Not Your Grandma’s Murphy Beds: IKEA’s Latest Line Is the Future of Small Space Furniture

IKEA has always been a go-to retailer for small space dwellers. Now, the inventors of flat pack furniture have revealed their next innovation, and it might just change everything about how we live.

At their annual Democratic Design Days event on Tuesday, IKEA announced ROGNAN, an automated furniture system that is basically a Murphy bed on steroids. The unit is basically a movable wall, and can contain a combination of beds, closets, sofas, or desks.

The Swedish retailer is partnering with MIT-based startup Ori, which debuted its Pocket Closet last year. ROGNAN will use Ori’s robotic platform and IKEA’s storage system PLATSA, so that it’s easy to change the function of the unit.

“With ROGNAN, small space living customers will no longer have to compromise their needs, dreams or comfort in order to achieve a multi-functional living environment,” Seana Strawn, Product developer for new innovations at IKEA of Sweden, says in a press release. “The customer gets eight extra square meters of living space, using robotics to transform the solution from bedroom to walk-in closet, to work space, to living room. An all-in-one solution activated through a simple interface touchpad.”

“Instead of making the furniture smaller, we transform the furniture to the function that you need at that time,” Seana says. “When you sleep, you do not need your sofa. When you use your wardrobe, you do not need your bed etc.”

It was at Democratic Design Days in 2016 that IKEA announced its collab with Tom Dixon which became the DELAKTIG system, a small space “platform for living” bed/sofa that can be hacked to include side tables, lamps, and various other configurations.

ROGNAN is set to launch first in Japan and Hong Kong in 2020.