When you think of LEGO, you probably think of giant colorful buckets full of bricks, not trendy white boxes that look like something you'd buy in the MOMA gift store. But thanks to a new collaboration with IKEA, that's exactly what you will think of from now on. IKEA LEGOS are coming, and honestly, I've never been more excited to build something I've purchased at IKEA.
Available for purchase in IKEA stores and online on October 1, the IKEA-LEGO Bygglek collection includes three sizes of stark white storage boxes with a LEGO sheet lid and also a unique-to-IKEA 201-piece LEGO set featuring multiple sizes of bricks, two minifigures, and one practical tool. (Because what's an IKEA set without an Allen key, am I right?) The large box (14 inches by 10 inches by 4.5 inches) will retail for $15, the medium box will sell for $13, and a small set of three boxes will sell for $9. The biggest surprise is that the 201-piece LEGO IKEA set is only $15 — an astonishingly low price for LEGOs.
Rasmus Buch Løgstrup, designer at the LEGO Group, and Andreas Fredriksson, designer at IKEA, tells Romper that these bricks are the exact same bricks you'd buy from Target or other retailers. They haven't changed the quality of the bricks to maintain a lower price point, which was crucial to IKEA, who sees the toys as something to be passed down from generation to generation.
The boxes are designed not only to be played with, but also to be a part of your home and its aesthetic. The boxes are gorgeous and practical, and thanks to their "balconies," they are customizable — one of the designers used it to show off his minifigures, another used it to color block in a more minimal style. (Very IKEA.) The Bygglek kit is also meant to work together. They are stackable and buildable as toys on their own. You can use the large box as the base, and build it up with additional storage Bygglek boxes. It's fantastic.
However, the thing I love the most is the tiny chef minifigure and his little stove. Yes, I love the minimal style of boxes, but come on, a Swedish chef and tiny little stove? I cannot. The cuteness is just about painful. If I'm going to sit and play with my kids, and have it left out all over the house — because as the designers said, play doesn't stop — I'm going to be playing with adorable Swedish chefs. Will I go full Muppet? Yes. Will my kids get annoyed? Absolutely. And I love to see it, frankly. It's funny.
