IKEA: Hackers

About

IkeaHackers.net is a site about modifications on and repurposing of Ikea products. Hacks, as we call it here, may be as simple as adding an embellishment, some others may require power tools and lots of ingenuity.

You may have figured out by now that I don't do all the hacks. This site exists largely due to the kind contribution of IKEA hackers from all over the globe. They submit their creations, with the hope of providing alternative ideas on Ikea products. Hopefully, their hacks will inspire you, perhaps even amuse.

How did it start?
After all these years, I have yet to tire of telling this story. It was in May 2006 that I did a search on IKEA hacks and saw that there were so many wonderful ideas floating in the Internet. How great it would be if I could find them all in one place, I thought.

3 seconds later.

A light bulb exploded in my brain and the rest, as they say, rolled out like Swedish meatballs. It took me a few nights of sleepless html-ing but I'm happy I did. Finally, I am of service to mankind. Heh.

From its rather unglamorous beginnings, the site has grown so much that it still surprises me. IKEA Hackers has also been featured in the media.


Are you paid by IKEA or is this an elaborate scheme by IKEA to make us buy more furniture? 
No, not a cent. Nil, nada, zilch. IKEA does not pay me nor is this site their idea or in any way sanctioned or endorsed by IKEA. This is purely a fan-run website.

However, in the spirit of full disclosure, I do earn from advertising mainly from Google Ads, SayMedia, Technorati ad networks and when readers support me bybuying Amazon products through my affiliate link. From time to time I may test out new forms of advertising but my goal is to always keep advertising as non-intrusive as possible.

Who are you? Is Jules even your real name? 
No, it's not. It is a pseudonym I came up with when I started the blog. I was flipping through the IKEA catalogue and saw the Jules chair and thought, why not? So it sorta stuck and those who know me through this site do call me Jules, though I some times answer “Who?”

But to prove that I am a real person, here's a mug shot of me, when I am not hauling flat packs up to my apartment. I live in Malaysia, just 15 minutes away from IKEA. Like everyone else, I too have to endure the long queues to pay for my purchases at IKEA, I don't get any discounts on their super delicious curry puffs either. :( Other than IKEA, I love travelling, books, Formula 1 and my pet betta splendens (fighting fish).

I also write a personal blog on jules.ikeahackers.net, just to pen down some of my own DIY experiments and other things I am mulling about.

I hope you'll enjoy the site and do share your hacking experience with me. Till then, happy hacking.

~ Jules

About

IkeaHackers.net is a site about modifications on and repurposing of Ikea products. Hacks, as we call it here, may be as simple as adding an embellishment, some others may require power tools and lots of ingenuity.

You may have figured out by now that I don't do all the hacks. This site exists largely due to the kind contribution of IKEA hackers from all over the globe. They submit their creations, with the hope of providing alternative ideas on Ikea products. Hopefully, their hacks will inspire you, perhaps even amuse.

How did it start?
After all these years, I have yet to tire of telling this story. It was in May 2006 that I did a search on IKEA hacks and saw that there were so many wonderful ideas floating in the Internet. How great it would be if I could find them all in one place, I thought.

3 seconds later.

A light bulb exploded in my brain and the rest, as they say, rolled out like Swedish meatballs. It took me a few nights of sleepless html-ing but I'm happy I did. Finally, I am of service to mankind. Heh.

From its rather unglamorous beginnings, the site has grown so much that it still surprises me. IKEA Hackers has also been featured in the media.


Are you paid by IKEA or is this an elaborate scheme by IKEA to make us buy more furniture? 
No, not a cent. Nil, nada, zilch. IKEA does not pay me nor is this site their idea or in any way sanctioned or endorsed by IKEA. This is purely a fan-run website.

However, in the spirit of full disclosure, I do earn from advertising mainly from Google Ads, SayMedia, Technorati ad networks and when readers support me bybuying Amazon products through my affiliate link. From time to time I may test out new forms of advertising but my goal is to always keep advertising as non-intrusive as possible.

Who are you? Is Jules even your real name? 
No, it's not. It is a pseudonym I came up with when I started the blog. I was flipping through the IKEA catalogue and saw the Jules chair and thought, why not? So it sorta stuck and those who know me through this site do call me Jules, though I some times answer “Who?”

But to prove that I am a real person, here's a mug shot of me, when I am not hauling flat packs up to my apartment. I live in Malaysia, just 15 minutes away from IKEA. Like everyone else, I too have to endure the long queues to pay for my purchases at IKEA, I don't get any discounts on their super delicious curry puffs either. :( Other than IKEA, I love travelling, books, Formula 1 and my pet betta splendens (fighting fish).

I also write a personal blog on jules.ikeahackers.net, just to pen down some of my own DIY experiments and other things I am mulling about.

I hope you'll enjoy the site and do share your hacking experience with me. Till then, happy hacking.

~ Jules

http://www.ikeahackers.net/p/about.html

IKEA: Personal Touches Future Article

(Reuters) - IKEA customers used to assembling its flat-packed furniture will, if the Swedish firm's design boss has his way, soon be able to add their own touches to products before buying.

The furniture retailer, which has grown into a global giant from its small-town roots in the heart of southern Sweden, is seeking new markets, with India on its horizon.

Even there IKEA - known for its budget furniture in huge stores - expects to keep to a Scandinavian form characterized by stripped, functional design, IKEA Design Manager Marcus Engman told Reuters.

"Having customers doing some of the job is nothing new. Historically, that has been about them assembling the products to keep prices low. But I believe in letting them take part also in the creative work," he said in an interview in Almhult where IKEA was born 69 years ago and where its creative hub still is.

"It would enable them to turn an IKEA product, which will probably always be mass produced, into their own unique thing. I think this will be important for us going forward," said Engman, sitting on a Klippan couch, which was developed by his father, also a former design chief at IKEA.

He said customers might make adjustments to a sofa, or create their own fabric patterns via the IKEA website. "We are not that far away technology-wise. What we need to find is a way to do it and still keep our low prices."

IKEA, whose name includes the initials of founder Ingvar Kamprad combined with the first letters of the farm and village where he grew up, has 338 stores in 40 countries across Europe, North America and Asia.

Kamprad, 86, a billionaire who lives in Switzerland, but who keeps up a thrifty image when he visits his homeland, founded IKEA as a mail order firm when he was only 17 and keeps a role as senior advisor to the foundations which controls the empire.

EYE ON INDIA

He and his family still control the group through a complex corporate structure, which has been criticized for a lack of transparency.

IKEA was also recently found to have spied on employees in France and is investigating Swedish public television allegations it used political prisoners in the former east Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. In October, it apologized for air brushing women out of catalogues for Saudi Arabia.

Such brushes with controversial issues, including Kamprad's own involvement with a Swedish fascist group in the 1940s, which he later called a mistake, are not holding the company back.

It is the world's biggest furniture retailer. IKEA Group, which owns most of the stores, with others under external franchise, plans to speed up expansion after record sales in 2011/12 of 27 billion euros ($35 billion).

The group in May unveiled plans for 25 stores in India, already a big sourcing market its fortextiles, and expects the government in the coming months to approve its application to begin trading there. Engman just returned from an inspiration trip to suppliers and design schools in India, he said.

"In the big cities there is fairly widespread awareness that we will open there. There is a curiosity around what we plan to do," Engman said of his trip, adding that IKEA has no plans make major changes to its range there.

But the company will stick to its traditional designs.

"To enter India with Indian designs would place us in a crazy position competition-wise. If we stay Scandinavian and do what we do best we will be unique in the market."

From approval, it usually takes IKEA 4-5 years to open a first store in a new market.

Engman is a firm believer in the company's "democratic design" ethos, mixing functionality, style and value.

"I actually believe that a great part in our success is the fact what we produce is mixable with other styles," he said.

"And that you get a lot for your money."

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Paul Casciato)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/25/us-ikea-idUSBRE89O14X20121025