Furniture and home-wares powerhouse Ikea are famous for stores made up of fully-furnished rooms. But what would it be like to live there? Photographer Christian Gideon went and investigated.
Ikea
IKEA product or Swedish Olympian?
If there’s two things Sweden is great at, it’s functional-yet-affordable DIY furniture and sports involving beanies and subzero temperatures. But can you tell their lounge suites from their luge competitors?
IKEA’s inspired Facebook marketing campaign
IKEA ran a genius marketing campaign for its new Swedish store: posting images of the showrooms on Facebook, and allowing the first fan to “tag” each item they wanted with their name to take it home. The result? An army of customers promoting the store free on their profile.
The Ikea Billy Bookshelf Index
The Economist has the Big Mac Index. Now Bloomberg takes another global phenomenon and prices it worldwide: the Ikea “Billy” bookshelf. Our question: why do Australians pay so much?
Former Merrill Lynch CEO: “I should’ve gone to Ikea”
Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain now regrets buying a $68,000 antique credenza and $1400 wastebasket for his office after the company lost $15.3b and was bailed out by the government.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Nelson’s narcissistic attack
Crikey readers weigh in on Brendan Nelson’s accusations of Malcolm Turnbull as a narcissitic personality disorder sufferer, Ikea and their font changes and Melbourne Uni’s fundraising.
It’s a Smaland after all
IKEA has done what many consider to be the unthinkable. The catalogue changed its typeface.
IKEA farewells Futura
After 50 years of marrying all its marketing to its own iconic version of the Futura typeface, IKEA has suddenly switched to web-standard font Verdana. Although it will allow them greater consistency around the world, does it come at the expense of the company’s unique branding?
China loves the allen key
The Ikea store in Beijing is bustling. But not with customer’s buying cheap Swedish furniture, but with families enjoying a nap on Ikea mattresses, eating Swedish meatballs and taking their graduation photos.
Tips and rumours: While the PM’s away…
What have the ALP been up to while Rudd has been globetrotting? Tipsters tell all.
IKEA ahead of the pack on maternity leave (for Australia)
With the announcement of 26 weeks’ fully paid maternal leave late last week, IKEA might be well ahead of the pack in Australia, but they are still laggards in world terms.
The high cost of cheap IKEA
The West’s discount culture comes at a high cost, argues a new book, and not just to workers in the Third World (though there’s always that) — we’re cheapening our own culture with every disposable IKEA bookshelf.
A tale of two IKEAS: generous maternity leave and slashing jobs
In Australia, IKEA is aiming to double its staff to 3000 by 2015 — and it’s just agreed with unions to half a year’s maternity leave. Different story globally, with IKEA slashing jobs.
IKEA in Russia: a hard build
Russia’s yuppie generation loves IKEA. But the Swedish company — having invested some $US4 billion into the country since 2000 — is apparently getting sick of the country’s corruption and what it costs business.
Ikea’s dream run over
For the first time since the Swedish company started in 1951, Ikea has foundered, having to cut 5,000 jobs. It has apparently been caught short by a sudden downturn in demand.
