Design by IKEA: A Cultural History

Description

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. Drawing on original research in the IKEA company archive and interviews with IKEA personnel, Design by IKEA 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.

Sara Kristoffersson is guest professor of Design History and Theory at Konstfack National University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, Sweden. She has published a number of articles on various aspects of design, fashion, art and architecture and lectures widely on these topics at museums and universities, including Ecole nationale superieure des arts decoratifs, Paris, France; Parsons School of Design, New York, USA; the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden.

Everyone should read [this]. * Swedish Design Research Journal * Sara Kristoffersson's monograph is a good example of emerging design research ... A superb analysis of the tenets and designs of the 1920s Bauhaus school as a utopia that never reached the stage of mass production, but which Ikea then took onboard after WWII. * ark: Finnish Architectural Review * An informative and thoughtful little book. * Scandinavian Studies * [Kristoffersson] deftly deals, in six information-packed chapters, with the background and reasons behind the phenomenal global success of IKEA ... A fascinating read. * TSS Reviews blog * Design by IKEA is the fist book to scrutinize the Swedish giant's massive impact on contemporary design culture. Unpicking how the public image of IKEA has come to depend as much on the international image of Sweden as the other way around, Sara Kristoffersson critically assesses the company's creative use of storytelling and stereotypes. -- Kjetil Fallan, University of Oslo, Norway Finally, a critical and nuanced analysis of the world-dominating brand IKEA. Kristoffersson's sharply honed prose reveals how the corporation has controversially come to define a nation, and how the inescapable ubiquity of its objects has transformed consumption on a global scale. Accessible and compelling, the book offers invaluable insight into the blurring of corporate, political and brand worlds in the 21st century. -- Alison J. Clarke University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria Sara Kristoffersson manages to provide what Sweden and management scholars have been longing for: a cultural theorist's account of how a small company in the middle of Sweden has grown amazingly successful. With fresh eyes, she shows how cultural identity processes can build enormous wealth, national pride, and brand loyalty. -- Lars Strannegard, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden