Ikea partners with NASA to build furniture that’s out of this world

Ikea is working with American space experts at NASA to figure out how to make furniture for people in densely populated cities. The Swedish furniture company is sending a team of designers to an astronaut training facility in Utah. The group will be locked inside a ‘spaceship environment’ for three days to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that spacefarers face working in cramped environments.

The head of the project, Ikea Creative Leader Michael Nikolic, describes the reason behind the strange collaboration in a company press release:

“I think that the essence of this collection will be about appreciating what we have on Earth: human beings, plants clean water and air. But also diversity and a sense of belonging – things that we take for granted on a daily basis. After this journey, it’ll probably feel pretty awesome to come home to my own bed,”

Whether or not the designers will create furniture that is space-themed, or simply inspired by the experience, remains to be seen.

At least now when your attempts at assembling an Ikea space-chair end in epic failure you can blame the fact that the company is literally working with rocket scientists to design it.