Mikael Axelsson

Mikael Axelsson is a Swedish designer working within IKEA of Sweden’s in-house design team. Before joining IKEA he completed a technical engineering degree, then studied product design at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. His graduation project, a series of mechanically driven lamps called “Off the Grid”, won three awards in 2012, including scholarships from Svenskt Tenn, Ung Form, and IKEA itself. The project caught the attention of Marcus Engman, then Head of Design at IKEA of Sweden, who invited Axelsson for an internship that led to a permanent role.

The SIPPRA wall clock, a grey, metal mesh timepiece documented in the 2016 IKEA catalogue, is among the earliest products recording his contribution to the IKEA range. In subsequent years Axelsson worked on the METOD kitchen system, the VARDAGEN cast iron cookware range (inspired by 1950s everyday pots and pans), and the VÄLGÖRANDE and ÖVERALLT collections developed in collaboration with Romanian artisans and Design Indaba participants respectively. In 2026 his easy chair design appeared in the PS 2026 collection.