IKEA Debuts 3D-Printed Décor Line With Pocket-Friendly Prices

Looking for unique artwork? Try IKEA. While the furniture giant is remembered for producing more staple than statement pieces, it is now tapping into avant-garde sensibilities with FLAMTRÄD, a new array of 3D-printed home décor that’s anything but basic. For now, the line is exclusively available in Germany, but the company is exploring the idea of expanding it within Europe, if not on a wider scale.

The objects, which include sculptures of a human face and hands in multiple poses, are printed using an industrial technique called selective laser sintering (SLS), which gives them a lattice appearance often associated with 3D printing.

Designed under the helm of IKEA project leader Olaf Szukalowicz, the décor items can be displayed as they are or arranged to seemingly interact with one another. Each is “nice on its own, but also in combination with other shapes from the same series,” says the brand.

The hands, for instance, can be joined to form a heart and decorated with the face. You could also dress up the head with a wig or hang jewelry over the hands.

Priced between €29.99 and €49.99 (US$34 to US$57), the decorative pieces are a tad expensive for IKEA wares but affordable for 3D-printed wares, including products that the Swedish behemoth has released in the past. According to 3DPrint.com, IKEA seems to have found a happy medium to make 3D printing costs low enough for mass production.

If all goes well, IKEA intends to bring FLAMTRÄD to at least one more European market. As of now, though, it hasn’t revealed any plans for a global rollout. 

[via 3DPrint.com, Inhabitat, 3D Printing Media Network, images via IKEA Germany]