For Crawford, the British designer whose gorgeous, subtle Sinnerlig collection came out in late 2015, it was how to preserve the rawness and tactility of natural materials, like cork and seagrass, when making mass-­produced furniture. It was also designing for a home that has become more fluid. People work in the living room, eat in the bathroom (really), so Crawford created pieces with multiple uses, like a dining room table with a hidden sling where you can stash your work papers out of sight. The British designer Tom Dixon, whose Ikea collection launches next fall, sought to upend the staid conventions of upholstery by constructing a sofa with an aluminum frame (“taken a bit from the car industry,” Dixon told me) that can be customized with various modular parts, and thus formalizes the informal practice of “hacking” Ikea furniture. The Danish design company Hay, whose collection also debuts in 2017, is reimagining a series of “new modern basics,” Engman says — furniture, lighting, textiles and accessories in a subdued palette of gray, green and white, including a wooden table, bench seating and a tasteful woven update on the infamous blue and yellow Frakta bag. “As a designer, it is compelling to have the opportunity to reach so many people,” Ilse Crawford says. “The whole design industry put together produces a fraction of what Ikea does. The collaboration enabled us to understand where we could push the boundaries, to see where improvements could be made within the production process to achieve a more human result.”