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There's no furniture company like Ikea.
2016-01-11
It's a global empire, selling furniture in 48 countries and bringing in a cool $3.8 billion in profit last year. The company says that 771 million people visited stores in person last year, and 1.9 billion people shopped on its website.
So the work of being an Ikea designer — whose work will end up in homes around the world — is profoundly unique.
Designer Sarah Fager walked us through what she does, and what's next for the Scandinavian giant.
Sarah, left, has been an in-house designer at Ikea since 2007.
A photo posted by Sarah Fager (@sarah.fager.ikea.designer)
More than 50 of her designs have been in Ikea stores, and more are on the way.
A photo posted by Sarah Fager (@sarah.fager.ikea.designer)
Designing for such a global company has unique challenges, she tells Tech Insider.
A photo posted by Sarah Fager (@sarah.fager.ikea.designer)
Part of the Ikea aesthetic comes from necessity. For the sake of shipping efficiency, Ikea products are shipped unassembled in "flat packs." "We like to fill the pallet with products instead of air," Fager says.
Holger / Flickr
Like the Hvar shelving unit, which Fager designed.
Ikea
Ikea design is often "boring," she says, but in a good way, since some pieces are more about function — and not everything in a room should be vying for attention.
Ikea
"When I develop products I usually do some quick hand sketches to understand the project," she says, and shows them to her team.
A photo posted by Sarah Fager (@sarah.fager.ikea.designer)
Then the process continues with 3D modeling, 3D printing (great for rapid prototyping), and sending prototypes back and forth with suppliers.
Ikea
She's excited about Ikea's new flat-bed knitting technology, also called "3D knitting," which will be used in the company's 2017 furniture collection.
Ikea
It's the same technique that Nike uses to make its slick Flyknit shoes.
Mike Lawrie / Getty
The promise of 3D knitting is that "you can really control quality since there will not be any human defects nor labour cost, and therefore we can keep our prices at low," Fager says.
Ikea
Plus it's super comfortable — without having to use lots of cumbersome cushioning. It's being used in Fager's 'see-through-sofa' prototype.
Ikea
"As soon you have paid for the machinery, you’re only paying for the material," Fager says. "And you can knit in whatever material you like; wool, linen, cotton or polypropylene."
Ikea
The product she's most proud of is the line of MÅLA creative supplies for kids — water color and acrylic paints, pens, scissors and more. "Quality is super, no dangerous chemicals, and easy to wash off," she says, noting that she uses them in her own work.
A photo posted by Sarah Fager (@sarah.fager.ikea.designer)
Looking into the future, Ikea's trying to design for smaller, more flexible homes. "The rooms will be more flexible and therefore we need to develop smaller sofas, more lightweight things, smart murphy beds and so on," Fager says.
A photo posted by Sarah Fager (@sarah.fager.ikea.designer)
Until then, it's more prototyping.
Ikea
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Drake Baer was Business Insider's editor-at-large, working across the newsroom to help produce ambitious journalism. For two and a half years before that, Baer served as deputy editor, overseeing a team of 20+ reporters and editors who cover the future of work, real estate, and small business. The fast-paced team was behind some of Insider's major packages in the last few years, including a state-by-state look into unemployment during the first year of the pandemic and in-depth profiles of "niche famous" characters such as real estate media tycoon Brandon Turner and HR icon Johnny C Taylor. They shed new light on big names, like Joe Biden, America's imperfect leader. He also cultivated thesis-oriented ideas journalism, whether it be on why "'diversity' and 'inclusion' are the emptiest words in corporate America" or why it's actually a horrible time to buy a house. (No, really, it is.) Before editing, his byline as a reporter was on the masthead for Fast Company and New York Magazine, covering the many intersections of social science, business, and economics. Baer has interviewed some our time's leading minds, including philanthropist Bill Gates, FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver, NBA champion and investor Steph Curry, "growth mindset" psychologist Carol Dweck, the rapper Q-Tip, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, and the man who gave a name to "disruptive innovation," the late Clay Christensen.Baer has published two books, the most recent being Perception: How Our Bodies Shape Our Minds, with Dennis Proffitt. In 2014, New York Times bestselling author and Wharton professor Adam Grant highlighted his first book, Everything Connects, as one of the 12 business books to read that year. He has been featured as a speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival, presented at TedX Princeton, and moderated many panels.
