IKEA is bringing back inflatable furniture—what’s new?

IKEA’s inflatable chair gets a redesign for Milan Design Week

IKEA has unveiled a reengineered take on its inflatable chair at Milan Design Week, taking a product category that was once seen as novelty and positioning it as a more intentional piece of design.

Instead of treating inflation as a gimmick, IKEA’s approach is to revisit the concept with updated engineering and styling—aiming to make the chair more useful in everyday living while keeping the space-saving appeal that made inflatable furniture popular in the first place.

The key practical idea behind inflatable designs is that they can reduce storage and shipping bulk: the chair can be packaged compactly and then assembled quickly when needed. That matters for apartment dwellers, students, and anyone looking for flexible, lower-commitment furniture.

With IKEA previewing the updated chair during Milan Design Week, the company is also signaling that mainstream furniture brands are still willing to experiment with materials and forms, not just chase conventional “flat-pack” upgrades.

If you’re evaluating whether inflatable furniture belongs in your home, what this Milan reveal suggests is that the category is moving toward more refined consumer products rather than one-off party pieces.

What to watch next

Expect more details to emerge around the chair’s final design, intended use cases, and availability as Milan Design Week reporting turns into consumer product announcements.