Ikea Created “Love Seats” in Honor of Pride, and They Represent 10 LGBTQ+ Flags

Brian Lanigan shared his coming-out story to Ikea, saying he came out as bisexual in high school and “as a queer, chubby, blue-haired 9th grader – it didn’t go so well.” Today, Lanigan performs spoken-word poetry and says poetry has helped him “calmly examine what he was feeling, and ground himself in finding how he identifies.”

This love seat was designed by queer fashion designer, illustrator, and researcher Charlotte Carbone.

“Sexuality is a spectrum, and that includes asexuality as well,” Brianna Roye told Ikea. Roye experiences sexuality in a different way. “On one side you have being asexual and on the other side you have alosexual – which is primarily what most people are – and I fall somewhere in the middle where I feel sexual attraction sometimes, not often, and with particular people.”

This love seat was designed by Canadian designer Ali Haider.

Jena Nesser discussed the relationship she’s currently in with girlfriend Veronica, saying they met in November 2015 and didn’t wind up dating until a few months later. To Jena, the lesbian Pride flag is “a source of inspiration, belonging, progress, and acceptance.”

This love seat was designed by queer illustrator and journalist Madison van Rijn.

“I had people and forces around me telling me that my thoughts and feelings about myself were something to be corrected. I knew deep down that they were wrong,” John Walsh told Ikea. Walsh uses fashion to express themself and knew ever since they grew out their hair in high school that they were on a different journey.

This love seat was designed by queer fashion designer, illustrator, and researcher Charlotte Carbone.

If Jules Reeves could give advice to their younger self, it’d be “take the leap and let the chips fall as they may because you will end up in a place where you finally feel comfortable, and you’ll finally feel confident, and you’ll finally feel loved in all of its complexity and beauty.” Reeves then added, “oh and also don’t pluck your eyebrows too thin.”

This love seat was designed by queer illustrator and muralist Madison van Rijn.

“I had a very hard time coming into myself and learning about how I identify because I was in a lot of spaces where I didn’t see people that looked like me,” Marisa Rose Grant told Ikea. “In a lot of this queer community, it’s very white and very not inclusive. So having spaces where I see Black folks highlighted and uplifted is very empowering and it definitely helped me through my journey of discovering myself and not feeling like a weirdo.”

This love seat was designed by queer fashion designer, illustrator, and researcher Charlotte Carbone.

“It took me years to realize I was Trans,” Nathaniel Le May told Ikea. “It took me some time because I was really worried about what other people thought, but at a certain point I just said to myself, ‘It doesn’t bother me anymore I’ll do what I want.'” Le May told his partner that he wanted to transition into a man, and she was totally on board. The pair share two kids together.

This love seat was designed by queer fashion designer Bianca Daniela Nachtman.

“I’m absolutely pansexual, I don’t know who I’m going to end up with, I don’t know their gender, but I do feel like there are no limits to who I will love in the future and I feel secure in that now,” Sarah Bellstedt told Ikea.

This love seat was designed by queer fashion designer Bianca Daniela Nachtman.

“I don’t think of myself as a human being – I think of myself as a sacred spiritual blessing,” Scott Wabano told Ikea. “After all of the years of continuously trying to wipe us out, I’m still here to say that I’m a proud two-spirited person and I am free and I am a youth. My existence is the resistance, and that’s powerful.”

This love seat was designed by queer fashion designer Bianca Daniela Nachtman.

Waseem Shayk is the cofounder of Rangeela, Canada’s largest event for the South Asian Queer community. He wanted to create a space where South Asian queer people were recognized and could show up and be their authentic selves. He credits the event’s success to following his and his cofounder’s gut feelings – to create a space where people can show up and be true to who they are.

This love seat was designed by Canadian designer Ali Haider.