IKEA, Sweden’s Jewel

The same design holds true for other products. For example, IKEA offers a 12-pack of tumblers for $4.95. Particularly dazzling is the handsome FALSTERBO sofa that triples as a settee, a reading lounge chair or, once extended, a twin bed. And it ships flat.

The Creative Process

IKEA develops nearly all of its own products and insists its designers get out of their studios to work directly with the material-handling people, as well as its network of 2,000 suppliers in 55 countries. Their goal is to create the most efficiently transportable items that also are stylish and ecologically sound. Further, it holds its manufacturers to rigid standards of excellence that include sturdiness, safety and material content.

For example, through research and cooperation with groups such as Global Forest Watch, IKEA executives are working toward their goal of sourcing all wood products from verified, well-managed forests.

In addition, strict standards are imposed on the use of chemical elements such as formaldehyde in board materials and the flame retardants applied to upholstery materials. Alternatives to environmentally unfriendly materials such as PVC are being introduced to the range. And of course, all catalogs are printed on recycled paper.

What’s more, few companies are as devoted as IKEA to enhancing the lives and communities that it touches. For instance, it has a specific corporate policy against working with vendors who have sweatshops or use child labor. Indeed, with 40 trading offices worldwide, IKEA maintains fanatically strict oversight on the social and environmental practices of its suppliers.

The IKEA Experience

IKEA’s chief of corporate public affairs, Clive Cashman, is a low-key, upbeat, immensely knowledgeable Australian. He answered every conceivable question about the company’s history, philosophy, practices and, of special interest to readers of this publication, the catalogs.

Visiting an IKEA store is a hoot. Walking into the Plymouth Meeting store, I am immediately confronted with a “Welcome to IKEA” stand that offers free tape measures, pencils and shopping guides. Just beyond that is a room filled with thousands of soft, brightly colored balls. This is the playroom in which toddlers can be turned loose under professional supervision while their parents attend to the serious business of shopping. The cafeteria is off the main lobby, which means you head off to the furniture galleries savoring the smell of bread being baked.