The IKEA UK site has a wonderful series of little online movies that mix film and animation to introduce us to 20 designers, and their inspiration for various IKEA PS products.
The IKEA PS collection is a line of 46 products by 20 designers that combine good design with the economical use of resources and responsiblity for the environment. Chairs, bookcases, dressers, benches, room dividers, lamps, clocks, wall mirrors, glassware, decor, textiles and rugs are amongst the products in the collection.
Above: the home page of the Never Ending Design Stories
The Never Ending Design Stories begins in a Seed World where animated dandelion seeds are drifting through the sky.
The 'seeds' represent the stories. As you click upon each seed, a designer within the pod is exposed and a small film begins featuring that designer discussing the product from the PS collection for which they personally designed.
Smartly designed for consumer use, the 'seed' (or product story) you've already viewed has a yellow flag trailing from it so when you return to the Seed World, know which video you've already seen:
Each video has the options to be viewed with or without sound and subtitles. At the end of each little film, you are given the product information such as the name, price and dimensions:
They are all very different, but equally charming and give you a much greater respect for a product as seemingly mundane as a towel. Following are a few screen grabs from some of the 'stories'. Please click on the images to enlarge:
Go see all the Neverending Design Stories here.
