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Were you under the impression that IKEA's flimsy materials and construction were some quaint design choices unrelated to cost?

• 2muchcoffeeman 8y ago
  That’s a bit uncharitable. I found out about IKEA’s Democratic Design Day through My Mini Factory. It’s probably not a unique philosophy. But I like the idea that good quality design should be available to everybody. It’s probably a tough gig trying to design an item starting with the cost first. But I think they have largely succeeded.
• pgeorgi 8y ago
  The construction is also optimized for amateur builders. You can get wonderfully built artisan furniture, but it won't be as robust against abuse as IKEA stuff generally is.
• tivert 8y ago
  We have a misunderstanding. I was only talking about decorations and art, not more functional items like furniture and utensils.
• Doxin 8y ago
  Well yes, the cheapest version of the furniture at ikea isn't exactly what I'd call sturdy, but try buying some of the more expensive stuff. It's still stupid cheap compared to other furniture stores and no worse quality.
• the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
  > Were you under the impression that IKEA's flimsy materials and construction were some quaint design choices unrelated to cost? The interesting thing about IKEA is that while the materials are cheap, they are also build to last. You can disassemble IKEA stuff and reassemble it without breaking it too much and they know that because their customer support is amazing. I carried boatloads of things back and replaced them because they were no fit. If IKEA would build just flimsy thing they could not afford that level of customer support because everybody would just replace the broken parts. They don't break nearly as often as you would believe.
  • crtasm 8y ago
    There's a fairly regular stream of the really budget stuff chucked out on the streets around where I live; drawers, wardrobes, shelving units etc. Some of it has probably lasted a fair while but I wish the better made models were more even more affordable somehow.