Marcus Engman, head of design at IKEA for the past six years, will leave the company at the end of the month to set up his own consultancy.
As head of design, Engman has been responsible for overhauling the Swedish flat-pack giant, moving it away from its reputation of "doing cheap stuff", as he explained to Dezeen in an interview in 2015.
His successor has not yet been announced, but the company has hinted that a direct replacement may not be recruited following Engman's departure on 1 October.
"IKEA will continue to be explorative and curious but the exact organisation and setup is something that will be defined in the coming period," said Peter van der Poel, manager of IKEA Range & Supply, in a statement. IKEA has launched a range of high-profile collaborations under Engman's leadership, including one with Scandinavian brand Hay
Engman, who is a judge for the Dezeen Awards, first worked for the Swedish furniture behemoth part-time during his schooldays and went on to hold a variety of positions there, including marketing manager for IKEA Retail in Sweden. He left the company in 2000 to set up an agency called Kollo, returning 12 years later to become head of design.
"I came back to IKEA in a time when we decided to become more transparent and open up for more and bigger collaborations, which has been very inspiring and I hope this has contributed to that even more people have found IKEA interesting and vital," said Engman in a st...