Hasta La Ideas

Ingvar Kamprad put the “IK” in IKEA (the “E” and the “A” are for Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born, and a neighboring village, Agunnaryd), but he left Sweden in 1973 to escape the hefty taxes and settled in Switzerland. Now the 87-year-old IKEA founder, whose fortune is estimated at $51.7 billion (that’s enough to buy more than 8 million Billy bookcases), is coming home. “To move back to Sweden brings me closer to my family and my old friends,” Kamprad said in a statement. The country’s tax laws have softened since his departure, according to the Wall Street Journal. A wealth tax has been abolished and income taxes have been lowered. Kamprad recently stepped down from the board of IKEA’s parent company, Inter IKEA Group, which is now chaired by one of his three sons.

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Visto su Swiss Miss, questa mini bancarella per bimbi in cartone faciliterà il loro business di limonate. Non ho idea se si trova già in Italia, nel caso fatemi un fischio quando passate dagli svedesi.

News: Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has apologised for selling products manufactured by East German political prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s.

The multinational chain released an independent report last week which investigated allegations made by a Swedish television documentary that Ikea and other businesses had benefited from the use of forced labour by their East German suppliers, the Guardian reports.

“We regret wholeheartedly that this happened,” said Peter Betzel, head of Ikea in Germany. “It is not and never was acceptable to Ikea that it should be selling products made by political prisoners and I would like to express my deepest regret for this to the victims and their families.

“We took steps to ensure that prisoners were not used in production, but it’s now clear to us that these were not decisive enough.”

One former German Democratic Republic prisoner told the Guardian that it was no secret the furniture they were making was for Ikea.

“Their name was on the boxes which the products were packed into and the prison guards didn’t keep it a secret from us. Everyone knew,” said Alexander Arnold, who was imprisoned aged 22 for handing out “anti-communist” poems. “I’m glad that Ikea is taking responsibility but I’m sorry it took someone other than Ikea to bring this to light.”

The company says it plans to donate funds to research projects on forced labour in the former GDR.

See all our stories about Ikea »

Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.

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East German forced labour appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch designers Oatmeal Studio have hacked IKEA furniture to create a pop-up restaurant where diners pick their own tableware and cut their own tablecloths (+ slideshow.)

Located at the Filmhuis Den Haag theatre in The Hague, the IkHa restaurant is based on an IKEA showroom and is filled with wooden shelving units that integrate both storage areas and dining tables.

Diners tear their tablecloths and placements from wallpaper rolls that hang from the walls, before making their order using a pad and pencil.

The project is part of the wider “IKEA hacking” movement where designers modify or repurpose the Swedish brand’s products and publish them on the website IkeaHackers.net.

This week IKEA has installed a temporary airport lounge in Paris, which you can see here.

Photography is by Nadine Stijns.

Here’s a project description from Oatmeal Studio:

Oatmeal Studio hacks Ikea

IkHa is a dining experience by Oatmeal Studio, where the concept of IKEA has been dismantled and translated into a restaurant interior. It’s not a self service restaurant in the usual sense of the word. Instead, visitors are invited to participate and customize their surroundings while dining.

While ‘IKEA hacking’ – or creating spaces using the budget-savvy Swedish brand’s products in new ways – is a popular trend,the designers say they wanted to extend this concept.

IkHa is based on the showroom of IKEA itself.

A maze of shelves and rooms to navigate, often multiple times as one reconsiders their choices, and then arrives home with their flat-packed goods to begin the assembly process. Fortunately, they also sell Swedish Meatballs.

Guests fill in their ordering forms with pencils and dinner is served on trays, delivered to the furniture construction at which they’ve chosen to sit.

Visitors can create their table setting from a selection of materials and cut their own tablecloth or placemat from a selection of wallpapers, ready to measure and cut.

“Even the Swedish meatballs are hacked”…and very nice, according to one patron of the restaurant.

One of IKEA slogans is “Big ideas for small spaces”, an important aspect of the IkHa restaurant. Everything is collapsible and fold-able and when not in use can be quickly broken down to fit within a two square meter space.

This makes it ideal for temporary solutions, events, and festivals, according to the designers.

The restaurant is located in the Filmhuis/Den Haag Theatre in The Hague, the Netherlands, and can be visited until 30 July.

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Oatmeal Studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Cardboard cameras document a retrospective line from IKEA

During Salone del Mobile, Ikea took the opportunity to unveil the new PS 2012 collection in the emerging space from Ventura Lambrate. All the designers involved in the project were asked to go through the history of the company, reinventing old pieces and styles. The result is a colorful and clever series of objects, carpets, furniture and textiles.

Some of the products focus on sustainability, like a bowl designed by Marcus Arvonen which comes in either PET recycled plastic or WPC, a special combination of plastic and wood fiber.

Jon Karlsson took inspiration from teak tables of the ’50s, upgrading them with more resilient, faster-growing bamboo.

Green design for the home is another key touchstone in this collection. The vertical pedestal designed by Nicolas Cortolezzis can hold up to three vases, and Henrik Preutz has thought up a series of small tables, whose common thread is a bamboo structure with surfaces for plants.

The real surprise with the exhibition was Knäppa, a cardboard digital camera designed by Jesper Kouthoofd for the launch of PS 2012.

Of course we seized the chance to use the camera, following the instructions uploaded onto the camera itself, along with a sample photo. Taking pictures is very simple, although the sensor needs full light and a firm hand to take acceptable photographs.

Instead of a viewfinder the camera features just a simple square hole. It’s a surprising throwback experience, recalling the very first digital cameras—eight seconds are necessary for each image to be fully captured. While the quality of the images is slightly blurry and shady, it reveals a Hipstamatic-like aesthetic.

Starting in May, customers will be asked to take pictures of their Ikea PS pieces and share them on a dedicated website. So far, the company has uploaded pictures of six Swedish homes, but in the future it will be possible to see private environments from all over the world, shot with the Knäppa, with browsing available by product, country, most liked and recently uploaded pictures.