Ikonstudio reissues Louis Kahn and SOM furniture from archive

May 11. Ikonstudio, a Canadian design house, released two furniture collections pulled from architectural archives: one from Louis Kahn, one from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The pieces are reproductions of mid-century designs that never made it past the blueprint stage or were produced in small runs for specific buildings.

The Louis Kahn Collection includes a dining table, chairs, and a desk originally designed for the Yale Center for British Art and the Kimbell Art Museum. The SOM Collection features lounge seating and side tables from the firm's 1960s–70s interiors work. Both collections launched to align with NYCxDesign and Chicago Design Week. Retail pricing sits in the $2,000–$8,000 range depending on the piece.

What's notable here is the production discipline. These aren't speculative interpretations of a designer's "style." They're exact reproductions pulled from construction documents and original prototypes. Ikonstudio worked directly with the Kahn and SOM archives, digitized the drawings, and matched materials to period specifications. The Kahn dining table uses the same teak joinery as the original Yale prototype. The SOM lounge chair replicates the chrome frame and leather tension system from a 1970s Chicago office.

The timing is intentional. Mid-century reissues have flooded the market for a decade, but most lean toward the obvious names: Eames, Saarinen, Jacobsen. Kahn and SOM are architect-furniture, not furniture-furniture. The pieces were designed as spatial tools, not standalone objects. That distinction reads clearly in the collection. Nothing here is loud. The Kahn desk is a slab on steel legs. The SOM lounge is upholstered geometry.

Ikonstudio's first production run is limited to 50 units per piece. Orders are open now, shipping starts in August. The move is a bet that the design community still cares about restraint over novelty. Based on the early response from dealers in New York and Milan, the bet appears to be holding.