Dutch designer Lex Pott exclusively reveals the PS 2026 Lamp as part of the IKEA's latest PS Collection, which is being unveiled at Milan design week. Pott designed the lamp for the 35-piece PS Collection, the first part of which is being unveiled in Milan today. Ahead of the launch, Dezeen visited Pott's Rotterdam studio to discuss how he developed the playful light that can easily transform from an uplight to a reading light.

"The word lamp wasn't even in the briefing," he told Dezeen. "And I'm not an experienced lamp designer, but maybe that's why it became a fun lamp, but a logical lamp." Lex Pott designed the PS 2026 Lamp for Ikea The floor lamp that Pott eventually designed, after presenting around 70 ideas in response to what he describes as a "very open brief", can be reconfigured into several forms.

In its simplest format, it is an uplighter; however, by turning two 45-degree cut hinges, it can be transformed into a spotlight or a reading light. This hinge was patented by Pott and IKEA. "I always design stuff that I want to use in my house," said Pott.

"Basically, I have kids, I do lots of different things, I have a library, I have a sofa – so I needed an uplight, a reading light and a spotlight without having three lamps." "Because of this 45-degree cut, it is nice and easy to do," he continued. "I can use it in three spots in the house, in all different positions."

The lamp can transform from an uplight into a reading light Pott explained that he came up with the concept for the light while making cuts to a broomstick using a chop saw. "I was working with broomsticks and chopping broomsticks with the chop saw," said Pott. "And, as you know, you can also play with all the angles of the chop saw, and I was working on some prototyping – trying to get sticks into different DNAs or settings."

Read: IKEA pairs designers with chefs to rethink domestic spaces for Milan design week "I made a few diagonal cuts and realised that it becomes 90-degree angles, but you can also shift them beautifully into a singular cylinder again," he continued. "My first prototype was a broomstick, which I think represents my way of hands-on working. I'm not a computer designer, that comes after, that comes later."

Pott uses the light as a reading light and an uplight in his own house. Photo by Tom Ravenscroft The lamp maintains the dimensions of the broomstick, topped by a trumpet-form shade and a wide cone-shaped base. "So it is inviting as a piece to really play with, and in terms of shape, you can still see the exact same diameter of the broomstick translated into an industrial material," said Pott.

"Shape-wise, it's very geometric, subtle, minimised, almost like an archetype lamp," he continued. "I made a few tactile decisions, where you just go from a tube into two cones and by only giving it a filet or a radius, it becomes nicer to touch." The lamp's 45-degree joint has been patented Pott explained that a core part of the brief was "playful functionality", and that the ability to transform the light fulfilled a key part of this.

"It was all about minimalism, but not being boring – that was also part of the brief," he explained. "So it has this functionality, and the playful part, I think, is through interaction, because normally objects are very static." "You buy them, you look at it, or you use it to store stuff, but this requires you to literally interact with it," he continued.

"Therefore, it's also more fun, joyful, playful, and in that sense – it sounds a bit weird – but to emotionally connect with it or to get attached to it." "And for my kids, it's fun to use it as a microphone or to use it as a spotlight," he added. Yellow is one of the three colours the lamp is available in The lamp is available in three colours: a very light butter yellow, a bright cobalt blue and a darker Bordeaux red.

According to Pott, each has a distinct character. "They fulfil a different functionality with colour, to almost approach or accommodate three profiles," he said. "You know, my mother would go for the neutral light one, my grandfather would go for the classic Bordeaux red and me, the cobalt blue guy."

Pott prototyped the lamp in his studio. Photo by Tom Ravenscroft Pott believes that the combination of the colour and movement gives the lamps a character that he likens to Wilson in the film Castaway. "It's similar to a character, because a character is not static; like you can laugh, but you can also look angry," he said.

"So what makes the lamp bold for me, obviously, is colour, but also position and character – it can be more intimate and subtle, but it can also shout." "It has standard industrialised materials that I prefer to work with, tubes, cones, geometry, but still it has enough character on its own to exist," he continued. "There's a fine line between minimalism and boring; it needed to have a presence, but at the same time, its presence should not be about dominance."

Pott assembled the lamp for Dezeen. Photo by Tom R