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Ikea has released a free font called Soffa Sans, inspired by all the memes born from its online “Design your own sofa” planner. The tool allows for customers to design the layouts and configurations of Ikea’s couches, from the Vimle sectionals to the Vallentuna modular sofa series. Once it was discovered that the planner allowed for basically any configuration with no limit to the cost, it inspired some Sims-like creativity from users. — The Verge
The SOFFA SANS font was developed in partnership with UK agency Proximity London and is available for download here. Some of the examples people used the sofa planner as a block-y drawing tool (which inspired the font) below. pic.twitter.com/o75DdhB3D5— forever (@perspectivator) June... View full entry
Since opening in March, Thomas Heatherwick’s Vessel at Hudson Yards has caught headlines for its ostentatious design, its billing as “public art”, its repudiation of the tenants of accessibility, and its overreaching rights to the photos taken by visitors. Also drawing plenty of scrutiny is... View full entry
The smart blind is made of a “block-out” fabric, an opaque finish that will completely stop sunlight, similar to the fabric used on the existing company’s Tretur manual blinds...There’s no official price yet, but in Europe they’ll go for between $113 and $181, with sizes ranging from the width of an average window up to 76.8 inches wide. — Fast Company
Joining IKEA's line of smart-lighting products, the “Fyrtur” blinds will be available in all U.S. stores starting April 1. View full entry
Two years ago, the company asked thousands of people about where they felt “most at home.” At the time, 20% of subjects said it wasn’t the space in which they lived. Two years later, they asked again, and found the number has risen by 15% among people who live in cities. In other words, 35% of people who live in cities don’t feel at home in their house or apartment. — Fast Company
Ikea, the largest furniture company in the world, may know a thing or two when it comes to styling a home. However, what many Ikea consumers may not know is that alongside its holding company INGKA Holding a yearly research report is conducted studying and identifying how people live. Since... View full entry
This week, Ikea opened its first store in India–a feat the company has been planning for many years. But while the big, blue exterior of the store looks the same, the interiors, from the displays to the products themselves, have been subtlety tailored to accommodate cultural differences. It’s a strategy Ikea has used to expand from its origins in Sweden, now reaching 30 markets in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia... — fastcompany.com
As Ikea expands into Asia, the brand recently opened their first store in India tailoring their products to the county's culture. This is part of how Ikea introduces their brand to countries around the globe, by keeping their designs mostly the same with subtle, pointed changes for specific... View full entry
The Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea are teaming up to produce a range of accessible and affordable tools that function without mains electricity and use renewable energy.
Eliasson’s Little Sun project, co-founded with Frederik Ottesen, created a solar-powered torch for the 1 billion people worldwide who live off the power grid. It is now sold cheaply in more than 600 African outlets. [...] The products developed will be available in Ikea stores.
— The Art Newspaper
Olafur Eliasson is a busy man these days: after recently completing his first building, he's now announced a major design collaboration between his Little Sun initiative with IKEA to create a line of sustainable and affordable off-the-grid tools. Little Sun Original in Burundi. Photo: Aminata... View full entry
"His legacy will be admired for many years to come and his vision – to create a better everyday life for the many people – will continue to guide and inspire us," says Jesper Brodin, the CEO and president of the IKEA Group. — NPR
Over the weekend, the Swedish entrepreneur who created IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad (age 91), passed away quietly at his home in Sweden. The company confirmed Mr. Kamprad's death on Sunday, citing "short illness." The business magnate displayed a penchant for entrepreneurship from a young age, selling... View full entry
Four walls and a roof, a basic bathroom and a kitchen sink. Basic access to electricity (a couple of sockets "here and there") and no flooring or wall coverings. This is what the non-for profit developers Naked House – created by a London-based startup – is proposing as an alternative to the £484,000 standard cost of a home for fellow members of generation rent. — Independent
If you thought coming home with Ikea boxes made for an exciting afternoon of assembly, a London based startup, Naked House, is thinking of you. The concept of the startup is to allow the owner to have full control of the interior creation of their homes. With the current thread of DIY reaching... View full entry
Fifteen years after IKEA demolished part of it for a parking lot, a Marcel Breuer-designed office building in New Haven has become a stage for art. [...]
Now, Burr is building on those explorations in his current show, Body/Building. Spread out over the first floor of Breuer’s gutted local icon, the show uses objects that weave together a story about himself, the site, and his city.
— citylab.com
Tom Burr / New Haven, Phase 1, 2017, installation view, Bortolami, New HavenNew Haven-native, and now New York-based, artist Tom Burr tells the story of one of the city's most iconic, and controversial, buildings in his current show Body/Building, now on display inside the gutted belly of the... View full entry
Bjarke Ingels Group recently unveiled the renderings for two hexagonal “Cactus Towers”, as part of a 74,000 square-meter masterplan in Copenhagen that fellow Danish practice Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter is in charge of designing. The project will be built in the Vesterbro district at the Kalvebod... View full entry
Ikea is now offering solar panels and home batteries to its customers in the UK. The Scandinavian furniture chain is partnering with solar firm Solarcentury for the venture, with prices for solar battery storage starting at £3,000 (about $3,970 USD).
The home batteries are designed to work with existing solar panels, or as part of a new combined home solar panel / battery storage system that Ikea is selling.
— theverge.com
The Swedish furniture retail giant first starting solar panels in the UK back in 2013 to grow on a (then) heavily subsidized green energy market but ceased sales in 2015 when the British government announced its plans of cutting solar subsidies by up to 90%. Just a few months later, IKEA returned... View full entry
Confined in Utah’s Mars Desert Research habitat for three days—habitat diameter: 33 feet—the five-person team experienced the cramped living quarters and zero-waste living necessary to survive a journey to outer space. — Quartz
Designers from IKEA are exploring space-saving solutions for tiny homes by living in an actual Mars research station. During the immersion workshop led by Constance Adams, NASA architect behind the habitat for the first human mission to Mars, the team examines the ways in which astronauts'... View full entry
Valdsgaard believes Apple’s know-how and recent progress within AR will be a crucial complement to Ikea’s in-house competencies. Another major benefit of working with Apple is the company’s gigantic ecosystem of users. — Business Insider
Ikea will partner with Apple to co-build an AR-based shopping app that will enable its users to try out virtual furniture at home before making buying decisions. Michael Valdsgaard, Leader of Digital Transformation at Inter Ikea, noted that the app is intended not to replace the... View full entry
Living in a war-torn country isn't easy, which is why the idea to display a Syrian home in the comfort-addled environs of an IKEA store is remarkable. Shoppers can tour a 25 square meter mock-up that is modeled after a real Damascus-adjacent home that functions as living quarters for a family of... View full entry
Famous rapper, fashion designer, husband of Kim Kardashian West and incorrigible enfant terrible Kanye West announced his desire to design for Ikea in a recent interview with Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1."I have to work with Ikea—make furniture for interior design, for architecture," he told... View full entry
