I think this is ver 2.0 actually... If memory serves they had an even
crappier concept when I first heard about this, say 3-4 years
ago. Sort of non-flexible. Not sure how many of those were built though.
Now they even give you a gift certificate for 10000kr (US$1200) if you
buy one of their crappy houses. SO generous, hehe.
I beg to differ...I've got ikea cabinets and they absolutely rock!! matter of fact, all the lofts here have them. Absolutely gorgeous with a billion features, good craft and quality, but the look is at least 4 times the cost (and these aren't cheap lofts, nor are the stainless apps).
Some of the stuff is crap, for sure, but I've got some lights that cost $16 and look like $600 (granted, they surely won't last years, but I could replace them easily enough).
The cabinets, though, are really nice and well crafted. Cool details like sand blasted glass panels with interior lights (think soft glow), great handles, etc. Highly recommened if you can get these (I think it's their San Diego outlet that has the custom cabinets, as most of these lofts are unique).
i also disagree. people often judge IKEA furniture only by the floor models in the showrooms -- which is silly because those showrooms without a doubt get thousands of people through there per week. my wife and i bought a whole apartment full of IKEA furniture, all of which is still very much intact and functional. there IS some crap, though, but there is also some crap at rooms to go and ethan allen.
the thing about IKEA that many, many architects secretly loathe is that it democratizes modern design. that's not directed towards anyone here necessarily, but to the architecture world in general.
as for the bo klok house it is nice but not groundbreaking. and perhaps that is exactly the point. i'd take scandinavian "traditional" over what some people call "contemporary" or "modern" any day. the website is, unfortunately, quite bad. but if you know a little swedish download the plan of the villa. or even if you don't, there is a way to see it (i know like four words in swedish). the plan is not bad at all. very, very simple.
click on "sweden" then "villa" then "pressavdelning" then "villa boklok planlosning" and it's a zip file.
I too appreciate IKEA's ability to make contemporary modern design accessible to everyone. It may be mass produced and have some obvious limits to its quality, but I have yet to find a store that features contemporary modern furniture at a price that is even remotely affordable to anyone not making 6 figures a year. I did my best to identify my alternatives, but was met with only frustration and dissappoint at how massive the gap is between the well designed furniture and my ability to procure it. In the end I ended up at IKEA I'm happy with the way things turned out.
I agree that architects are inherently a self-selecting, somewhat snobby population. Which makes sense: Our education puts huge emphasis on always coming up with new ideas, better ideas, unique ideas.
But good design does not necessarily mean unique design. It's just frustrating for us "designers" to sign up for the same things the "general public" does. I readily admit I'd love to buy my furnishings from high design workshops, craftsmen, etc. Unfortunately I picked the wrong profession to be able to afford to do that.....Personally, I'm relieved to at the very least have Target as an alternative to Wal-Mart, and IKEA instead of Levitz. Means a tiny shred of design sense is sinking into the GP. Neutra and Corbusier thought "design for the masses", and today there's the whole prefab movement. But so many architects seem to hate the idea of approving of something widely available for the masses.
Yeah, IKEA has it's share of crap that fills the dorm rooms and studio apartments of 17-22 year-olds everywhere. But they also have their share of nice, well-designed and -made stuff for those who want to spend a bit more (I agree - nice kitchens).
After looking for months for a modern leather sectional & seriously considering ones 2-3 times the price, I came back to IKEA simply because it was my fave. AND I managed to save a few thousand in the meantime....
Here in copenhagen these quality houses make a nice alternative in terms of cost and comford --- please check atleast the denmark site, that architect firm are the best , a studio that made so many skilled projects showed what none of those english would never be able to, something the german and american italian and france studio's never would reach, real and nice inviroments architecture not put down a box, nice materials and good design and here at a cost that uncover the danish building industrie.
Try living in a country where there is no Ikea. Its funny about architects snubbing Ikea - the thing is that everytime I went there [in Australia] I always saw an architect I knew... I wish we had it here, at least then I could get decent furniture without costing a bomb.
Listen I didn't say that, but fact is that prefab houses here in copenhagen even imported , do a better alternative than the projected urban flats other mayers plan. Acturly this issue will be a major one in the new elections for a new mayer in copenhagen --- the one that can promise cheap flats, new jobs and nice inviroments will win that. Now I just say it can be made even better.
I agree with what ochana, et al have said about IKEA making modern design accessible to the masses. If anything, I think it helps nurture an appreciation for design that isn't historicist schlock.
Another thing I appreciate about IKEA is that they seem pretty good about giving credit to the individual designers in their catalogs and signage.
I see IKEA as a most inspiring and challance competitor ; it challance your skills and creativity and fact is, that it spark more quality and design refinement by the remaining furniture designers.
For some reson expensive materials and design details are what today's furniture designers ansver to this challance.
Now if you realy want to challance that concept, it is proberly back to the roots, back to the dovetails and finer carpentry --- or it is experimenting the new digital tools progressing and challancing the way these items are manufactored knowing a bandsaw and a stasionary router aswell as having the design skills , to know an alternative attitude , know how today's design are acturly manufactored ; by knowing the crafts ---
Forgot to tell, that I recently seen a design detail ,that I by chance made the focus in a kitchen design I made more than 12 years ago, today are used in some of those realy expensive design kitchens ; this is not bragging just a fact that I can even prove --- and yes it was the IKEA things the "protest" about the cheap IKEA furniture, that made it so, that asked fully displayed huge dovetails at the edge of the table, something that showed the crafts IKEA was failing.
----- Now a feature like that is just routered in one minute by a preset router ,but it still _cost_.
IKEA kicks axx. I hope they put places like Ligne Roset & 'Design Within Reach' outta business. Nonetheless, I avoid IKEA like the plague because a $15 table here, a $30 light fixture there - soon, I'd have Bush-style debt.
if you have the right space, ikea has some decent products among many not so right for you items.
i think their kitchens are among affordable and decent product with a lot of choices and combinations. i've used it in couple of my projects and worked okay and it was 1/4 of the cabinetmakers bid, AND whole set was delivered within a week. i had spent some time dealing with dimensions and compartments. it is important that you have a good installer to take care gaps and other imperfections.
they do have simple furnishings and everyday stuff as well.
trick is though, you have to learn when to switch off the ikea thinking.
price, availability and variety are good. like it or not, ikea is more educational for everyday folks about modern design than dwell magazine which probably less than %1 of their customers read.
mass produced pre fab houses are very much within ikea's reach and network. if that company finds that market profitable, like sears did in the past, they have, indeed, the means to do it. as a matter of fact that time probably just around the corner for US customers.
most designers who are currently working in prefab area would love to join ikea op if they were called.
avoid the family shows on weekends and only go there weekday mornings with good chance of running into a 'mighty afrodite design savy'.
shit, why did i wrote all these nice words?
'IKEA sucks. They can take their shotty furniture and bland swedish meatballs and go back to scandanavia.'
i wanna be a LEVITZ family.
"you love it at LEVITZ".
I did Ikea acrylic cabs in my kitchen and have been quite pleased I even tackled the install and found that the hardware and assembiles are all Blum- which is industry standard. So far so good. The only one that sucks is the pull out trash bin. I recommend avoiding Ikeas hardware for that and buying your self a nice Halfe system.
Some of it really has its place - I used to buy the Loffe tressles for making studio work tables. Sadly for them - they mislabled the price in an old catalogue by a whopping 50% undermark (2x for 1) - when I was in a shopping mode. I went in and cleaned them out. They protested a bit, opps - corporate made a bu-bu. they fixed that one.
Suggestion for any diehard IKEA store cruiser. Enter thru the exit. Run thru the store backwards. Its less strenuous on a shopping expedition. It avoids what I think of as the rat maze of retail layout they use.
the loganberry stuff in the food section is good@@
Manteno_Montenegro,
Because IKEA is bout 10yrs too late, My parents dropped all that wicker in my basement while I was on-the-road. Rule1: When you buy your own place, never give your parents the key - even if it is just in case of emergency.
there may not be any better cross-section of the united states of america than the houston ikea on a saturday afternoon -- see, it's not that people don't KNOW about good design or that they don't WANT it, it's that they can't typically AFFORD it (if they know HOW to obtain it).
and the stores are typically located WHERE suburbanites can get to them. the houston store is in the "city" purely by name only.
i helped an old lady get a chair down off the shelf once and she thanked me in spanish. i've heard chinese, vietnamese, korean, russian, polish, and french spoken inside. and it seems every time we go there is the required scandinavian couple who are probably saying "jeez, they have one of these in malmo with like twice the parking and the lingonberry juice is like so much better"
contrast that with design within reach* who mark stuff up that most people on this forum can get for much cheaper with a designer discount (but still can't afford); who show only like 1/10th of their product at a time; and who locate their stores in proletarian locations like beverly hills and greenwich, ct.
I heard about this on SNL last night. I guess it could've been a rerun, but it is the first time I heard about this. Apparently they've been doing this for a while. I still can't make up my mind about pre-fab housing, especially if it is for low-income housing.
IKEA
I think this is ver 2.0 actually... If memory serves they had an even
crappier concept when I first heard about this, say 3-4 years
ago. Sort of non-flexible. Not sure how many of those were built though.
Now they even give you a gift certificate for 10000kr (US$1200) if you
buy one of their crappy houses. SO generous, hehe.
If it's anything like their sofas, it'll collapse within two years.
KOK
What the...?
Oh...
Wait...
Damn this dyslexia all to hell!!
I wonder how many little screws, wooden pins and alley key wrenches
there are in that little plastic bag in a BoKlok package...
How about this:
IKEA is to 2005 what Sears was to 1880
Anyone with me?
Shitty website. No self respecting designer ever uses vertical text for something as important as the NAVIGATION OF THE SITE!
GRRRRR!!!!!
IKEA sucks. They can take their shotty furniture and bland swedish meatballs and go back to scandanavia.
I beg to differ...I've got ikea cabinets and they absolutely rock!! matter of fact, all the lofts here have them. Absolutely gorgeous with a billion features, good craft and quality, but the look is at least 4 times the cost (and these aren't cheap lofts, nor are the stainless apps).
Some of the stuff is crap, for sure, but I've got some lights that cost $16 and look like $600 (granted, they surely won't last years, but I could replace them easily enough).
The cabinets, though, are really nice and well crafted. Cool details like sand blasted glass panels with interior lights (think soft glow), great handles, etc. Highly recommened if you can get these (I think it's their San Diego outlet that has the custom cabinets, as most of these lofts are unique).
i also disagree. people often judge IKEA furniture only by the floor models in the showrooms -- which is silly because those showrooms without a doubt get thousands of people through there per week. my wife and i bought a whole apartment full of IKEA furniture, all of which is still very much intact and functional. there IS some crap, though, but there is also some crap at rooms to go and ethan allen.
the thing about IKEA that many, many architects secretly loathe is that it democratizes modern design. that's not directed towards anyone here necessarily, but to the architecture world in general.
as for the bo klok house it is nice but not groundbreaking. and perhaps that is exactly the point. i'd take scandinavian "traditional" over what some people call "contemporary" or "modern" any day. the website is, unfortunately, quite bad. but if you know a little swedish download the plan of the villa. or even if you don't, there is a way to see it (i know like four words in swedish). the plan is not bad at all. very, very simple.
click on "sweden" then "villa" then "pressavdelning" then "villa boklok planlosning" and it's a zip file.
I too appreciate IKEA's ability to make contemporary modern design accessible to everyone. It may be mass produced and have some obvious limits to its quality, but I have yet to find a store that features contemporary modern furniture at a price that is even remotely affordable to anyone not making 6 figures a year. I did my best to identify my alternatives, but was met with only frustration and dissappoint at how massive the gap is between the well designed furniture and my ability to procure it. In the end I ended up at IKEA I'm happy with the way things turned out.
word, ochona.
I agree that architects are inherently a self-selecting, somewhat snobby population. Which makes sense: Our education puts huge emphasis on always coming up with new ideas, better ideas, unique ideas.
But good design does not necessarily mean unique design. It's just frustrating for us "designers" to sign up for the same things the "general public" does. I readily admit I'd love to buy my furnishings from high design workshops, craftsmen, etc. Unfortunately I picked the wrong profession to be able to afford to do that.....Personally, I'm relieved to at the very least have Target as an alternative to Wal-Mart, and IKEA instead of Levitz. Means a tiny shred of design sense is sinking into the GP. Neutra and Corbusier thought "design for the masses", and today there's the whole prefab movement. But so many architects seem to hate the idea of approving of something widely available for the masses.
Yeah, IKEA has it's share of crap that fills the dorm rooms and studio apartments of 17-22 year-olds everywhere. But they also have their share of nice, well-designed and -made stuff for those who want to spend a bit more (I agree - nice kitchens).
After looking for months for a modern leather sectional & seriously considering ones 2-3 times the price, I came back to IKEA simply because it was my fave. AND I managed to save a few thousand in the meantime....
Hi
Here in copenhagen these quality houses make a nice alternative in terms of cost and comford --- please check atleast the denmark site, that architect firm are the best , a studio that made so many skilled projects showed what none of those english would never be able to, something the german and american italian and france studio's never would reach, real and nice inviroments architecture not put down a box, nice materials and good design and here at a cost that uncover the danish building industrie.
The only thing they miss, is a more efficient building method and a new architecture.
If only they used 3D-H....
Try living in a country where there is no Ikea. Its funny about architects snubbing Ikea - the thing is that everytime I went there [in Australia] I always saw an architect I knew... I wish we had it here, at least then I could get decent furniture without costing a bomb.
Listen I didn't say that, but fact is that prefab houses here in copenhagen even imported , do a better alternative than the projected urban flats other mayers plan. Acturly this issue will be a major one in the new elections for a new mayer in copenhagen --- the one that can promise cheap flats, new jobs and nice inviroments will win that. Now I just say it can be made even better.
I agree with what ochana, et al have said about IKEA making modern design accessible to the masses. If anything, I think it helps nurture an appreciation for design that isn't historicist schlock.
Another thing I appreciate about IKEA is that they seem pretty good about giving credit to the individual designers in their catalogs and signage.
And their frozen yogurt is...
more within reach than 'design within reach'.
Hi
I see IKEA as a most inspiring and challance competitor ; it challance your skills and creativity and fact is, that it spark more quality and design refinement by the remaining furniture designers.
For some reson expensive materials and design details are what today's furniture designers ansver to this challance.
Now if you realy want to challance that concept, it is proberly back to the roots, back to the dovetails and finer carpentry --- or it is experimenting the new digital tools progressing and challancing the way these items are manufactored knowing a bandsaw and a stasionary router aswell as having the design skills , to know an alternative attitude , know how today's design are acturly manufactored ; by knowing the crafts ---
Forgot to tell, that I recently seen a design detail ,that I by chance made the focus in a kitchen design I made more than 12 years ago, today are used in some of those realy expensive design kitchens ; this is not bragging just a fact that I can even prove --- and yes it was the IKEA things the "protest" about the cheap IKEA furniture, that made it so, that asked fully displayed huge dovetails at the edge of the table, something that showed the crafts IKEA was failing.
----- Now a feature like that is just routered in one minute by a preset router ,but it still _cost_.
IKEA kicks axx. I hope they put places like Ligne Roset & 'Design Within Reach' outta business. Nonetheless, I avoid IKEA like the plague because a $15 table here, a $30 light fixture there - soon, I'd have Bush-style debt.
if you have the right space, ikea has some decent products among many not so right for you items.
i think their kitchens are among affordable and decent product with a lot of choices and combinations. i've used it in couple of my projects and worked okay and it was 1/4 of the cabinetmakers bid, AND whole set was delivered within a week. i had spent some time dealing with dimensions and compartments. it is important that you have a good installer to take care gaps and other imperfections.
they do have simple furnishings and everyday stuff as well.
trick is though, you have to learn when to switch off the ikea thinking.
price, availability and variety are good. like it or not, ikea is more educational for everyday folks about modern design than dwell magazine which probably less than %1 of their customers read.
mass produced pre fab houses are very much within ikea's reach and network. if that company finds that market profitable, like sears did in the past, they have, indeed, the means to do it. as a matter of fact that time probably just around the corner for US customers.
most designers who are currently working in prefab area would love to join ikea op if they were called.
avoid the family shows on weekends and only go there weekday mornings with good chance of running into a 'mighty afrodite design savy'.
shit, why did i wrote all these nice words?
'IKEA sucks. They can take their shotty furniture and bland swedish meatballs and go back to scandanavia.'
i wanna be a LEVITZ family.
"you love it at LEVITZ".
I did Ikea acrylic cabs in my kitchen and have been quite pleased I even tackled the install and found that the hardware and assembiles are all Blum- which is industry standard. So far so good. The only one that sucks is the pull out trash bin. I recommend avoiding Ikeas hardware for that and buying your self a nice Halfe system.
you have to beware of modernist schlock, as well.
If it weren't for IKEA, I'd still be living with all the white wicker hand-me-downs from my folks.
If architects should be bashing anyone it's Design Within Reach. Or atleast just to change their name. Great stuff but definitely Out of Reach.
Some of it really has its place - I used to buy the Loffe tressles for making studio work tables. Sadly for them - they mislabled the price in an old catalogue by a whopping 50% undermark (2x for 1) - when I was in a shopping mode. I went in and cleaned them out. They protested a bit, opps - corporate made a bu-bu. they fixed that one.
Suggestion for any diehard IKEA store cruiser. Enter thru the exit. Run thru the store backwards. Its less strenuous on a shopping expedition. It avoids what I think of as the rat maze of retail layout they use.
the loganberry stuff in the food section is good@@
Manteno_Montenegro,
Because IKEA is bout 10yrs too late, My parents dropped all that wicker in my basement while I was on-the-road. Rule1: When you buy your own place, never give your parents the key - even if it is just in case of emergency.
there may not be any better cross-section of the united states of america than the houston ikea on a saturday afternoon -- see, it's not that people don't KNOW about good design or that they don't WANT it, it's that they can't typically AFFORD it (if they know HOW to obtain it).
and the stores are typically located WHERE suburbanites can get to them. the houston store is in the "city" purely by name only.
i helped an old lady get a chair down off the shelf once and she thanked me in spanish. i've heard chinese, vietnamese, korean, russian, polish, and french spoken inside. and it seems every time we go there is the required scandinavian couple who are probably saying "jeez, they have one of these in malmo with like twice the parking and the lingonberry juice is like so much better"
contrast that with design within reach* who mark stuff up that most people on this forum can get for much cheaper with a designer discount (but still can't afford); who show only like 1/10th of their product at a time; and who locate their stores in proletarian locations like beverly hills and greenwich, ct.
I heard about this on SNL last night. I guess it could've been a rerun, but it is the first time I heard about this. Apparently they've been doing this for a while. I still can't make up my mind about pre-fab housing, especially if it is for low-income housing.
saw that too. kinda funny. very fugly.
chevy bombed, though.
Chevy bombed? I thought quite the opposite.
I'm trying to check out the boklak site but its as slow as molasses - must be all those hits from archinects bringing down the server.
compared to the old days, it wasn't as funny. there were some funny bits, but i felt he was holding back.
I agree with ya there holz….
I don't know about IKEA. Swedish girls are hot tho.
i need a lady with an accent for my voicemail...haha....... cause i sound like a dumbass on th recording...
and ikea only has decent lighting thingies
i have seen the veneer and wood separate over a year/etc......
maybe if you need to sell your house, you can drop like 2gs and get all ikea'ed out to help push the sale
b
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