IKEA and Lego, two companies known for selling products that customers have to build themselves, have finally revealed the fruits of their collaborative labour first teased two years ago. Confusingly, though, it’s not furniture assembled from giant modular bricks, but a collection of plastic storage boxes adorned with Lego-compatible studs.
The collection, known as BYGGLEK, has already been spotted in IKEA stores in Germany and other European countries, but today IKEA and Lego made the official reveal that it’s a solution for storing toys that can also be incorporated into kids’ creative play. Officially available in IKEA stores in North American and most of Europe starting on October 1, with a wider release later in 2020, the BYGGLEK collection consists of a $20 large-sized box with a lid, a $18 smaller box, and then a three-pack of even smaller storage boxes for $14. The collaboration also includes an IKEA-exclusive Lego brick set for $20, but it doesn’t appear to recreate any iconic pieces from IKEA’s furniture collection.
The lids of each box are covered in studs, allowing kids to build atop them with Lego bricks, while indents surrounding the containers can be upgraded with Lego windows, turning the BYGGLEK pieces into tiny houses. They’re cute, but the first products from this collaboration are also kind of a letdown. Most families with at least one kid are always in need of an excellent Lego storage solution, and these two companies working together could have potentially created the perfect Lego container. What immediately comes to mind is a giant Rubbermaid-like container with organised compartments inside and enough storage capacity for thousands of Lego bricks, plus a lid covered in studs where an entire Lego town could be built.
Hopefully these new storage containers don’t mark the end of Lego and IKEA’s partnership. Flipping through the IKEA catalogue, there are products on every other page that would be made even better if covered in plastic Lego studs. Imagine building an IKEA KALLAX shelf without needing a single screw or tool — so many relationships could be saved if IKEA and Lego really let their collective imaginations run wild.