Updatables

Most furniture has one life. It arrives, sits in a corner, and eventually gets thrown away. Updatables proposes something different — a family of IKEA objects that don't stay still. They ask to change. They want new legs, a different top, an add-on they've been thinking about.

The project uses a genetic algorithm to generate new furniture combinations, iteratively swapping and adding existing IKEA parts across multiple generations. Each Updatable is unique — it has its own name, story, and family tree. Through an app, users can scan their home and receive design ideas directly from their furniture, as if the objects themselves were making suggestions.

The goal wasn't just circularity as a constraint but circularity as something you might actually enjoy. If an object has a voice — if it can tell you what it wants to become — throwing it away starts to feel like a different kind of decision.

Made with Matteo Loglio at oio, in collaboration with IKEA and Space10.