13, Angello didn’t rule out the idea that fans might just spot them making a stop off at their own local Ikea store in order to check how their hard work on this particular project has come to fruition.
“You might find us there making music,” Angello joked about his next trip to an Ikea store. “We love collaborating with Ikea. It’s been a great thing and we’ll see. You never know what the future holds.”
Aharris@postmedia.com