Design by IKEA

Sara Kristoffersson's compelling study provides the first sustained critical history of IKEA. Kristoffersson argues that the company's commercial success has been founded on a neat alignment of the brand with a particular image of Swedish national identity - one that is bound up with ideas of social democracy and egalitarianism - and its material expression in a pared-down functional design aesthetic. Employing slogans such as Design for everyone+? and Democratic design+? IKEA signals a rejection of the stuffy the 'chintzy' and the traditional in both design practices and social structures.<br/>Drawing on original research in the IKEA company archive and interviews with IKEA personnel <i>Design by IKEA</i> traces IKEA's symbolic connection to Sweden through its design output and its promotional materials to examine how the company both promoted and profited from the concept of Scandinavian Design.