ikea

IKEA to sell solar panels?

IKEA plans to pour $77 million into clean-technology start-ups within the next five years and could add "green" goods such as solar panels to its inventory, according to Cleantech Group.

The four-person, 50 million euro IKEA GreenTech fund has been operating for eight months, the report said. And it could invest in up to 10 fledgling companies in the next few years, perhaps first in Europe, where IKEA rings up about 82 percent of its sales.

Efforts to commercialize new and affordable green technologies within several years could lead to IKEA selling the resulting products among its growing … Read more

Re-arrange your house in 3D with MyDeco

We've covered a ton of floor planners on Webware, but none of them have been as cool as MyDeco. The tool throws in the usual assortment of tables, chairs, beds, and other living accouterments that you can price, purchase, and move around in a customizable space.

The tool lets you emulate single rooms or an entire house by plugging in the dimensions and adding walls, windows, and doors. It also manages to give you a 3D view of what those items will look like in that space, not just from the top down like most floor planners. In this … Read more

Free Chronotebooks at the Muji Times Square store this Friday!

To celebrate the opening of their newest Times Square flagship location, Japanese retail store MUJI will give away 500 "Chronotebooks," their unique take on the classic (read: boring) paper planner.

MUJI's second store in New York, located at 620 Eighth Avenue, will offer exactly 2,170 items at the time of the opening, and all products will share the same strict MUJI rule: no branding. The name "MUJI" comes from the Japanese word "Mujirushi Ryohin" that essentially means quality without a name. Some people call MUJI the Japanese IKEA, but I'm not … Read more

Even virtual homes can't resist IKEA

I don't know how many of you still play the Sims 2 but, if you do, here's something to add to the clutter in your virtual home: IKEA furniture. The expansion pack for the PC simulation game will debut on June 20 in Asia with a recommended retail price of S$25.90 (about US$19). Folks in the U.S. and Europe will get theirs on June 23 and June 27, respectively. The collaboration is not the first of its kind as gamers already have access to Ford's Mustang GT and H&M apparels. What … Read more

Anatomy of an IKEA product

Over the years, I've bought and built a lot of IKEA products: chests of drawers, office tables, bedside stands, media centers, glassware cases, and so forth.

Once, to make a little money, I even hired myself out to build some bookcases for a busy friend.

IKEA, as you probably know, is a furniture-retailing-industry phenomenon; millions of people buy its products because they're generally inexpensive and easy to put together. Plus, they almost universally come with everything you need to get going.

Almost every time I've put together an IKEA product, I've wondered as I sifted through … Read more

Casulo puts an entire IKEA bedroom in a tiny box

Live in a studio apartment or have a penchant for clown cars? Then check out the Casulo, an entire bedroom (complete with a dresser and a desk) that fits together in a box that's about the size of a large steamer trunk. The contraption was created by German designers Marcel Krings and Sebastian M?hlh?user who can be seen unloading the entire collection in the 7-minute video embedded below.

The duo won an Abraham and David Roentgen Award for innovative design last November, although if you're waiting to get your hands on a Casulo of your own … Read more

Facebook is like IKEA is like...open source?

Slate is positioning Facebook's reliance on user-generated content as a bit like IKEA:

Ikea keeps its costs and prices low by enlisting its customers--their time, their cars, their ambitions as interior designers, and their inflated ideas of their carpentry skills.

Management experts Rafael Ramirez and Richard Normann pointed this out in the Harvard Business Review back in 1993. Ikea, they argued, was a success because it enabled "value co-production."

The article's author goes on to credit Microsoft with creating a value co-production platform but completely overlooks the open-source software industry. Is open source like IKEA? Well, … Read more

IKEA 2008

IKEA 2008! The annual catalog is HERE! And for the lazy who need a cliff notes version, or those who need the inspiration to click here to get lost in their digital version of the catalog for a few hours... i've attached a few of my favorite pages to get you going. Their color themed pages were particularly inspiring... loving this black and white, as well as that bowl up there! Also below you will be amazed at the instant living room you can get for a mere $184! As well as some impressive new pet goods, and other color themes.

Weekend project: DIY laptop stand

There are plenty of laptop stands available, and you can probably find one that meets your budget and computing-from-the-couch needs. But where's the fun in simply clicking a link and waiting for UPS to deliver this final product to your door? Why not build your very own laptop stand? A man who calls himself the IKEA Hacker shows off various laptop stands made from cheap, Swedish furniture. A $19 wooden stool and a $6 saw, for example, will net you a nice-looking stand. Other designs include a stand made from a paper towel holder and another from a kitchen … Read more